Orthodox Church to canonize Nicholas II

MOSCOW — The Russian Orthodox Church agreed Aug. 14 to canonize Russia’s last czar and his entire family who died in 1918 at the hands of Russian revolutionaries.

Czar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children will all become “passion bearers,” the lowest level of sainthood in the Russian Orthodox Church. The decision puts to rest months of controversy on whether the murdered czar should be given saintly status.

Church leaders said Nicholas and his family were “people who sincerely tried to carry out the commandments of God” and displayed “Christian faith” in their deaths, according to the Washington Post.