Prince Charles converted to Orthodoxy. Anglo-Russian Orthodox Church

Concluding his stay in Israel in connection with the funeral of Shimon Peres, Prince Charles of Wales visited the Russian convent in Gethsemane, the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia reports.

The head of the Mission of the Russian Church Abroad in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky), met the distinguished guest at the gates of the holy monastery and told him about the history of the monastery. Standing on the porch, from where the whole old city is visible, the archimandrite pointed out to the prince the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, shrines, historical places and sights of the holy city.

While singing the troparion of Mary Magdalene Equal-to-the-Apostles, Prince Charles proceeded to the shrine with the relics of the Martyr Elizabeth, on which he placed fresh flowers from the homeland of his grandmother, who is the niece of the saint. Then the distinguished guest approached other shrines of the temple and placed candles.

Having said a few warm words to Prince Charles from the pulpit, Archimandrite Roman proclaimed many years to him and the entire royal house in English. Leaving the temple, the heir to the throne talked with the inhabitants of Russian Gethsemane and the students of the Bethany school, after which he went to the tomb of Princess Alice.

Here, Archimandrite Roman performed a brief memorial service, after which the grandson of the princess laid flowers on her coffin, lit a candle and looked at old photographs preserved in the monastery. Prince Charles then wished to be alone in the crypt.

The Yad Vashem Memorial recognized Prince Charles' grandmother as Righteous Among the Nations. During World War II, she hid a Jewish family in Greece: Rachel Cohen and her children. In 1903, Alice married Prince Andrei of Greece, the great-grandson of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I.

After honoring the memory of his grandmother and expressing his deep gratitude to Archimandrite Roman, Abbess Elizabeth and the nuns of the monastery, Prince Charles set off for his homeland.

Princess Alice of Battenberg, later, after marriage - the Princess of Greece and Denmark, (also known by the English version of the surname - Alice Mountbatten) (February 25, 1885 - December 5, 1969) - the mother of Prince Philip and the mother-in-law of the English Queen Elizabeth II. She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, gave shelter to Jewish families, for which her name is engraved on the wall of the Righteous Among the Nations in the Yad Vashem memorial. After the war, she founded the Orthodox Sisterhood of Martha and Mary.

British Prince Charles has been visiting Mount Athos regularly since 1996, sometimes several times a year. It happens that he lives for a long time in the cell of the Orthodox Vatopedi monastery, observing the required restrictions and participating in divine services. In her free time, she paints landscapes of the Holy Mountain in watercolor.

Crypto Orthodox?

During the wedding of Charles in Westminster there were several Orthodox icons. On his honeymoon, Charles visited Athos, leaving the newlywed on a yacht - women are not allowed to enter Athos. Moreover, Charles organized a reception attended by the world's beau monde, raising money for the renovation of the Hilandar monastery on Holy Athos, writes "Orthodoxy and Peace". The reception was attended by 100 guests. Hilandar Monastery was seriously damaged by fire 14 years ago, and Prince Charles personally donated 650,000 pounds to the monastery. He actively participates in the activities of the Friends of Mount Athos society, which unites the British and Americans.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for external church relations, said that Charles has "sincere feelings for Orthodoxy." There are persistent rumors about the secret Orthodoxy of Charles. One of the most famous and authoritative modern Orthodox theologians, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, fundamentally disagrees with this opinion. He points out that as the heir to the British crown and the possible head of the Anglican Church, Charles does not have the right to choose his own religion. Recall that the first hierarch of the Anglican Church is the British monarch.

New Russian Tsar?

Perhaps the involvement in Orthodoxy was awakened in his son by the Duke of Edinburgh Philip, a Greek by birth, who once changed Orthodoxy to Anglicanism.

Charles' roots belong to the House of Romanov. He is the great-great-great-grandson of Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna. Charles's grandfather, Prince Andrew of Greece, served in the Nevsky Imperial Regiment from 1908. It is significant that the first wife of Charles, Lady Diana, was related to another royal dynasty of Russia - the Rurikovich. In addition to the Athos monasteries, Charles visited the Solovetsky Monastery.

