Page:The Book of Orders of Knighthood and Decorations of Honour of All Nations.djvu/509

230 middle an Imperial diadem, surrounded by the motto of the Order, and is equally worn on the left breast.

The costume consists of silver stuff with gold embroidery, and of hat and bow of green velvet.

The members are, by the statutes, bound to render daily thanks to God for the deliverance of Peter I., and pray for the health of the reigning Czar and his family, to say every Sunday three paternosters, to try to convert infidels to the Greek Church, to free, at their own expense, Christians from the hands of barbarians, and to serve in the Committee of Management of the St. Catharine institution, into which every member of the Grand Cross is free to place one pupil.

The annual festival of the Order is celebrated on the 25th November.

ORDER OF ALEXANDER NEWSKY.

Novogorod was once under the rule of Alexander, son of Yaroslaw, one of the numerous Princes of Russia. The town was then (1240) at war with the Tshudi, the Finns, the Swedes, and the Livonian and German Knights. The Swedes, who had forced their way as far as the Neva, were beaten by Alexander, whence he received the surname Newsky. Peter I., after having established his new capital on the Neva, resolved to found an Order in commemoration and under the patronage of that great warrior and national saint. He died, however, before he had carried out his intention. It was realized by Catharine, who invested with the decoration, her intimate friend, Menshikoff, on the 8th April, 1725.

The insignia consist of an octagonal red enamelled cross, showing in its corners, the Imperial. Eagle in gold, and in the white enamelled middle, the figure of St. Alexander on