Everyone talked about her as a dazzling beauty, and in Europe they believed that there were only two beauties on the European Olympus, both of them Elizabeths. Elizabeth of Austria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Elizaveta Feodorovna, the elder sister of Alexandra Feodorovna, the future Russian Empress, was the second child in the family of Duke Louis IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. Another daughter of this couple, Alice, later became the Russian Empress Alexandra Fedorovna.
The children were brought up in the traditions of old England, their lives followed a strict schedule. Clothing and food were very simple. The older daughters did it themselves homework: they cleaned the rooms, beds, lit the fireplace. Much later, Elizaveta Fedorovna will say: “They taught me everything in the house.”
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, the same KR, dedicated the following lines to Elizabeth Feodorovna in 1884:
I look at you, admiring you every hour:
You are so inexpressibly beautiful!
Oh, that's right, underneath such a beautiful exterior
Such a beautiful soul!
Some kind of meekness and innermost sadness
There is depth in your eyes;
Like an angel, you are quiet, pure and perfect;
Like a woman, shy and tender.
May there be nothing on earth
Among the evils and much sorrow
Your purity will not be tarnished.
And everyone who sees you will glorify God,
Who created such beauty!
At the age of twenty, Princess Elizabeth became the bride of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II. Before this, all applicants for her hand received a categorical refusal. Got married in church Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and, of course, the princess could not help but be impressed by the majesty of the event. The beauty and antiquity of the wedding ceremony, the Russian church service, like an angelic touch, struck Elizabeth, and she could not forget this feeling all her life.
She had an irresistible desire to know this mysterious country, her culture, her faith. And her appearance began to change: from a coldish German beauty, the Grand Duchess gradually turned into a spiritual one, all as if glowing inner light woman.
The family spent most of the year on their Ilyinskoye estate, sixty kilometers from Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. But there were also balls, celebrations, and theatrical performances. Cheerful Ellie, as she was called in the family, by her family theatrical performances and holidays at the skating rink brought youthful enthusiasm into life imperial family. Heir Nicholas loved to be here, and when twelve-year-old Alice arrived at the Grand Duke’s house, he began to come even more often.
Ancient Moscow, its way of life, its ancient patriarchal life and its monasteries and churches fascinated the Grand Duchess. Sergei Alexandrovich was a deeply religious man, observed fasts and church holidays, went to services, went to monasteries. And the Grand Duchess was with him everywhere, attending all the services.
How different it was from a Protestant church! How the princess’s soul sang and rejoiced, what grace flowed through her soul when she saw Sergei Alexandrovich, transformed after communion. She wanted to share with him this joy of finding grace, and she began to seriously study Orthodox faith, read spiritual books.
Here's another gift from fate! Emperor Alexander III instructed Sergei Alexandrovich to be in the Holy Land in 1888 at the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane, which was built in memory of their mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. The couple visited Nazareth, Mount Tabor. The princess wrote to her grandmother Queen of England Victoria: “The country is truly beautiful. Everything is around gray stones and houses of the same color. Even the trees do not have fresh color. But nevertheless, when you get used to it, you find picturesque features everywhere and are amazed...”
She stood at the majestic church of St. Mary Magdalene, to which she brought precious utensils for worship, Gospels and air. There was such silence and airy splendor spreading around the temple... At the foot of the Mount of Olives, in the dim, slightly muted light, cypresses and olives froze, as if lightly traced against the sky. A wonderful feeling took possession of her, and she said: “I would like to be buried here.” It was a sign of fate! A sign from above! And how will he respond in the future!
After this trip, Sergei Alexandrovich became chairman of the Palestine Society. And Elizaveta Fedorovna, after visiting the Holy Land, made a firm decision to convert to Orthodoxy. That was not easy. On January 1, 1891, she wrote to her father about the decision with a request to bless her: “You should have noticed how deep reverence I have for the local religion…. I thought and read all the time and prayed to God to show me the right path, and came to the conclusion that only in this religion can I find all the real and strong faith in God that a person must have to be a good Christian. It would be a sin to remain as I am now, to belong to the same church in form and for the outside world, but inside myself to pray and believe like my husband…. You know me well, you must see that I decided to take this step only out of deep faith, and that I feel that I must appear before God with a pure and believing heart. I thought and thought deeply about all this, being in this country for more than 6 years and knowing that religion was “found”. I so strongly wish to receive Holy Communion with my husband on Easter.” The father did not bless his daughter for this step. Nevertheless, on the eve of Easter 1891, on Lazarus Saturday, the rite of acceptance into Orthodoxy was performed.
What rejoicing of the soul - on Easter, together with her beloved husband, she sang the bright troparion “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death...” and approached the Holy Chalice. It was Elizaveta Fedorovna who persuaded her sister to convert to Orthodoxy, finally dispelling Alix’s fears. Ellie was not required to convert to the Orthodox faith upon marriage to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, since he could not under any circumstances be the heir to the throne. But she did this out of inner need, she also explained to her sister the whole necessity of this and that the transition to Orthodoxy would not be an apostasy for her, but, on the contrary, the acquisition of true faith.
In 1891, the emperor appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as Moscow governor-general. Muscovites soon recognized the Grand Duchess as a protector of the orphaned and the poor, the sick and the poor; she went to hospitals, almshouses, orphanages, helped many, alleviated suffering, and distributed aid.
When the Russo-Japanese War began, Elizaveta Feodorovna immediately began organizing assistance to the front; workshops were set up in all the halls of the Kremlin Palace to help soldiers. Medicines, food, uniforms, warm clothes for the soldiers, donations and funds - all this was collected and sent by the Grand Duchess to the front. She formed several ambulance trains, set up a hospital for the wounded in Moscow, which she often visited, and organized special committees to provide for widows and orphans of those killed at the front. But it was especially touching for the soldier to receive icons and images, prayer books and Gospels from the Grand Duchess. She especially took care of sending traveling Orthodox churches with everything necessary for performing divine services.
At that time, revolutionary groups were rampant in the country, and Sergei Alexandrovich, who considered it necessary to take tougher measures against them and did not find support, resigned. The Emperor accepted the resignation. But it was all in vain. Meanwhile, the fighting organization of the Social Revolutionaries had already sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. The authorities knew about the impending assassination attempt and tried to prevent it. Elizaveta Fedorovna received anonymous letters in which she was warned that if she did not want to share her husband’s fate, she should not accompany him anywhere. The princess, on the contrary, tried to go everywhere with him, not to leave him even for a minute. But on February 4, 1905, it still happened. Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev at the Nikolsky Gate of the Kremlin. When Elizaveta Fedorovna arrived there, a crowd of people had already gathered there. Someone tried to prevent her from approaching the scene of the explosion, but when a stretcher was brought, she herself placed the remains of her husband on it. Only the head and face were intact. Moreover, she picked up the icons in the snow that her husband wore around his neck.
