Tsar Nicholas II Was Deeply Religious
Deeply pious, Tsar Nicholas II never wavered in his adherence to the Orthodox faith. He was an Orthodox Christian who lived by the belief that it was his responsibility to defend the existence of God at any costs, leading him to adopt laws that included the proscription of alcohol and the persecution of Jews.
Under Emperor Nicholas II, the Russian Orthodox Church prospered. It had 68 dioceses, 54,923 churches, 953 monasteries, 4 theological institutes, 185 schools of religion, 40,530 public schools, and 278 publications in 1914. 157 bishops, 68,928 priests, 48 987 clerics, 21,330 monks in monasteries, and 73,229 nuns in convents made up the clergy.
Emperor Nicholas II was the Supreme Defender and Guardian of the prevailing Faith's dogmas as well as the Keeper of the Faith's purity and all law and order inside the Holy Church. He was and is a Christian Sovereign. This is one of the interesting facts about Tsar Nicholas II.
The first Russian tsar to give his blessing to the Local Council's meeting was the sovereign. He aggressively worked for Seraphim of Sarov's canonization, and in 1903, he oversaw the celebration in Sarov that drew 150,000 pilgrims. Theodosius Uglitsky, Joseph Belgorod, Hermogenes, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Pitirim Tambovsky, and John Tobolsky were all made saints during his rule. He directly assisted in the 1895 purchase of the Purple Gospel from the Greek community, the most coveted book from the sixth century. Nicholas II personally provided funding for the publication of the Explanatory Bible in 12 volumes and the Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia in 12 volumes.
