Fedorovna, Alekseevna

[Ralph Cleminson]

>
>         The first Romanov zar was called Fedorov, because her mather
> blessed him before the icon of the Virgin called Fedorovskaja,

In fact the first Romanov tsar was called Fedorov(ich) for the usual
reason, namely that his father's baptismal name was Fedor (Fedor
Nikitich Romanov, better known under his monastic name of Filaret,
under which he rose to be Patriarch of Moscow and effective ruler of
the country).

When in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Romanovs began
to marry princesses from Western European royal families, the latter
would convert to Orthodoxy before their marriage.  The conversion
involved rebaptism, so that the princess would acquire a new Christian
name, and, incidentally, a patronymic, which would be derived from
the Christian name of whoever acted as godfather at the Orthodox rite
of baptism.


R.M.Cleminson,
Professor of Slavonic Studies,
University of Portsmouth,
Park Building,
King Henry I Street,
Portsmouth PO1 2DZ
tel. +44 23 92 846143, fax: +44 23 92 846040

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