The Mystery of Anastasia
(from Carl’s 4/17 message Living the Purpose of the Church)
In reading Stassi Eldredge’s new book Captivating (see earlier blog) I found out she was named for St. Anastasia, a saint iin the fifth century who was martyred for her faith. There was also another famous Anastasi, however - the youngest daughter of the last Czar of Russia.
This fascinated me, so I googled the name Anastasia and found the story very interesting. When the revolution swept Russia and Lenin came to power, Lenin sent the czar and his family (including servants) to the remote area of Siberia. Anastasia was the youngest daughter of the czar. Eventually, in 1918, the soldiers cruelly assasinated the family with their servants and buried them in an unmarked grave.
The grave was discovered in 1991 (after the fall of Communism) and contained 11 bodies. Secretary of State James Baker was in Russia at the time and offered to Russia the help of any experts in the U.S. that might shed light on what happened then. What they discovered was that the body of Anastasia was not in the grave. Apparently, she had escaped. Anastasia was born in 1901, so in all probability she is no longer alive. But what happened to her after she escaped?
Would would it have been like for this woman living in exile? Lost to identity, purpose, and place. No authority. Never becoming what she was born to be.
Through the years, there have been quite a few women who have claimed to be the missing duchess, but one story particularly stands out. In 1920 (two years after the assasination of the family) a woman tried to commit suicide from a bridge in Berlin, Germany. She was rescued and taken to a mental hospital. She fit, exactly, the known physical description of Anastasia and had the correct eye color, height, and physical markings on her body. She could speak German, but also could speak fluent Russian - like a native Russian would speak. She did not know her name. She could not build relationships with others at the hospital. With time, however, she was able to begin sharing a story of what happened back there in 1918. (For more information on this see http://www.concentric.net/~Tsarskoe/.)
To quote from Stassi’s book - “Mankind is like a King or Queen in Exile, and we can’t be happy until we have recovered our true state. When the earth was created, then God set his Image-bearers on the earth….” – he gave both of them a mission: (1) be fruitful and (2) conquer.. Given to both Adam and Eve.
From the sin of both Adam and Eve (Adam was with her when she took the apple), we became lost to this intimacy. We don’t even know our name. We are in exile. God waits for you. God wants, more than anything, that relationship with you he had in the Garden with Adam and Eve - and Christ’s death makes it possible again. He wants to romance you, want’s to take you on an adventure. To give you your name again. To restore your authority. To give you relationships.
(P.S. - The name Anastasi means, in Russian, ” she who would rise again”.)
(Forgive typos - this blog software hasn’t got a spelling checker - or at least I haven’t found it yet - we’ll keep looking.)
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