The procession with the remains moved to the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin, Elizaveta Fedorovna followed the stretcher on foot. In the church, she knelt down next to the stretcher at the pulpit and bowed her head. She stood on her knees throughout the funeral service, only occasionally glancing at the blood oozing through the tarpaulin.
Then she stood up and walked through the frozen crowd to the exit. At the palace, she ordered a mourning dress to be brought to her, changed clothes and began to compose telegrams to her relatives, writing in absolutely clear, clear handwriting. It just seemed to her that someone else was doing it for her. Completely different. Several times she inquired about the well-being of the coachman Efim, who had served the Grand Duke for twenty-five years and was badly injured during the explosion. In the evening she was told that the coachman had regained consciousness, but no one dared to tell him about the death of Sergei Alexandrovich. And then Elizaveta Fedorovna went to see him at the hospital. Seeing that the coachman was very bad, she bent over him and affectionately said that everything had turned out well and Sergei Alexandrovich asked her to visit the old servant. The coachman's face seemed to brighten, he calmed down, and after a while he calmly died.
The next morning the Grand Duke was buried. At the last moment, his heart was found on one of the roofs near the murder site. They managed to put him in a coffin.
In the evening she went to Butyrka prison. The warden went to the criminal's cell with her. At the threshold of the cell, she paused for a second: am I doing the right thing? And it was as if the voice was hers, the voice of her husband, wanting forgiveness for the murderer.
Kalyaev, with a feverish gleam in his eyes, rose to meet her and shouted defiantly:
I'm his widow. Why did you kill him?
I didn't want to kill you, I saw him several times while I had the bomb ready, but you were with him and I didn't dare touch him.
And you didn’t understand that you killed me along with him?
The killer didn't answer...
She tried to explain to him that she had brought forgiveness from Sergei Alexandrovich. But he didn’t hear, they spoke different languages. Elizaveta Feodorovna asked him to repent, but these words were unfamiliar to him. The Grand Duchess spoke with Kalyaev for more than two hours; she brought him the Gospel and asked him to read it. But it was all in vain. Leaving the Gospel and a small icon, she left.
The Grand Duchess asked Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but it was rejected because the criminal did not repent. At the trial, he demanded a death sentence for himself, with burning eyes he madly repeated that he would always destroy political opponents. She was told, however, that at the last minute he picked up the icon and placed it on the pillow.
Sergei Alexandrovich was buried in the small church of the Chudov Monastery; a crypt-burial vault was made here. It was here that Elizaveta Fedorovna came every day and at night, prayed, and thought about how to live further. Here, in the Chudov Monastery, she received grace-filled help from the relics of the great prayer book St. Alexis, and then all her life she carried a piece of his relics in her pectoral cross. At the site of her husband’s murder, Elizaveta Fedorovna erected a monument-cross, made according to Vasnetsov’s design. On it are the words of the Savior spoken by Him on the cross: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing.” In 1918, the cross was demolished; in 1985, a crypt containing the remains of the Grand Duke was discovered. And in 1995, the cross was restored to its old location.
After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna did not take off her mourning, she prayed a lot and fasted. The decision came through much prayer. She dissolved the court, divided her fortune into three parts: to the treasury, to her husband’s heirs and to the very most for charitable purposes.
In 1909, the Grand Duchess came to Polotsk to transfer the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk from Kyiv. The fate of Euphrosyne spoke a lot to Elizaveta Feodorovna: she died in Jerusalem, apparently being the first Russian pilgrim. How she recalled their trip with Sergei to the Holy Land, how serene their happiness was, how good and peaceful she felt there!
She decided to devote herself to the construction and creation of a merciful monastery. Elizaveta Feodorovna continued to do charity work, helping soldiers, the poor, orphans, and thought about the monastery all the time. Various draft charters of the monastery were drawn up, one of them was submitted by the Oryol priest Mitrofan Srebryansky, the author of a book that she read with deep interest - “The Diary of a Regimental Priest who served in the Far East during the entire period of the past Russo-Japanese War,” to whom the princess offered to be confessor of the monastery. The Synod did not immediately accept and understand her plan, so the charter was redone many times.
After the death of her husband, from a share of the fortune intended for charitable purposes, the Grand Duchess allocated part of the money for the purchase of an estate on Bolshaya Ordynka and began the construction of a church and monastery premises, an outpatient clinic, and an orphanage here. In February 1909, the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy was opened; there were only six sisters in it. Two churches were built on the territory of the monastery: the first in honor of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary, the second in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. A small church-tomb was built under the latter. The Grand Duchess thought that her body would rest here after death, but God judged otherwise.
On April 22, 1910, in the Church of Martha and Mary, Bishop Tryphon dedicated 17 ascetics, led by the abbess, to the cross sisters of love and mercy. For the first time, the Grand Duchess took off her mourning and put on the robe of the cross sister of love and mercy. She gathered seventeen sisters and said: “I am leaving the brilliant world where I occupied a brilliant position, but together with all of you I am ascending to a more great world- into the world of the poor and suffering."
An almshouse, a hospital and an orphanage were built. The monastery was extraordinarily beautiful; heartfelt services that were remembered by many contemporaries were held here. Temples, one of which was built by the famous architect Shchusev and painted by artist Mikhail Nesterov, the fragrance of flowers, greenhouses, a park - everything represented spiritual harmony.
The sisters studied the basics of medicine, visited hospitals and almshouses, it was here that the most seriously ill patients were brought, whom everyone refused, the best specialists were invited to them, the doctors' offices and surgical clinic were the best in Moscow, all operations were performed free of charge. A pharmacy was also built here, where medicines were also provided to the poor free of charge. Day and night, the sisters vigilantly monitored the condition of the sick, patiently looked after them, and the abbess, it seemed to them, was always with them, for she set aside 2-3 hours a day for sleep. Many hopeless people stood up and, leaving the monastery, cried, calling Elizaveta Feodorovna “Great Mother.” She dressed wounds herself and often sat all night at the patient’s bedside. If someone died, she read the Psalter over the deceased all night, and at 6 am she invariably began her working day.
Elizaveta Fedorovna opened a school in the monastery for orphans and children whom she found at the Khitrov market. It was a place where all the dregs of society seemed to gather, but the abbess always repeated: “The likeness of God may sometimes be obscured, but it cannot be destroyed.” Here everyone already knew her, respected her, affectionately and respectfully called her “mother” and “sister Elizabeth.” She was not afraid of illness, nor the surrounding dirt, nor the abuse that spread throughout Khitrovka; she tirelessly and zealously searched for orphans here, moving with her sisters Varvara Yakovleva or Princess Maria Obolenskaya from brothel to den, persuading them to give them to her to raise. Boys from Khitrovka soon began to work in a team of messengers, girls were placed in closed educational establishments and shelters, the monastery also organized a shelter for orphan girls, and a large Christmas tree with gifts was organized for poor children at Christmas.
