The Romanovs' "Fountain of Strength"

My husband and I have been reading another book related to the Romanov royal martyrs: An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar: The Spiritual Journey of Charles Sydney Gibbes. Gibbes was the English tutor to the royal children and went under house arrest with them. Having lost his faith in the Anglican Church as a college student, he spent much of his life seeking spiritual fulfillment. Finally, fourteen years after the Romanovs were killed, he realized that in living with them he had witnessed the truth Faith that he longed for, and he decided to become an Orthodox Christian:

"[N]othing in all [Gibbes's] experience was as exalted and significant as the witness of humble faith, devotion, and courage provided by the Imperial Family he had loved and served. Quite suddenly, he saw the truth manifested in their lives: their reliance on a fountain of strength that kept them radiant even as they were buffeted, humiliated, maligned, and their bodies destroyed by the powerful enemies arrayed against them--enemies they forgave."

--Christine Benagh, An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar, pg. 251