As you know, among the Russian monarchists there are disagreements about who is the true representative of the Romanov dynasty and the pretender to the Russian throne, despite the very illusory chances of Russia returning to the monarchy. And Prince Charles, despite the lack of public statements on his part on this topic, is considered by very influential monarchists as a possible Russian Tsar. There are rumors about possible contacts between Charles and members of the so-called Athos Brotherhood, an informal group of high-ranking Russian officials and businessmen who regularly visit Mount Athos. Such a serious thing as a throne does not tolerate noise, hubbub and unnecessary publicity. However, the chances of taking the British throne from Charles is immeasurably higher than the Russian one. If only because the first is reality, the second is dreams.

The heir to the British crown, Prince Charles of Wales, has "sincere feelings for Orthodoxy" and regularly visits Orthodox monasteries and Mount Athos, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in an interview dedicated to the first visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the UK.

"I am aware of Prince Charles's sympathy for Orthodoxy. In addition to visiting Mount Athos, His Highness tries to visit other holy places. Most recently, on September 30, Prince Charles, while visiting Israel, visited the Russian Orthodox convent in Gethsemane," where "He went to the shrine with the relics of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and laid fresh flowers from the homeland of his grandmother, who is the saint's niece," said Metropolitan Hilarion.

“Such sincere feelings for Orthodoxy are also connected with the fact that the father of Prince Charles, Duke Philip of Edinburgh, is a representative of the Greek line of the Oldenburg dynasty and from birth professed Orthodoxy. Only after his marriage to Queen Elizabeth II, Duke Philip, becoming the British Prince Consort, accepted He often says about himself: "I became an Anglican, but I remained Orthodox," said Metropolitan Hilarion.

Another well-known Orthodox hierarch and theologian, Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, who is closely acquainted with the heir to the British crown, earlier in an interview for the media also confirmed the sincere attraction of the crown prince to Orthodoxy. “The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, undoubtedly shows a keen interest in Orthodoxy and has a number of Orthodox friends with whom he discusses aspects of the Orthodox faith. He made many pilgrimages to Mount Athos. But if he became Orthodox, this would create very serious constitutional difficulties. that, probably, he cannot abandon Anglicanism, but he will also take into account the Orthodox context," the British Orthodox bishop said.

According to British media, Orthodox icons hang on the walls in Prince Charles' residence in Highgrove.

Russian roots of Prince Charles

Few people know that the imperial blood of the Romanovs flows in Prince Charles. The heir to the British crown theoretically could even inherit the Russian throne, since his father, the Duke of Edinburgh Philip, is the great-great-grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. And Charles's grandfather, the Greek Prince Andrew, was even an officer in the Russian army: in 1908 he was enrolled in the list of the Nevsky Imperial Regiment and the 1st company of the Russian Imperial Army.

Athos pilgrim

One of the favorite places of pilgrimage for Prince Charles has long been Mount Athos. He often visits this Holy Greek center of Orthodox monasticism and is even the honorary chairman of the international British society "Friends of Mount Athos".

On the initiative of Prince Charles, the society headed by him provided material assistance in the restoration of the Athos monasteries Vatopedi and Hilandar, annually holds international scientific conferences on the history and heritage of Athos (the next such conference will be held in Cambridge on February 3-5, 2017), organizes pilgrimages to Athos.

Sometimes Prince Charles, visiting the Holy Mountain, stayed here for more than a month. According to media reports, during the pilgrimages to Athos, he lives in a separate tiny cell and gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning to pray with the monks. In his free time from prayer, he paints picturesque views of Athos in watercolor here. Some of these paintings were sold at a London auction, and the prince donated the proceeds from their sale to the monks of Athos. As noted in the prince's entourage, "a brief departure from worldly affairs and intense spiritual work has the most positive effect on Prince Charles."

The heir to the British crown first appeared on the Holy Mountain in the 1960s. with his father, Duke Philip. One of the Athos monks recalls: “Prince Charles is always a welcome guest here. This is the place where he seems to find peace. He is treated here like an ordinary monk, and he lives like we do, starting from what he eats the same as we do."

One of the high royal sources adds that increasingly, under the burden of years, Prince Charles is looking for answers to questions of a spiritual and philosophical nature. "The spiritual life is very important to him these days ... He is a man pressed by many concerns, so he lives in the hope of solitude, which allows him to focus on spiritual matters." There were even rumors that the prince secretly converted to Orthodoxy and was thinking about becoming a monk, sacrificing the British crown. It's most likely just a rumor. However, as Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) notes, with all the difficulties of changing one's religion, the crown prince remains a sincere admirer of Orthodoxy.

Tree on Solovki

In 2003, Prince Charles visited the ancient Orthodox Solovetsky Monastery. This event was widely covered in the media. As he himself said in an interview with reporters, he always dreamed of visiting the Solovetsky Monastery, as he considers it a "pearl of the world." Here, in the monastery, Prince Charles planted a seedling of Siberian fir on the Alley of Memory of Stalinist concentration camp prisoners and promised that he would delegate people to care for the tree.

Orthodox icons at son's wedding

On April 29, 2011, during the wedding of Prince Charles' son, William, in Westminster Abbey, where the solemn ceremony took place, many observers and television viewers were surprised to see Orthodox icons. Their appearance at the celebrations in the main Anglican cathedral is not accidental. What is it - a tribute to the memory of Orthodox ancestors or a demonstrative gesture that can be compared with how William's grandfather, Philip, continued to be baptized with three fingers after the adoption of Anglicanism? Be that as it may, the very presence of Orthodox icons in the abbey during the marriage of Prince William looks quite revealing. And this once again demonstrates the attitude towards Orthodoxy in the royal family.

Grandmother nun

Charles's father, Duke Philip, was born and lived for some time in Greece. His father was the Greek Prince Andrei, and his grandmother was Olga Konstantinovna, the Grand Duchess of the Romanov dynasty.

After the wedding with the future Queen Elizabeth, Philip, according to British law, adopted the Anglican religion, although he said more than once in an interview that he continues to consider himself Orthodox.

Philip's mother, Prince Charles's grandmother, Alice Battenberg was Orthodox and actively helped the Orthodox Church. During the occupation of Greece by the Nazis, she hid Jews in her house, saving them from being sent to concentration camps. For this, she was subsequently declared the "righteous of the world."

The son's wedding was the last solemn event at which Alice Battenberg appeared in a secular dress. Having blessed her son and returning to Athens, she forever donned a monastic robe and fulfilled her old dream by organizing a parish in memory of her aunt. Elizabeth Feodorovna Orthodox sisterly monastery of Martha and Mary, in which future nannies and nurses were brought up. Alice Battenberg died in 1969 at Buckingham Palace. Before her death, she expressed a desire to be buried in a Russian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem next to her aunt, Elizaveta Feodorovna. This wish was granted on December 3, 1988, when her remains were transferred to the Orthodox Church in Gethsemane (in Jerusalem).

On the Holy Land

On September 30, 2016, during an official visit to Israel, Prince Charles visited the Russian Orthodox Convent in Gethsemane. The distinguished guest was met by the head of the Mission of the Russian Church Abroad in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky). While singing the troparion of Mary Magdalene Equal to the Apostles, Prince Charles proceeded to the shrine with the relics of the Martyr Elizabeth, on which he placed fresh flowers from the homeland of his grandmother, who is the niece of the saint. Then the distinguished guest approached other shrines of the temple and, having prayed, put candles.

Leaving the temple, the heir to the throne talked with the inhabitants of Russian Gethsemane and the students of the Bethany school, after which he went to the tomb of Princess Alice.