In addition, a Sunday school was opened in the monastery for factory workers, a library was organized where books were given out free of charge, more than 300 lunches were provided daily for the poor, and those who had large families, could take lunches home. Over time, she wanted to spread the experience of her monastery throughout Russia and open branches in other cities. In 1914, there were already 97 sisters of the cross in the monastery.
In the monastery, the Grand Duchess led an ascetic lifestyle: she slept on wooden planks without a mattress, secretly wore a hair shirt and chains, did everything herself, strictly observed fasts, and ate only plant foods. When a patient needed help, she sat with him and sweated all night until dawn, assisting with the most complex operations. The patients felt the healing power of spirit emanating from her and agreed to any most difficult operation if she spoke of its necessity.
During the First World War, she cared for the wounded in hospitals and sent many sisters to work in field hospitals. She also visited captured wounded Germans, but gossips who slandered about secret support of the enemy royal family, made her decide to give it up.
Right after February Revolution A truck with armed soldiers led by a non-commissioned officer drove up to the monastery. They demanded to be taken to the head of the monastery. “We have come to arrest the Empress’s sister,” the non-commissioned officer said cheerfully. The confessor, Archpriest Mitrofan, was also present here and addressed the soldiers with indignation: “Who have you come to arrest! After all, there are no criminals here! Everything that Mother Elizabeth had, she gave it all to the people. With her funds, a monastery, a church, an almshouse, a shelter for homeless children, and a hospital were built. Is this a crime?
The non-commissioned officer leading the detachment peered intently at the priest and suddenly asked him: “Father! Aren’t you Father Mitrofan from Orel?” - "Yes it's me". The non-commissioned officer’s face instantly changed, and he said to the soldiers: “That’s it, guys! I'll stay here and take care of everything myself. And you go back." The soldiers, having listened to Father Mitrofan and realizing that they had started something that was not entirely right, obeyed and left. And the non-commissioned officer said: “I will now stay here and protect you!”
There were many more searches and arrests, but the Grand Duchess steadfastly endured these hardships and injustices. And all the time she repeated: “The people are children, they are not to blame for what is happening... They are misled by the enemies of Russia”...
On the third day of Easter, on the day of the celebration of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, Elizaveta Feodorovna was arrested and immediately taken from Moscow to Perm. She was given half an hour to get ready. All the sisters ran to the Church of Martha and Mary, and the abbess blessed them for the last time. The temple was filled with crying, everyone understood that they would see each other for the last time... Two sisters went with her - Varvara Yakovleva and Ekaterina Yanysheva.
With the arrest of the abbess in April 1918, the monastery practically ceased its charitable activities, although it existed for another seven years. Father Mitrofan continued to spiritually care for the sisters until the closure of the monastery; he visited here His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon repeatedly served the liturgy, here he tonsured Father Mitrofan into monasticism under the name Sergius, and his mother under the name Elizabeth.
On the night of July 17-18, 1918, a car arrived at the building of the Floor School in Alapaevsk. equestrian group workers and, putting the prisoners into carriages (Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, the sons of Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, Princes John, Igor and Konstantin, the son of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, Prince Vladimir Paley, Elizaveta Fedorovna and novice Varvara), took them into the forest to the old mine. Sergei Mikhailovich resisted and was shot. The rest were thrown alive into the mine. When they pushed the Grand Duchess into the mine, she repeated aloud the Savior’s prayer: “Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Elizaveta Fedorovna fell not to the bottom of the mine, but onto a ledge at a depth of 15 meters. Next to her was Ivan Konstantinovich with bandaged wounds. Even here, the Grand Duchess did not cease to show mercy and alleviate the suffering of others, although she herself suffered from numerous fractures and severe bruises to her head.
The killers returned several times to finish off their victims, they threw logs, grenades, and burning sulfur. One of the peasants, who was an accidental witness to this execution, recalled that from the depths of the mine the sounds of the cherubic song that the sufferers sang were heard, and the voice of the Grand Duchess especially stood out.
Three months later, the whites exhumed the remains of the victims. The fingers of the Grand Duchess and nun Varvara were folded for the sign of the cross. They died of wounds, thirst and hunger in terrible agony. Their remains were transported to Beijing. According to the stories of a witness, the bodies of the dead lay in the mine, and then a certain monk managed to extract them from there, put them in hastily knocked together coffins and across the whole of Siberia, engulfed civil war, scorched by the terrible heat, was transported to Harbin for three weeks. Upon arrival in Harbin, the bodies completely decomposed, and only the body of the Grand Duchess turned out to be incorrupt.
From the story of Prince N.A. Kudashev, who saw her in Harbin: “The Grand Duchess lay as if alive, and had not changed at all since the day when, before leaving for Beijing, I said goodbye to her in Moscow, only on one side of her face there was a large bruise from the impact of falling in mine. I ordered real coffins for them and attended the funeral. Knowing that she always expressed the desire to be buried in Gethsemane in Jerusalem, I decided to fulfill her will and sent the ashes of her and her faithful novice to the Holy Land, asking the monk to accompany them to their final resting place.”
The same monk who later carried the incorrupt body of Elizabeth Feodorovna, amazingly knew the Grand Duchess before the revolution, and during the revolution he was in Moscow, met with her and persuaded her to go with him to Alapaevsk, where, as he said, he had were " good people in religious monasteries that will be able to preserve Your Highness.” But the Grand Duchess refused to hide, adding: “If they kill me, then I ask you, bury me in a Christian way.”
There were several attempts to save the Grand Duchess. In the spring of 1917, a Swedish minister came to her on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm with an offer of assistance in leaving Russia. Elizaveta Fedorovna refused, saying that she had decided to share the fate of her country, her homeland, and besides, she could not leave the sisters of the monastery in this hard time.
After the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the German government obtained permission from the Soviets for Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna to leave for Germany, and the German Ambassador to Russia, Count Mirbach, tried to see her twice, but she refused him and conveyed a categorical refusal to leave Russia with the words: “I I didn’t do anything bad to anyone. The Lord's will be done!
In one of her letters, she wrote: “I felt such deep pity for Russia and its children, who currently do not know what they are doing. Isn't it a sick child whom we love a hundred times more during his illness than when he is cheerful and healthy? I would like to bear his suffering, teach him patience, help him. This is how I feel every day. Holy Russia cannot perish. But great Russia, alas, no more. But God in the Bible shows how he forgave his repentant people and gave them blessed power again. Let us hope that prayers, intensifying every day, and increasing repentance will appease the Ever-Virgin, and she will pray for her Divine Son for us, and that the Lord will forgive us.”
In the holy city of Jerusalem, in the so-called Russian Gethsemane, in the crypt located under the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles, there are two coffins. In one lies Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, in the other her novice Varvara, who refused to leave her abbess and thereby save her life.
The day of remembrance of the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna Alapaevskaya is July 5, she is also remembered on the day of remembrance of all the departed who suffered during the time of persecution for the faith of Christ in the Cathedral of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on the Sunday after January 25.
In 1990, on the territory of the Martha and Mary Convent, Patriarch Alexy II unveiled a monument to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, created by sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov.
