397. Речь Благочестивейшей Государыне Императрице Марии Феодоровне, по восприятии Ее Императорским Величеством от святого крещения Благоверной Государыни Великой Княжны Елизаветы Михаиловны

(Said in the Alexievskaya Cathedral Church on June 13; printed separately and in the Moscow Gazette of 1826). Most pious Empress! Nature gave You a Granddaughter: and the Christian Sacrament in the same baby has now given You a Daughter. Close and complete, according to the intention of the church, assimilation, to which the parents themselves give way, as the church rite shows. And the Church rejoices both in the fact that this infant Daughter of the Tsar’s house is now “to become a daughter of God in the region” (John 1:12), and especially in the fact that You have received this newborn Daughter of the Church into Your Sacred arms. You will worthily bring Her to Christ. From You, it is convenient for Her, not only to accept what the Daughters of the House of the Tsar are adorned with before the eyes of the kingdom of the earth, but also to inherit that highest royal splendor, about which it is written: “all the glory of the Tsar’s daughter is within” (Ps. 44:14). Angels, Guardians of children brought to Christ, help You to bless this little Angel and raise Your new Daughter in the properties of a daughter of God. You might be interested in: