Terrible tsarinas

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Catherine Shows the Way Russia? What are we seeing? What are we doing? It is Peter the Great whom we are burying!” And, in conclusion, this comforting prophecy: “Russia will go on as he molded it!”

At these words, Catherine raised her head. She had no doubt that, in uttering this sentence, the priest was transmitting a message to her from beyond the tomb. By turns exalted and frightened at the prospect of the days to come, she found herself stifling in the crowd.

But, exiting the church, she found the square looked vaster, emptier, more inhospitable than before. The snow was coming down harder. Even though flanked by her daughters and friends, Catherine felt acutely alone, lost in an unknown land.

It was as though the absence of Peter had paralyzed her. It would take all her courage to face the reality of a Russia with no future and no master.

Terrible Tsarinas

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