Twentieth century... Even more homeless,
More scarier than life haze
(Even blacker and bigger
Shadow of Lucifer's wing), -
wrote Alexander Blok. But the 20th century was also sanctified by the images of new martyrs for the faith, who atoned for our sins before eternity... Such is the image of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Holy Martyr Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova
The Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (officially in Russia - Elisaveta Feodorovna) was born on October 20 (November 1), 1864 in Germany, in the city of Darmstadt. She was the second child in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ludwig IV, and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. Another daughter of this couple (Alice) would later become Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.
Grand Duchess of Hesse and Rhineland Alice with her daughter Ella
Ella with her mother Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine
Ludwig IV of Hesse and Alice with Princesses Victoria and Elizabeth (right).
Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt
The children were brought up in the traditions of old England, their lives passed according to strict order, established by the mother. Children's clothing and food were very basic. The eldest daughters did their homework themselves: they cleaned the rooms, beds, and lit the fireplace. Subsequently, Elizaveta Fedorovna said: “They taught me everything in the house.” The mother carefully monitored the talents and inclinations of each of the seven children and tried to raise them on the solid basis of Christian commandments, to put in their hearts love for their neighbors, especially for the suffering.
Elizaveta Fedorovna's parents gave away most of their fortune to charity, and the children constantly traveled with their mother to hospitals, shelters, and homes for the disabled, bringing with them large bouquets of flowers, putting them in vases, and carrying them around the wards of the sick.
Since childhood, Elizabeth loved nature and especially flowers, which she enthusiastically painted. She had a gift for painting, and throughout her life she devoted a lot of time to this activity. Loved classical music. Everyone who knew Elizabeth from childhood noted her religiosity and love for her neighbors. As Elizaveta Feodorovna herself later said, even in her earliest youth she was greatly influenced by the life and exploits of her saintly distant relative Elizabeth of Thuringia, in whose honor she bore her name.
Portrait of the family of Grand Duke Ludwig IV, painted for Queen Victoria in 1879 by the artist Baron Heinrich von Angeli.
In 1873, Elizabeth’s three-year-old brother Friedrich fell to his death in front of his mother. In 1876, an epidemic of diphtheria began in Darmstadt; all the children except Elizabeth fell ill. The mother sat at night by the beds of her sick children. Soon, four-year-old Maria died, and after her, the Grand Duchess Alice herself fell ill and died at the age of 35.
That year the time of childhood ended for Elizabeth. Grief intensified her prayers. She realized that life on earth is the path of the Cross. The child tried with all his might to ease his father’s grief, support him, console him, and to some extent replace his mother with his younger sisters and brother.
Alice and Louis together with their children: Marie in the arms of the Grand Duke and (from left to right) Ella, Ernie, Alix, Irene, and Victoria
Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and the Rhine
Artist - Henry Charles Heath
Princesses Victoria, Elizabeth, Irene, Alix Hesse mourn their mother.
In her twentieth year, Princess Elizabeth became the bride of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II, brother of Emperor Alexander III. She met her future husband in childhood, when he came to Germany with his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who also came from the House of Hesse. Before this, all applicants for her hand had been refused: Princess Elizabeth in her youth had vowed to remain a virgin for the rest of her life. After frank conversation It turned out between her and Sergei Alexandrovich that he had secretly made the same vow. By mutual agreement, their marriage was spiritual, they lived like brother and sister.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
The wedding took place in the church Grand Palace St. Petersburg according to the Orthodox rite, and after that according to the Protestant rite in one of the living rooms of the palace. The Grand Duchess intensively studied the Russian language, wanting to study more deeply the culture and especially the faith of her new homeland.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was dazzlingly beautiful. In those days they said that there were only two beauties in Europe, and both were Elizabeths: Elizabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
F.I. Rerberg.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
Zon, Karl Rudolf -
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
A.P.Sokolov
For most of the year, the Grand Duchess lived with her husband on their Ilyinskoye estate, sixty kilometers from Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. She loved Moscow with its ancient churches, monasteries and patriarchal life. Sergei Alexandrovich was a deeply religious person, strictly observed all church canons and fasts, often went to services, went to monasteries - the Grand Duchess followed her husband everywhere and stood idle for long church services. Here she experienced an amazing feeling, so different from what she encountered in the Protestant church.
Elizaveta Feodorovna firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy. What kept her from taking this step was the fear of hurting her family, and above all, her father. Finally, on January 1, 1891, she wrote a letter to her father about her decision, asking for a short telegram of blessing.
The father did not send his daughter the desired telegram with a blessing, but wrote a letter in which he said that her decision brings him pain and suffering, and he cannot give a blessing. Then Elizaveta Fedorovna showed courage and, despite moral suffering, firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy.
On April 13 (25), on Lazarus Saturday, the sacrament of anointing of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was performed, leaving her former name, but in honor of the holy righteous Elizabeth - the mother of St. John the Baptist, whose memory the Orthodox Church commemorates on September 5 (18).
Friedrich August von Kaulbach.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, V.I. Nesterenko
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, 1887. Artist S.F. Alexandrovsky
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
In 1891, Emperor Alexander III appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as Moscow Governor-General. The wife of the Governor-General had to perform many duties - they went permanent appointments, concerts, balls. It was necessary to smile and bow to the guests, dance and conduct conversations, regardless of mood, state of health and desire.
The residents of Moscow soon appreciated her merciful heart. She went to hospitals for the poor, almshouses, and shelters for street children. And everywhere she tried to alleviate the suffering of people: she distributed food, clothing, money, and improved the living conditions of the unfortunate.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Room of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
In 1894, after many obstacles, the decision was made to engage Grand Duchess Alice to the heir Russian throne Nikolai Alexandrovich. Elizaveta Feodorovna rejoiced that the young lovers could finally unite, and her sister would live in Russia, dear to her heart. Princess Alice was 22 years old and Elizaveta Fedorovna hoped that her sister, living in Russia, would understand and love the Russian people, master the Russian language perfectly and be able to prepare for high service Empress of Russia.
Two sisters Ella and Alix
Ella and Alix
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
But everything happened differently. The heir's bride arrived in Russia when Emperor Alexander III lay dying. On October 20, 1894, the emperor died. The next day, Princess Alice converted to Orthodoxy with the name Alexandra. The wedding of Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna took place a week after the funeral, and in the spring of 1896 the coronation took place in Moscow. The celebrations have been overshadowed a terrible disaster: on the Khodynka field, where gifts were distributed to the people, a stampede began - thousands of people were injured or crushed.
