page_title: Coronation of the Russian monarch
section_title: Coronation procession
hierarchical_section_title: Coronation of the Russian monarch / The coronation / Coronation procession
caption_attribution_description: Entry Procession to the Uspenskij-Cathedral / Prozession Alexandra Fjodorownas in die Uspenskij-Kathedrale
context_page_description: Coronations in Russia involved a highly developed religious ceremony in which the Emperor of Russia was crowned and invested with regalia, then anointed with chrism and formally blessed by the church to commence his reign. Although rulers of Muscovy had been crowned prior to the reign of Ivan III, their coronation rituals assumed overt Byzantine overtones as the result of the influence of Ivan's wife Sophia Paleologue, and the imperial ambitions of his grandson, Ivan IV. The modern coronation, introducing "Western European-style" elements, replaced the previous "crowning" ceremony and was first used for Catherine I in 1724. Since czarist Russia claimed to be the "Third Rome" and the replacement of Byzantium as the true Christian state, the Russian rite was designed to link its rulers and prerogatives to those of the so-called "Second Rome".
  While months or even years could pass between the initial accession of the sovereign and the performance of this ritual, church policy held that the monarch must be anointed and crowned according to the Orthodox rite to have a successful tenure.
context_section_description: The Tsar was met on the morning of his coronation at the Kremlin Palace's Red Porch, where he took his place beneath a large canopy held by thirty-two Russian generals, with other officers providing additional support.  Accompanied by his wife (under a separate canopy) and the regalia, he proceeded slowly toward the Cathedral of the Dormition, where his anointing and crowning would take place.  Among the items of regalia in the parade were the Chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called for the Tsaritsa, the Sword of State, the Banner of State, the State Seal, the Purple Robe for the Tsar, the Orb, the Sceptre, the Small Imperial Crown and the Great Imperial Crown, all arranged in a strict order.  Aides-de-camp to the Tsar, generals of the Suite and the Horse Guards troop lined up along the route, from the Red Porch to the Cathedral. The Hof-Marshal, the Hof-Marshal in Chief and the Supreme Marshal, each with a mace in his hand, silently joined the procession, which also boasted the Ministers of the War Office and Imperial Court, the Commander of the Imperial Residence, the Adjutant General of the Day, the orderly Major General of the Suite and the Commander of the Horse Guards regiment, among others.
  The Tsar and his wife were met at the cathedral door by the Orthodox prelates, chief among them either the Patriarch of Russia or (during times when there was no Patriarch) the Metropolitan Bishop of Moscow.  The presiding bishop offered the Cross to the monarchs for kissing, while another hierarch sprinkled them with holy water.  Once they had entered the cathedral, they venerated the icons there three times, then took their places on the cathedral dais, where two large thrones had been set up.  One of these was the throne of Tsar Michael I, first Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, who ascended the throne in 1613; the other was that of Ivan III, who created the title of "Tsar of all the Russias" in the fifteenth century. Protocol prohibited any crowned sovereign from witnessing the coronation. However, in 1896, exceptions were made for Tsar Nicholas II's mother, Maria Feodorovna, and Nicholas' aunt-by-marriage, Queen Olga of Greece, a Romanov grand duchess by birth and consort of Nicholas' maternal uncle, King George I.
caption: Procession of Tsar Alexander II into Dormition Cathedral from the Red Porch during his coronation in 1856.
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