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By Root 2195 0

Witte. The mysterious lesson of 1905 lay elsewhere. A certain church historian explained this to me: During the Time of Troubles, in the seventeenth century, when the ancient dynasty of tsars was broken and widespread troubles ensued, when the noble boyars handed Russia over to foreigners, it was the ecclesiastical authority—the patriarch—that preserved Russia. There is good reason why, under the first Romanovs, patriarchs bore the title Great Sovereign. Peter the Great, in an effort to strengthen secular authority, did away with the patriarchate. Two centuries without a patriarch weakened the church. Under Nicholas talks were initiated on reviving the patriarchy, but matters never progressed beyond talks. When the events of the First Revolution began, the tsar must have understood: he was weak. The Lord in his mercy had given him a warning that he had not understood. In the event of major new disasters, he must establish a second center—by bringing back the authority of the patriarch. Only a strong church could keep Holy Russia from eventual catastrophe. But he had not understood the warning.”

Chapter 4

A MIGHTY PAIR

“THANKS BE TO GOD; HE HAS SENT ME A FRIEND”

The revolution in Russia coincided with a revolution in the tsar’s family. At just this time, two people appeared at Tsarskoe Selo who are little reflected in Nicholas’s diaries, although they occupied an important place in his life. And in the life of the family. And the country. Grigory Rasputin and Anna Taneyeva Vyrubova.

In her memoirs, Anna Taneyeva writes about her family. Her father, Alexander Sergeyevich Taneyev, was a marshal of the count and director of the imperial chancellery. His grandfather and great-grandfather had held the same post under previous emperors, and his other great-great-grandfather was the conqueror of Napoleon, Field Marshal Kutuzov. True, she fails to mention in her book one other ancestor, whom society rumor plausibly ascribed to the Taneyevs: Emperor Paul I. The blood of this mad emperor (or rather his illegitimate child) flowed in Anna Taneyeva’s veins. Yes, she too was of the Romanov clan.

As a young lady, intoxicated by her first encounter with society, she danced at twenty-two balls and was presented to the empress. Alix had noticed her.

Very soon after, a footman conveyed the empress’s invitation to Anya, as she was called, over the telephone.

Their first conversation. Anya Taneyeva told Alix that as a child she had contracted typhus and was at death’s door when her father summoned Ioann of Kronstadt, who raised her from her sickbed with prayer. The story must have made an impression on the unhappy empress. The miracle of healing. That was all Alix could think of when she looked at this lovely woman: her son.

Anya was quite musical. From the very beginning she managed to pick the right note.

In 1907 she was invited to join the family on their yacht to their favorite place, the Finnish Skerries.

In the sun-filled stateroom they played piano four-handed. Later Anya would tell Alix of how her hands had turned to stone, she was so agitated. Then they sang duets. Alix was a contralto, Anya a soprano, so their duet meshed instantly.

When Anya disembarked, Alix said, “Thanks be to God; He has sent me a Friend.”

Anya was often taken on walks in the Skerries. Bright, tranquil evenings on the tsar’s yacht. Peaceful lights burning onshore. The smell of the water and of the cigarettes in the sovereign’s hands. The white yacht Polar Star slipped through the fallen night.

In 1918, the arrested Anya Taneyeva would find herself once again on the Polar Star, where the Central Baltic staff would convene and the yacht’s new masters—the revolutionary sailors—would take her. Everything would be spat upon, befouled. They would put her in the filthy hold, which teemed with parasites, and then lead her across the familiar deck to be interrogated. And she would remember those other nights.

What was the main reason behind the young lady’s success?

“The most ordinary Petersburg young lady, who had fallen in love with the empress