When did it start Russo-Japanese War, Elizaveta Feodorovna immediately began organizing assistance to the front. One of her remarkable undertakings was the establishment of workshops to help soldiers - all the halls of the Kremlin Palace, except the Throne Palace, were occupied for them. Thousands of women worked on sewing machines and work tables. Huge donations came from all over Moscow and the provinces. From here, bales of food, uniforms, medicines and gifts for soldiers went to the front. The Grand Duchess sent camp churches with icons and everything necessary for worship to the front. I personally sent Gospels, icons and prayer books. At her own expense, the Grand Duchess formed several ambulance trains.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, D. Belyukin
Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
In Moscow, she set up a hospital for the wounded and created special committees to provide for the widows and orphans of those killed at the front. But Russian troops suffered one defeat after another. The war showed Russia's technical and military unpreparedness and shortcomings government controlled. Scores began to be settled for past grievances of arbitrariness or injustice, the unprecedented scale of terrorist acts, rallies, and strikes. State and public order was falling apart, revolution was approaching.
Sergei Alexandrovich believed that it was necessary to take tougher measures against the revolutionaries and reported this to the emperor, saying that given the current situation he could no longer hold the position of Governor-General of Moscow. The Emperor accepted his resignation and the couple left the governor's house, moving temporarily to Neskuchnoye.
Meanwhile, the fighting organization of the Social Revolutionaries sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. Its agents kept an eye on him, waiting for an opportunity to execute him. Elizaveta Fedorovna knew that her husband was being threatened deadly danger. Anonymous letters warned her not to accompany her husband if she did not want to share his fate. The Grand Duchess especially tried not to leave him alone and, if possible, accompanied her husband everywhere.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, V.I. Nesterenko
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Princess Elizaveta Feodorovna
On February 5 (18), 1905, Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev. When Elizaveta Feodorovna arrived at the scene of the explosion, a crowd had already gathered there. Someone tried to prevent her from approaching the remains of her husband, but with her own hands she collected the pieces of her husband’s body scattered by the explosion onto a stretcher.
On the third day after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna went to the prison where the murderer was kept. Kalyaev said: “I didn’t want to kill you, I saw him several times and the time when I had a bomb ready, but you were with him, and I did not dare to touch him.”
- « And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him? - she answered. She further said that she had brought forgiveness from Sergei Alexandrovich and asked him to repent. But he refused. Nevertheless, Elizaveta Fedorovna left the Gospel and a small icon in the cell, hoping for a miracle. Leaving prison, she said: “My attempt was unsuccessful, although who knows, perhaps at the last minute he will realize his sin and repent of it.” The Grand Duchess asked Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but this request was rejected.
Meeting of Elizaveta Fedorovna and Kalyaev.
From the moment of the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna did not stop mourning, began to keep a strict fast, and prayed a lot. Her bedroom in the Nicholas Palace began to resemble a monastic cell. All the luxurious furniture was taken out, the walls were repainted white, and only icons and paintings of spiritual content were on them. She did not appear at social functions. She was only in church for weddings or christenings of relatives and friends and immediately went home or on business. Now nothing connected her with social life.
Elizaveta Fedorovna in mourning after the death of her husband
She collected all her jewelry, gave some to the treasury, some to her relatives, and decided to use the rest to build a monastery of mercy. On Bolshaya Ordynka in Moscow, Elizaveta Fedorovna purchased an estate with four houses and a garden. In the largest two-story house there is a dining room for the sisters, a kitchen and other utility rooms, in the second there is a church and a hospital, next to it there is a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic for incoming patients. In the fourth house there was an apartment for the priest - the confessor of the monastery, classes of the school for girls of the orphanage and a library.
On February 10, 1909, the Grand Duchess gathered 17 sisters of the monastery she founded, took off her mourning dress, put on a monastic robe and said: “I will leave the brilliant world where I occupied a brilliant position, but together with all of you I ascend to a greater world - to a world of the poor and suffering."
Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova.
The first church of the monastery (“hospital”) was consecrated by Bishop Tryphon on September 9 (21), 1909 (on the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in the name of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. The second church is in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consecrated in 1911 (architect A.V. Shchusev, paintings by M.V. Nesterov)
Mikhail Nesterov. Elisaveta Feodorovna Romanova. Between 1910 and 1912.
The day at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent began at 6 o’clock in the morning. After the general morning prayer rule. In the hospital church, the Grand Duchess gave obedience to the sisters for the coming day. Those free from obedience remained in the church, where the Divine Liturgy began. The afternoon meal included reading the lives of the saints. At 5 o'clock in the evening, Vespers and Matins were served in the church, where all the sisters free from obedience were present. On holidays and Sundays an all-night vigil was held. At 9 o'clock in the evening, the evening rule was read in the hospital church, after which all the sisters, having received the blessing of the abbess, went to their cells. Akathists were read four times a week during Vespers: on Sunday - to the Savior, on Monday - to the Archangel Michael and all the Ethereal Heavenly Powers, on Wednesday - to the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary, and on Friday - Mother of God or the Passion of Christ. In the chapel, built at the end of the garden, the Psalter for the dead was read. The abbess herself often prayed there at night. Inner life The sisters were led by a wonderful priest and shepherd - the confessor of the monastery, Archpriest Mitrofan Serebryansky. Twice a week he had conversations with the sisters. In addition, the sisters could come to their confessor or the abbess every day at certain hours for advice and guidance. The Grand Duchess, together with Father Mitrofan, taught the sisters not only medical knowledge, but also spiritual guidance to degenerate, lost and despairing people. Every Sunday after the evening service in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, conversations were held for the people with the general singing of prayers.
Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent
Archpriest Mitrofan Srebryansky
Divine services in the monastery have always been at a brilliant height thanks to the exceptional pastoral merits of the confessor chosen by the abbess. The best shepherds and preachers not only from Moscow, but also from many remote places in Russia came here to perform divine services and preach. Like a bee, the abbess collected nectar from all flowers so that people could feel the special aroma of spirituality. The monastery, its churches and worship aroused the admiration of its contemporaries. This was facilitated not only by the temples of the monastery, but also by a beautiful park with greenhouses - in the best traditions of gardening. art XVIII- XIX century. It was a single ensemble, combining harmoniously external and inner beauty.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
A contemporary of the Grand Duchess, Nonna Grayton, maid of honor to her relative Princess Victoria, testifies: “She had a wonderful quality - to see the good and the real in people, and tried to bring it out. She also did not have a high opinion of her qualities at all... She never said the words “I can’t”, and there was never anything dull in the life of the Marfo-Mary Convent. Everything was perfect there, both inside and outside. And whoever was there took away a wonderful feeling.”
In the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, the Grand Duchess led the life of an ascetic. She slept on a wooden bed without a mattress. She strictly observed fasts, eating only plant foods. In the morning she got up for prayer, after which she distributed obediences to the sisters, worked in the clinic, received visitors, and sorted out petitions and letters.
In the evening, there is a round of patients, ending after midnight. At night she prayed in a chapel or in church, her sleep rarely lasting more than three hours. When the patient was thrashing about and needed help, she sat at his bedside until dawn. In the hospital, Elizaveta Feodorovna took on the most responsible work: she assisted during operations, did dressings, found words of consolation, and tried to alleviate the suffering of the sick. They said that it came from the Grand Duchess healing power, which helped them endure pain and agree to difficult operations.
