Notebook

NOTE THE BIT ADDED IN PARENTHESES IN THIS FIRST BRIEF. I RECALL THE REMAINS BEING CERTIFIED BY THIS COMMISSION, NO?

Tsar on hold?

The Russian Orthodox Church has expressed doubts that remains identified as those of Tsar Nicholas II and his family are authentic, which could mean a delay in the planned burial of Russia's last emperor. According to Metropolitan Yuvenali, a member of the government commission on the identification of the tsar's remains (the same commission that recently certified the remains), many issues need to be clarified before the church can decide whether he should be canonized. Yet Yuvenali also confirmed that the church would still like the tsar to be buried on Forgiveness Sunday, February 25, 1996 in St. Petersburg's Peter and Paul Fortress, traditional resting place of Russian monarchs since the time of Peter the Great.