Here, Archimandrite Roman performed a funeral service, after which the grandson of the princess laid flowers on her coffin and lit a candle. The prince then wished to remain alone in the crypt.

After honoring the memory of his grandmother and expressing his deep gratitude to Archimandrite Roman, Abbess Elizabeth and the nuns of the monastery, Prince Charles set off for his homeland.

As a reminder, on October 15-18, 2016, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the UK, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Russian Orthodoxy in the British Isles.

During the visit, on October 18, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at Buckingham Palace in London. His Holiness the Patriarch congratulated the British Queen on her 90th birthday and presented her with the image of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear", made in Russian jewelry traditions. During the meeting, a wide range of topics was touched upon, including the position of Christianity in modern Europe. On the same day, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church met with the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.

Especially for the Russian Athos portal,
Based on materials: RIA-Novosti, Patriarchia.ru, Pravoslavie.ru, Orthodoxy and the world, Russian7.ru

Few people know that the blood of the Romanovs flows in Prince Charles. The heir to the British crown could theoretically inherit the Russian throne - his father, the Duke of Edinburgh Philip, is the great-great-grandson of Emperor Nicholas I.

And Charles's grandfather, the Greek Prince Andrei, was even an officer in the Russian army: in 1908 he was enrolled in the list of the Nevsky Imperial Regiment and the 1st company of the Russian army.

Married to Rurikovna

The first wife of Prince Charles, the mother of the heirs to the throne of Great Britain, was a distant descendant of the founder of Russian statehood, Rurik.

Lady Dee was connected with the founder of Russian statehood through the Kievan princess Dobronega, daughter of Saint Vladimir, who married the Polish prince Casimir the Restorer.
Thus, the marriage of Charles and Diana was unique in that it united the descendants of two Russian royal houses - the Ruriks and the Romanovs. It is interesting that the first "monarchical" marriage between the Rurikovichs and the Romanovs fell on February 1547, when the seventeen-year-old John IV married Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva.

After 434 years, Prince Charles, heir to the British crown, married Diana Spencer. The first union of the Ruriks and the Romanovs ended in the untimely death of the tsarina. The second - also ended dramatically. Perhaps Rurik's blood does not get along well with the Romanov gene ...

Pilgrim

It is significant that Prince Charles regularly visits Mount Athos and stays at the Vatopedi monastery. The monastery has become a favorite retreat for the prince ever since his marriage to Diana. The prince came to the monastery, where he spent time with the brethren in prayer and contemplation. In his spare time he painted picturesque views of Mount Athos in watercolor. Wanderers visiting Mount Athos are required to spend the night in a common bedchamber and observe the modest lifestyle inherent in monks. The only concession to the Prince of Wales was that he lived in a small separate cell, but slept on a simple bed with a foam mattress.

Charles first came to the Holy Mountain with his father, Duke Philip. One of the Athos monks recalls: “Prince Charles is always a welcome guest here. This is the place where he seems to find peace. The attitude towards him here is like an ordinary monk, and he lives like we do, starting from the fact that he eats the same as we do.

One of the high royal sources adds that increasingly, under the burden of years, Charles is looking for an answer to questions of a spiritual and philosophical nature. “The spiritual life is very important to him these days… He is a man pressed by many concerns, so he lives in the hope of solitude, which allows him to focus on spiritual matters.” Rumor has it that the prince secretly converted to Orthodoxy and is even considering becoming a monk, sacrificing the British crown. Perhaps it's just a legend. But the legend is very beautiful.

