Bloody Sunday

I stood on the peripheral of the Palace Square, dressed warmly enough to ward off the freezing cold November temperatures.  To my left, the Tsar’s Winter Palace; to my right, the triumphal arch.

In the distance, I watched several horse and carriages line up to take tourists for a ride through the city.  My mind wandered back in time, a time over one hundred years ago.

 

Unlike most tourists visiting St. Petersburg for the first time, I know that here in this Square a tragic event occurred on January 22,1905–a pivotal catalyst that changed the direction of the Russian government and the lives of every citizen.

Numerous factors contributed to the collapse of the imperial leadership begun centuries earlier.  The Bolshevik Party led by Lenin sought to gain control of the country; Russian imperial society refused to grant monetary concessions to the poor; an unpopular war with Japan drained the country’s resources; international trade and diplomatic agreements created economic pressures; unstable military officers fought one another for leadership; a weak, fearful Tsar hid his unhealthy male heir to the throne and listened to the poor advice of others; and labor leaders broke laws to unionize workers.  This unstable nation, poised to collapse, required one small spark to set off a revolution and begin toppling an empire.

Warned against demonstrating, the people nevertheless believed they could affect change.  Across the city workers gathered in groups, eager to present their petition to the Tsar.  That Sunday morning a radical and idealistic priest, Father Gapon, led thousands of men, women and children through the Triumphal Arch and across the Square towards the Winter Palace steps carrying a petition (signed by 150,000 workers) to present to their beloved Tsar (“little father”).

But desperate workers fell vulnerable to radical idealists.  It is unclear whether the families marched in support of or were simply used by the union organizers.  Ignoring warnings and dressed in their Sunday best, people gathered together in various parts of the city preparing to march.

The Petition stated: “Oh Sire, we working men and inhabitants of St. Petersburg, our wives, our children and our parents, helpless and aged women and men, have come to You our ruler, in search of justice and protection. We are beggars, we are oppressed and overburdened with work, we are insulted, we are not looked on as human beings but as slaves. The moment has come for us when death would be better than the prolongation of our intolerable sufferings.  We are seeking here our last salvation. Do not refuse to help Your people. Destroy the wall between Yourself and Your people.”

The demonstrators (led by the Priest)  marched through Nevsky Prospect toward the Square willing to risk everything for their convictions.  Those that passed through the Archway, connecting two long curved buildings that mirrored both size and style of the Winter Palace, (West wing contains Headquarters of the General Staff of the Russian Army while the East contains both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) merged with those already in the Square.

People sang hymns (“God Save the Tsar”) while carrying religious icons, banners, and photos of their beloved Tsar Nicholas.

Having walked this Square several times during the past week, I am familiar with the distance and the amount of time it takes to go from one end of the Square to the other–and that’s minus the snowy conditions experienced on that fateful January Sunday.  Cold and tired, those with young children may have stopped for a moment in the center of the Square.  Looking up at the Alexander Column they saw an angel holding a cross–inspiring courage and strength to continue on.  Built by the same creator and architect of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, it commemorates the victory won against Napoleon’s army.

Unbeknownst to some of the crowd the Tsar and his family secretly left their Winter Palace the prior evening.  But rumors of the Tsar’s disappearance were disregarded.  People believed he would never betray their trust in him.  If Nicholas remained behind, he might have peered out a window to see a large, peaceful, (though passionate) crowd led by an Orthodox priest–Father Gapon.

He’d see a crowd of thousands (men, women and children) bundled up against the cold; filling up the Palace Square; holding up placards (some engraved with the Tsar’s image).  He’d hear songs about himself.  Instead, he didn’t see or hear anything.  Safely tucked away with his family at his Summer Palace he missed the tragic events of that day.

Before reaching their destination protestors found themselves surrounded by thousands of armed men brought in from the surrounding areas of the city.  The crowd was ordered to disperse.  They stood their ground believing the Tsar might appear.  He did not.

It is unknown who ordered the soldiers to fire upon the crowds.   One shot led to another.  The military was well prepared and attacked from multiple directions all at one time.  People panicked as Cossacks on horseback charged with their sabers bared, slashing away at the crowds.  Guns and canons fired from all directions.  In the end, hundreds or more died and hundreds upon hundreds more suffered injuries.  No one knows the exact numbers.  Blood covered the snow.  Bodies lay everywhere–even children were killed that day.  Many were trampled to death while trying to escape.

At that moment, the Russian people lost faith in their beloved Tsar.

Whether Nicholas authorized the attack or was aware prior to it happening didn’t matter.   The people blamed him.  He was no longer their champion.  The Tsar wrote in his diary later that evening, “God, how painful and sad.”

Blind to the future, the Tsar didn’t see the painful and sad ending to his dynasty, family or life.  If the Tsar cared as much about the people as they cared about him, he might have stayed in the city and heard their cries.

Instead the whole world watched in horror.  Sympathetic to the Russian workers, American newspaper headlines read, “Will The Czar Appear?; Russian Workmen Expect It.”  After the bloody attacks, American headlines wrote, “MACHINE GUNS FROWN ON RUSSIAN MOBS” with subtitles including: “Crowds In The Streets Have Grown More Sullen, And Additional Troops Have Been Placed On Guard.”

Unrestrained by the law, protests and strikes erupted across the Russian empire.  Later, trying to appease angry mobs Tsar Nicholas succumbed to some of their demands.  It was too little, too late.

Decisions made that January 22, 1905, led to a bloody massacre and sparked the Russian Revolution.   A decade later the Revolution led to socialism under Lenin–churches were stripped and science replaced God.  A few decades after that, socialism led to communism under Stalin’s harsher laws.

Looking around, it’s hard to imagine that three hundred years earlier (two centuries prior to Tsar Nicholas’s reign) Peter the Great gathered up his countrymen and propelled them forward.  Through Peter the Great’s vision, energy and ruthlessness he built this city, modernized this land, and strengthened his country to withstand attacks from the Ottoman Empire.  After only a few hundred years Peter the Great’s entire imperial empire fell.  Under the last Tsar, millions died.  Evil abounds.

The characters in my novel are fictional and created from researching my Russian ancestors.  They are fictional but the powers behind each character’s actions are very real.  In the Bible, the Apostle Paul tells us our fight is against more than just what we see, it is against the unseen.

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

We have the ability to resist evil and the forces that come against us.  Paul tells us how to survive the attacks be it physical or spiritual or even both.

I seldom realize how vulnerable I am until I’m right in the midst of one of these battles and, I find myself losing.  Though it might appear I fight a flesh and blood battle similar to the physical one fought on that fateful day in Russia, January 22, 1905, I’m fighting against an unseen enemy.  Sometimes I’m fighting against my own sinful nature; other times I find myself alone with others fighting me.   In every instance it is because we want our own desire or goal instead of God’s purpose.

There is a battle unseen all around us.  Sometimes we feel the evil, but more often than not, we miss it entirely until long after we’ve “lost the good fight.”  We don’t need to lose.  We aren’t left battling alone.  Paul tells us we can do more than just withstand spiritual attacks.  We can resist them; through Christ, we can win.

Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

For over one thousand years Russia put its faith in God.  The Revolution changed Russia.  Science and Government attempted to replace God.  But God is everywhere.  He can’t be erased.  Tsar Nicholas’s choice changed a country in a way he never intended it to go.

I’m learning it isn’t how I began; nor is it the journey and “in between.”  It is how I end.  The real question, “In whom do I place my faith” is simple.  It is Jesus Christ.  I place my faith and trust in Him to see me through the trials and battles in life.  He helps me to stand firm even when I don’t think I can.