Faithful for good. A monument to prince Dolgorukov, general Tatishchev, sailor Nagorny, and boatswain Sednev

A new monument has been erected at our monastery: depicted on it are two courageous military men with epaulettes and two young men wearing the navy uniform. Who are these people? They are the faithful subjects of St. Tsar Nicholas II – prince Vasily Dolgorukov, general Ilya Tatishchev, sailor Klimentiy Nagorny, and boatswain Ivan Sednev.

In 1917, along with the other members of the royal suite, of their own free will, they went with the Tsar and his family to Tobolsk and then to Ekaterinburg. In Ekaterinburg, they had been separated from the Royal family and sent to prison. The bolsheviks executed general Tatishchev and prince Dolgorukov on June 10th, and sailor Nagorny and boatswain Sednev on June 28th of 1918. All of them were left without burial. The sisters of our monastery buried them at the monastery cemetery. During the Soviet times, the cemetery was demolished, but presently the necropolis is gradually getting restored. Unfortunately, the burial site of the four faithful Royal subjects has not been discovered yet, but it was decided to erect a stone stele to honor their memory.

The sketches for the monument had been done by the sisters-iconographers. For the sake of historical precision, they would find out from the archival documents and photographs what kinds of uniform, titles and awards these Royal subjects had. The sisters consulted the historians and the specialists in the history of the Russian uniform. "This turned out to be very extensive work, – conveyed the sisters. – There are many peculiarities in the military uniform. For instance, prince Dolgorukov and general Tatishchev could not be depicted without a cavalry sword, since in the emperor's army it was an essential part of full-dress uniform. Regarding the awards, here we, too, had to do detailed research. For instance, over which shoulder would the medal ribbon go across? The ribbons for some of the medals would have been placed over the right shoulder, while for others – over the left one. And there was lots and lots of work of this sort."

In order to emphasize the loftiness of the Royal subjects' deed, the sisters supplemented the depictions with details characteristic of icons: the crosses in their hands; cloaks blowing back behind the shoulders – this is how martyrs are typically depicted on icons. General Ilya Tatishchev is portrayed with the Gospel which he knew by heart.

When the sketches were ready, the sculptors took on the work. Plasticine models had to be made first. In order to "turn" a sketch into a three-dimensional figure, the sculptor constantly needs to refer back to the photographs.

From the plasticine model, an exact plaster copy is formed. The stone carvers copy the depiction from this plaster model.

The talented masters of Mikhail Parfentyev's workshop in St.-Petersburg worked thoroughly over each detail of this four-meter-high stele.

The work on the monument continued for about three years, until finally the long-awaited moment came: on June 13th, Metropolitan Yevgeniy of Ekaterinburg and Verkhoturye performed a solemn consecration of the monument. Memory eternal to the faithful!