Tree on Solovki

Prince Charles visited the Solovetsky Monastery in 2003. This event was covered by all news agencies. What versions did not come up with journalists about the details of this visit! Some journalists wrote that Prince Charles came to Solovki on foot. Where he came from was not specified (maybe from London?), although in reality the prince got to Solovki in a less ascetic way: he flew in on an AN-24 plane. The newspapers also wrote that Prince Charles arrived in Solovki to see the local botanical garden (in England, with gardens, tension) and the prince was taken around the islands on an UAZ-loaf. As always, the truth is more obvious than idle speculation. Prince Charles has always dreamed of visiting the Solovetsky Monastery, as he considers it a "pearl of the world." Prince Charles planted a seedling of Siberian fir on the Alley of Memory and promised that he would delegate people to care for the tree. Whatever the journalists say about the fact that Charles arrived in Solovki to honor the memory of the prisoners of the Soviet camps, we see that the reason is still different. Proximity to Orthodoxy is in Charles's blood, his keen interest in Orthodox shrines is obvious.

Russian icons at the son's wedding

During the wedding of the son of Prince Charles, William, Russian viewers could see Orthodox icons in Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony took place. Their appearance in the main Anglican cathedral is not accidental. These images, which appeared in Westminster Abbey in 1994, were painted by the icon painter Sergei Fedorov. The very presence of Orthodox icons in the abbey during the wedding of Prince William looks quite revealing. That this is a tribute to the memory of Orthodox ancestors or a demonstrative gesture that can be compared to how William's grandfather, Philip, continued to be baptized with three fingers after the adoption of Anglicanism.

Grandmother nun

Charles's father, Duke Philip, was born and lived for some time in Greece. His father was the Greek Prince Andrei, and his grandmother was Olga Konstantinovna, the Grand Duchess of the Romanov dynasty. After his marriage to Elizabeth, Philip converted to the Anglican faith, although he has repeatedly said in interviews that he continues to consider himself Orthodox. Philip's mother, Prince Charles's grandmother, Alice Battenberg was Orthodox and actively helped the Orthodox Church. During the occupation of Greece by the Nazis, she hid Jews in her house, saving them from being sent to concentration camps.

The son's wedding was the last solemn event at which Alice Battenberg appeared in a secular dress. Having blessed her son and returning to Athens, she put on a monastic robe forever and fulfilled her dream by organizing an order of sisters in the memory of Aunt Ella, in which future nannies and nurses were brought up. Alice Battenberg died in 1969 at Buckingham Palace. Before her death, she expressed a desire to be buried in Jerusalem next to her aunt, Elizabeth Feodorovna. This wish was granted on December 3, 1988, when her remains were transferred to a church in Jerusalem.

"Rebirth from Russia"

For two decades now, a statement has been circulating around the world, which, allegedly in the early 1990s, Prince Charles expressed at a meeting in one of the closed English clubs. Here is the quote in full: “I do not see in the whole world a single point from which a revival can come, for you yourself, gentlemen, understand that we are all rolling into the abyss of debauchery, debauchery, robbery, theft, complete immorality, complete perversion. The only point that I see where there may be the beginning of some kind of revival is Russia.

Prince Charles of Wales has a long and sincere interest in Orthodoxy.

However, due to his position in the state, the heir to the British throne and the potential head of the Anglican Church can hardly change his religion.

This opinion was expressed at a meeting with the parishioners of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Washington, DC by one of the most famous and authoritative contemporary Orthodox theologians, Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Ware).

In Westminster Abbey in London, where the wedding ceremony of Charles's son, Prince William, and his wife took place last year, large Orthodox icons hung at the very beginning of the central gallery. One of the participants in the meeting with Metropolitan Kallistos drew attention to this and asked a question about the attitude of the House of Windsor towards Orthodoxy.

Indeed, the works of a Russian icon painter (Sergei Fedorov - Ed.) are hung there, I find this significant, - said Metropolitan Kallist. - The famous cathedral is constantly besieged by crowds of tourists who need a reminder that this is not a museum, but a "house of prayer".

Vladyka emphasized that "Queen Elizabeth herself is without a doubt a deeply and sincerely believing Christian." "In the last year or two, she has begun to speak much more openly and directly about her Christian faith," he added.

The Orthodox hierarch, an Englishman by nationality, noted that the presence of a national leader who stands above inter-party fights is especially important in times of crisis, and shared his childhood memories of how, during the Second World War, after the brutal German nighttime bombing of London, King George and his wife visited the most affected areas.