The abbess always offered confession and communion as the main remedy for illnesses. She said: “It is immoral to console the dying with false hope of recovery; it is better to help them move into eternity in a Christian way.”
The healed patients cried as they left the Marfo-Mariinskaya Hospital, parting with “ great mother", as they called the abbess. There was a Sunday school at the monastery for female factory workers. Anyone could use the funds of the excellent library. There was a free canteen for the poor.
The abbess of the Martha and Mary Convent believed that the main thing was not the hospital, but helping the poor and needy. The monastery received up to 12,000 requests a year. They asked for everything: arranging for treatment, finding a job, looking after children, caring for bedridden patients, sending them to study abroad.
She found opportunities to help the clergy - she provided funds for the needs of poor rural parishes that could not repair the church or build a new one. She encouraged, strengthened, and helped financially the priests - missionaries who worked among the pagans far north or foreigners from the outskirts of Russia.
One of the main places of poverty, to which the Grand Duchess devoted Special attention, there was Khitrov market. Elizaveta Fedorovna, accompanied by her cell attendant Varvara Yakovleva or the sister of the monastery, Princess Maria Obolenskaya, tirelessly moving from one den to another, collected orphans and persuaded parents to give her children to raise. The entire population of Khitrovo respected her, calling her “ sister Elizabeth" or "mother" The police constantly warned her that they could not guarantee her safety.
Varvara Yakovleva
Princess Maria Obolenskaya
Khitrov market
In response to this, the Grand Duchess always thanked the police for their care and said that her life was not in their hands, but in the hands of God. She tried to save the children of Khitrovka. She was not afraid of uncleanliness, swearing, or a face that had lost its human appearance. She said: " The likeness of God may sometimes be obscured, but it can never be destroyed.”
She placed the boys torn from Khitrovka into dormitories. From one group of such recent ragamuffins an artel of executive messengers of Moscow was formed. The girls were placed in closed educational institutions or shelters, where their health, spiritual and physical, was also monitored.
Elizaveta Feodorovna organized charity homes for orphans, disabled people, and seriously ill people, found time to visit them, constantly supported them financially, and brought gifts. They tell the following story: one day the Grand Duchess was supposed to come to an orphanage for little orphans. Everyone was preparing to meet their benefactress with dignity. The girls were told that the Grand Duchess would come: they would need to greet her and kiss her hands. When Elizaveta Fedorovna arrived, she was greeted by little children in white dresses. They greeted each other in unison and all extended their hands to the Grand Duchess with the words: “kiss the hands.” The teachers were horrified: what would happen. But the Grand Duchess went up to each of the girls and kissed everyone’s hands. Everyone cried at the same time - there was such tenderness and reverence on their faces and in their hearts.
« Great Mother“hoped that the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, which she created, would blossom into a large fruitful tree.
Over time, she planned to establish branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia.
The Grand Duchess had a native Russian love of pilgrimage.
She traveled to Sarov more than once and happily hurried to the temple to pray at the shrine. St. Seraphim. She went to Pskov, to Optina Pustyn, to Zosima Pustyn, was in Solovetsky Monastery. She also visited the smallest monasteries in provincial and remote places in Russia. She was present at all spiritual celebrations associated with the discovery or transfer of the relics of the saints of God. The Grand Duchess secretly helped and looked after sick pilgrims who were expecting healing from the newly glorified saints. In 1914, she visited the monastery in Alapaevsk, which was destined to become the place of her imprisonment and martyrdom.
She was the patroness of Russian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. Through the societies organized by her, the cost of tickets for pilgrims sailing from Odessa to Jaffa was covered. She also built a large hotel in Jerusalem.
Another glorious deed of the Grand Duchess was the construction of the Russian Orthodox church in Italy, in the city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra of Lycia rest. In 1914, the lower church in honor of St. Nicholas and the hospice house were consecrated.
During the First World War, the Grand Duchess's work increased: it was necessary to care for the wounded in hospitals. Some of the sisters of the monastery were released to work in field hospital. At first, Elizaveta Fedorovna, prompted by Christian feelings, visited the captured Germans, but slander about secret support for the enemy forced her to abandon this.
In 1916, an angry crowd approached the gates of the monastery with a demand to hand over a German spy - the brother of Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was allegedly hiding in the monastery. The abbess came out to the crowd alone and offered to inspect all the premises of the community. A mounted police force dispersed the crowd.
Soon after the February Revolution, a crowd with rifles, red flags and bows again approached the monastery. The abbess herself opened the gate - they told her that they had come to arrest her and put her on trial as a German spy, who also kept weapons in the monastery.
Nikolai Konstantinovich Konstantinov
In response to the demands of those who came to immediately go with them, the Grand Duchess said that she must make orders and say goodbye to the sisters. The abbess gathered all the sisters in the monastery and asked Father Mitrofan to serve a prayer service. Then, turning to the revolutionaries, she invited them to enter the church, but to leave their weapons at the entrance. They reluctantly took off their rifles and followed into the temple.
Elizaveta Fedorovna stood on her knees throughout the prayer service. After the end of the service, she said that Father Mitrofan would show them all the buildings of the monastery, and they could look for what they wanted to find. Of course, they found nothing there except the sisters’ cells and a hospital with the sick. After the crowd left, Elizaveta Fedorovna said to the sisters: “ Obviously we are not yet worthy of the crown of martyrdom.".
In the spring of 1917, a Swedish minister came to her on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm and offered her help in traveling abroad. Elizaveta Fedorovna replied that she had decided to share the fate of the country, which she considered her new homeland and could not leave the sisters of the monastery in this difficult time.
Never have there been so many people at a service in the monastery as before the October revolution. They went not only for a bowl of soup or medical help, but also for consolation and advice." great mother" Elizaveta Fedorovna received everyone, listened to them, and strengthened them. People left her peaceful and encouraged.
Mikhail Nesterov
Fresco "Christ with Martha and Mary" for the Intercession Cathedral of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow
Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Nesterov
For the first time after the October revolution, the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was not touched. On the contrary, the sisters were shown respect; twice a week a truck with food arrived at the monastery: black bread, dried fish, vegetables, some fat and sugar. Limited quantities of bandages and essential medicines were provided.
Every person has their own path in life. He either saves himself or lives his life to his own condemnation. In this sense, wealth and poverty, prosperity and poverty, security and need are not in themselves either virtues or conditions of salvation. It all depends on how exactly a person manages his life circumstances. If it is for the glory of God, then poverty and misery are not a hindrance to him. And wealth with fame is not a shame. And although, as evidenced Holy Bible, it is very difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not at all easier for a poor person. How easy it is for a needy person to fall into anger and envy, to become inflamed with a thirst for violence and revenge, to be tempted by the desire to take possession of other people’s wealth. In turn, it is extremely difficult for a rich person not to become proud, not to become arrogant, not to experience a sense of superiority over “losers” and “tramps”...
