By the grace of God

Profile of Nicholas II , an inscription along the edging: " B. M. NIKOLAI II THE EMPEROR AND THE SAMODERZHER VSEROSS", on a coin Thirty-seven rubles fifty kopecks .

By the grace of God ( B. M. , lat. Dei gratia ) is the political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy .

According to this doctrine , the monarch is not a subject of earthly power, but inherits the rights of government directly from God . The solemn expression used in the title of sovereigns in state, diplomatic and most important legislative acts and serves to indicate that the power of the head of state flows from God and exists only by the grace of God.

This expression is found in acts of almost all the monarchical states of Europe, in Russia (in Russia) it was first used in the letters of agreement of Grand Duke Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky with other princes (1433) after he took the great reign from his nephew Vasily the Dark .

Initially, in diplomatic correspondence with foreign powers, the concept that the power of the head of state comes from God was expressed in the so-called “theology”, which consisted in the fact that the words “Our Trinity God” were written in the upper of the three circles enclosed in a triangle, and in the lower titles of the sovereign, on whose behalf the letter was written, and the one to whom it was intended. In the grand-ducal and subsequently royal title, the same concept was not always expressed equally. Beginning with Peter the Great, the old form of theology was replaced by a single expression “God's grace”, used in all the most important acts, from the highest authority emanating from it.