Vladyka recalled that Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, comes from a Greek royal family and was baptized in Orthodoxy. By marrying a British princess, he converted to the Anglican faith, although he was not required to do so. “When we met with him, he said: “Well, yes, I was baptized in Orthodoxy, and I continue to consider myself Orthodox. But at the same time, I am now an Anglican,” the metropolitan said to the friendly laughter of the audience. “I could answer that I do not completely agree with this, but I considered it better to remain silent, since everything was said in a friendly way,” he admitted.

“The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, undoubtedly shows a lively interest in Orthodoxy and has a number of Orthodox friends with whom he discusses aspects of the Orthodox faith,” the Metropolitan said. “He made pilgrimages to the holy Mount Athos many times. serious constitutional difficulties. So, probably, he cannot abandon Anglicanism, but he will also take into account the Orthodox context."

Since Vladyka Kallistos is co-chairman of the mixed commission for Orthodox-Anglican dialogue, he was asked about the prospects for rapprochement between the two churches. In his opinion, this is hampered primarily by the presence of different currents in Anglicanism itself. Along with the conservative "high church" which is very close to Orthodoxy, there are also "evangelical and extremely liberal" tendencies, "to imagine unity" with which it is "impossible" for the Orthodox. For all that, the metropolitan is "for the continuation of the dialogue", albeit without the hope of "immediate achievement of practical results."

Saint John

Interestingly, the ROCOR Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where the meeting took place, was founded in 1949 by Archbishop John (Maximovich), who was canonized in 1994. In his youth, the current Metropolitan - then still non-Orthodox Timothy Ware - met with Vladyka John. And she still "remembers very distinctly" her first meeting with him in France, at Versailles.

This happened at the liturgy, which Archbishop John used to serve daily. The day was a weekday, in a small house church there were only a monk-singer and some old woman. Taking out the cup with the Holy Gifts, the priest gazed at the unfamiliar young guest, until he shook his head negatively. Later, he still insisted that he come up and take the anointing with oil from the lamp.

“Later, I thought about why he looked at me like that, as if insisting that I go to communion,” the metropolitan said. belonged. He must have understood the position I was in. And in his own way he let me know: do not delay too long. Go to church - to our Orthodox church - and take communion. And I took it as a sign ... "

"Any serious acquaintance with another person is essentially providential," Vladyka said.

About high-flying birds

Ware converted to Orthodoxy a few months later. It happened in 1958. Then he asceticised in a monastery on the Greek island of Patmos, made pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Mount Athos, and in 1966 became a priest and monk with the name Kallistos. Since that time, he has been teaching at Oxford University for 35 years, and has trained a whole galaxy of theologians and church historians.

Among his wards was the current chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev). With a broad smile, Vladyka Kallistos noted that in this case, even without any visionary gift, a “high-flying bird” was visible.

According to him, Fr. Hilarion, while remaining a "humble monk", at the same time was distinguished by "extreme purposefulness, ... a clear understanding of why he came to Oxford and what he wants to study." He wrote his doctoral dissertation on St. Simeon the New Theologian "faster than any other" candidate in his mentor's memory, and later this work was published by Oxford University Press. "They rarely publish doctoral dissertations, only the best ones," Vladyka explained.

He himself, in his opinion, is not endowed with "the clairvoyance characteristic of St. John." However, he also had situations when, at confessions, in response to a simple question, did they tell everything, the penitents were amazed at his insight.

For his advanced years, the hierarch, born in 1934, looks excellent. The lecture on the Jesus Prayer, for the sake of which the meeting was organized, he read standing up, jokingly: "so as not to lull yourself to sleep." Although there was no such danger, his lively and figurative speech, full of vivid comparisons and curious reminiscences, clearly showed that he had the gift of simply and intelligibly speaking about the most complex matters, revealing the relationship between the mortal and the eternal.