Icon of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova. Gallery of Shchigry icons.
Elizaveta Feodorovna was born among the powerful and glorious of this world. She was born on November 1, 1864 in German city Darmstadt, in a house on Wilhelminenstrasse. Her mother Alice was the daughter of Queen Victoria of England, and her father Theodore Ludwig IV was the Grand Duke of Hesse. Ella's parents are diminutive name was once the name of a great Russian saint - by character and way of life they were active and kind Christians. Their subjects had the right to consider themselves happy people. Being under the leadership of highly moral, deeply religious and decent rulers, they had every opportunity to develop their own souls. This was the very case when those in power beneficially influence the morals of the people and correct all their social flaws personal example piety.
Only life in Christ completely changes a person - regardless of his material condition and the class to which he belongs.
After her death, Ella's mother, Grand Duchess Alice, was perceived by the Germans as the true mother of the country, as an example of an exemplary family life, as the mother of well-educated children, as a standard of good morals and love for the common man. In the bosom of this truly noble family, Ella, the future martyr of the Russian land, and the future empress of Russia, the holy passion-bearer Alexandra Feodorovna, then Alix, Ella’s younger sister, were brought up.
The Grand Duchess Alice, who left England and followed her husband to Germany, had the noblest feature of her soul, which she inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria of England. All her life, through her deeds, she affirmed the two most important Christian principles for the salvation of the soul - repentance and mercy. Duchess Alice was naturally drawn to charity.
In the book of Countess A. A. Olsufieva, maid of honor of the Grand Duchess (“The Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna of Russia.” London, 1923), we find the following characteristic lines: “Elizabeth Feodorovna received from her mother early education, which prepared her for a high destiny. This wise and gentle mother put into the minds of her children early years main principle Christianity - love for one's neighbor.
She herself, always remaining an Englishwoman at heart, fell deeply in love with her new country; endowed with tact and prudence, she did a lot of charity work and during short life ensured the well-being of the German duchy like no one before her... Grand Duchess Elizabeth put her mother's covenant of mercy into practice - with generosity in her actions and restraint in speech. She never allowed herself to criticize anyone harshly and always found a gentle excuse for a person who made a mistake.” Ella's younger brother, Ernst Ludwig, also noted at one time that Elizaveta Feodorovna, by devoting herself to the needy and sick, proved that she was “the true daughter of the Grand Duchess Alice.”
Living love for a suffering person, along with the beauty and sophistication of the Grand Ducal lifestyle, outstanding people who visited her parents - musicians, composers, artists and poets - all this contributed to the formation in Ella of an exceptionally gentle and subtle soul, receptive to everything sublime and good, as well as the ability of genuine human participation in the destinies of the needy and disadvantaged, high demands for himself and amazing personal modesty and humility, which took its source from strict observance of the commandments of Christ.
Icon of the Venerable Martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara. Icon from the Church of the Iveron Mother of God on Vspolye, Moscow.
The magnificent castle in which Ella’s family lived was partially converted by her father into a museum, where paintings by famous artists (among them Holbein the Younger), stained glass, and rare exhibits of flora and fauna were collected. This neighborhood is the most in a positive way influenced the development of aesthetic sense in all children.
Icon of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
From the page of the Pupil of the St. Alexievsky Convent of the book Saratov St. Alexievsky Convent
Parents constantly took their children with them to hospitals and shelters, opened their eyes to human pain, and taught them to sympathize with the grief of others. Children gave flowers to patients, communicated with them and won the hearts of patients with their immediate sincerity and cordiality.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. From the article Shamordino, embroidered icons of the monastery.
“Every Saturday morning,” recalled Ernst Ludwig, “we had to take bouquets of flowers to (...) the hospital on Mauerstrasse and, putting the flowers in vases, give them to different patients. In this way we overcame the timidity often characteristic of children... and became friends with many of the patients and certainly learned to have sympathy for others. Wasn't here age restrictions; even the youngest among us had to go to the hospital.”
Here is what six-year-old Ella wrote to her father: “Darmstadt, December 29, 1870. My beloved dad, I wish you a happy New Year. Mom put your photo in our room for school activities. We were at the city hall, where poor children received Christmas gifts, and their dads were at war. Farewell, beloved dad. Your obedient, loving daughter Ella.”
Then there was a war between Prussia and France, and almost the entire Grand Ducal Palace was turned into a hospital for the wounded.
Everyone looked after them noble ladies Darmstadt. What an analogy can be seen here with the Kremlin chambers and with the future infirmary of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow, where during the First World War Elizaveta Feodorovna and other women from high society will also care for the wounded, send bales of things, gifts and food to the front!
Ella's father Theodore Ludwig, like his wife Alice, also helped create a healthy Christian atmosphere in the family. There was neither a feeling of exaltation from belonging to a noble family, nor lordly arrogance and arrogance in relations with his subjects. As mentioned above, the fate of ordinary people, suffering and needy, was put at the forefront in Ella’s family. The power and influence given to them by God was perceived by Grand Duke Ludwig and his wife Alice solely as an honorable burden of responsibility for arranging the destinies of those who were entrusted to their care by God himself.
In addition, love and peace, warmth and complete spiritual kinship reigned in the personal relationship between Ludwig and Alice. “I hope that my beloved Louis will be with me again this evening,” Alice wrote to her mother, Queen Victoria, “he is such a perfect occasion for joy and gratitude. When he is next to me, all worries dissolve into peace and happiness.” What a beneficial influence these sensitive and caring parental relationships had on children!.. A kind and comfortable life, conversations on lofty topics, regular communication with children, caring for their spiritual and physical health, frequent trips to nature and travel - all this was gratefully imprinted on the soft child’s soul, giving its development the necessary and saving direction.
Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse took her maternal duty, which was inseparable from her Christian faith, very seriously. It is in this regard, according to many researchers of her biography, that one of the main sources of the future spiritual prosperity of her children was hidden.
Ella drew beautifully, loved classical music, played music herself, and embroidered. Today, the Red Hall of the Hessian Palace, recreated after World War II, houses her amazing childhood drawings and sewing.
Saint Ella's beloved was Elizabeth of Thuringia, the daughter of the Hungarian king, her distant relative, who lived in the first half of the 13th century. Married to the Landgrave of Thuringia, she was widowed early and expelled from her possessions. Elizabeth wandered for a long time, lived with the poor, bandaged their wounds, wore rough clothes, slept on the bare ground, walked barefoot and was a model of Christian humility. Her ascetic lifestyle greatly attracted Ella, who always strived for Christian perfection and already in her early youth secretly understood that without internal spiritual asceticism and strict abstinence it would never be achieved.
The tragic death of Ella's younger brother Friedrich and early death her mother, who died of diphtheria at thirty-five, drew a line under happy childhood girls and put her on the next level spiritual growth- Christian understanding of life as the Cross, preservation of the purity of youth and the further implementation of the main life goal - the salvation of the soul through active love for one's neighbor. She selflessly helped her father in everything, trying to ease his grief, looked after her sisters, and kept house. Much later, shortly before the execution of Elizaveta Feodorovna in 1918 near Alapaevsk, her Bolshevik guards were sincerely surprised how this lady from high society deftly, like a cook, handled pots in captivity and felt at home in the garden beds.
