Ceremonial Funeral For Czar Put Off A Year

A ceremonial burial of the last Russian czar and his family has been put off at least another year, an official said Saturday.

A government commission recommended last fall that the remains of Czar Nicholas II be buried with other Romanov rulers today, a Russian Orthodox holiday called Forgiveness Sunday when believers repent for their sins.

But the government and the Russian Orthodox Church have made no decision on when or where the burial would take place.

The burial of the royal family, executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918, would be a highly-charged event in Russia, where nationalism is surging and the Communist Party is on a comeback ahead of presidential elections in June.

Bones believed to be those of Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, three of their five children and household servants were found in 1991 in a pit in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. DNA tests confirming their identities were completed in August.

Remains of two of the czar’s children have not been found.