Holy Martyr Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova
The Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (officially in Russia - Elisaveta Feodorovna) was born on October 20 (November 1), 1864 in Germany, in the city of Darmstadt. She was the second child in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ludwig IV, and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. Another daughter of this couple (Alice) would later become Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.
Grand Duchess of Hesse and Rhineland Alice with her daughter Ella
Ella with her mother Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine
Ludwig IV of Hesse and Alice with Princesses Victoria and Elizabeth (right).
Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt
The children were brought up in the traditions of old England, their lives followed a strict order established by their mother. Children's clothing and food were very basic. The eldest daughters did their homework themselves: they cleaned the rooms, beds, and lit the fireplace. Subsequently, Elizaveta Fedorovna said: “They taught me everything in the house.” The mother carefully monitored the talents and inclinations of each of the seven children and tried to raise them on the solid basis of Christian commandments, to put in their hearts love for their neighbors, especially for the suffering.
Elizaveta Fedorovna's parents gave away most of their fortune to charity, and the children constantly traveled with their mother to hospitals, shelters, and homes for the disabled, bringing with them large bouquets of flowers, putting them in vases, and carrying them around the wards of the sick.
Since childhood, Elizabeth loved nature and especially flowers, which she enthusiastically painted. She had a gift for painting, and throughout her life she devoted a lot of time to this activity. She loved classical music. Everyone who knew Elizabeth from childhood noted her religiosity and love for her neighbors. As Elizaveta Feodorovna herself later said, even in her earliest youth she was greatly influenced by the life and exploits of her saintly distant relative Elizabeth of Thuringia, in whose honor she bore her name.
Portrait of the family of Grand Duke Ludwig IV, painted for Queen Victoria in 1879 by the artist Baron Heinrich von Angeli.
In 1873, Elizabeth’s three-year-old brother Friedrich fell to his death in front of his mother. In 1876, an epidemic of diphtheria began in Darmstadt; all the children except Elizabeth fell ill. The mother sat at night by the beds of her sick children. Soon, four-year-old Maria died, and after her, the Grand Duchess Alice herself fell ill and died at the age of 35.
That year the time of childhood ended for Elizabeth. Grief intensified her prayers. She realized that life on earth is the path of the Cross. The child tried with all his might to ease his father’s grief, support him, console him, and to some extent replace his mother with his younger sisters and brother.
Alice and Louis together with their children: Marie in the arms of the Grand Duke and (from left to right) Ella, Ernie, Alix, Irene, and Victoria
Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and the Rhine
Artist - Henry Charles Heath
Princesses Victoria, Elizabeth, Irene, Alix Hesse mourn their mother.
In her twentieth year, Princess Elizabeth became the bride of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II, brother of Emperor Alexander III. She met her future husband in childhood, when he came to Germany with his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who also came from the House of Hesse. Before this, all applicants for her hand had been refused: Princess Elizabeth in her youth had vowed to remain a virgin for the rest of her life. After a frank conversation between her and Sergei Alexandrovich, it turned out that he had secretly made the same vow. By mutual agreement, their marriage was spiritual, they lived like brother and sister.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
The wedding took place in the church of the Grand Palace of St. Petersburg according to the Orthodox rite, and after it according to the Protestant rite in one of the living rooms of the palace. The Grand Duchess intensively studied the Russian language, wanting to study more deeply the culture and especially the faith of her new homeland.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was dazzlingly beautiful. In those days they said that there were only two beauties in Europe, and both were Elizabeths: Elizabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and Elizabeth Feodorovna.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
F.I. Rerberg.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
Zon, Karl Rudolf -
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna Romanova.
A.P.Sokolov
For most of the year, the Grand Duchess lived with her husband on their Ilyinskoye estate, sixty kilometers from Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. She loved Moscow with its ancient churches, monasteries and patriarchal life. Sergei Alexandrovich was a deeply religious person, strictly observed all church canons and fasts, often went to services, went to monasteries - the Grand Duchess followed her husband everywhere and stood idle for long church services. Here she experienced an amazing feeling, so different from what she encountered in the Protestant church.
Elizaveta Feodorovna firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy. What kept her from taking this step was the fear of hurting her family, and above all, her father. Finally, on January 1, 1891, she wrote a letter to her father about her decision, asking for a short telegram of blessing.
The father did not send his daughter the desired telegram with a blessing, but wrote a letter in which he said that her decision brings him pain and suffering, and he cannot give a blessing. Then Elizaveta Fedorovna showed courage and, despite moral suffering, firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy.
On April 13 (25), on Lazarus Saturday, the sacrament of anointing of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was performed, leaving her former name, but in honor of the holy righteous Elizabeth - the mother of St. John the Baptist, whose memory the Orthodox Church commemorates on September 5 (18).
Friedrich August von Kaulbach.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, V.I. Nesterenko
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, 1887. Artist S.F. Alexandrovsky
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
In 1891, Emperor Alexander III appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as Moscow Governor-General. The wife of the Governor-General had to perform many duties - there were constant receptions, concerts, and balls. It was necessary to smile and bow to the guests, dance and conduct conversations, regardless of mood, state of health and desire.
The residents of Moscow soon appreciated her merciful heart. She went to hospitals for the poor, almshouses, and shelters for street children. And everywhere she tried to alleviate the suffering of people: she distributed food, clothing, money, and improved the living conditions of the unfortunate.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Room of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
In 1894, after many obstacles, the decision was made to engage Grand Duchess Alice to the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich. Elizaveta Feodorovna rejoiced that the young lovers could finally unite, and her sister would live in Russia, dear to her heart. Princess Alice was 22 years old and Elizaveta Feodorovna hoped that her sister, living in Russia, would understand and love the Russian people, master the Russian language perfectly and be able to prepare for the high service of the Russian Empress.
Two sisters Ella and Alix
Ella and Alix
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
But everything happened differently. The heir's bride arrived in Russia when Emperor Alexander III lay dying. On October 20, 1894, the emperor died. The next day, Princess Alice converted to Orthodoxy with the name Alexandra. The wedding of Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna took place a week after the funeral, and in the spring of 1896 the coronation took place in Moscow. The celebrations were overshadowed by a terrible disaster: on the Khodynka field, where gifts were being distributed to the people, a stampede began - thousands of people were injured or crushed.
When the Russo-Japanese War began, Elizaveta Fedorovna immediately began organizing assistance to the front. One of her remarkable undertakings was the establishment of workshops to help soldiers - all the halls of the Kremlin Palace, except the Throne Palace, were occupied for them. Thousands of women worked on sewing machines and work tables. Huge donations came from all over Moscow and the provinces. From here, bales of food, uniforms, medicines and gifts for soldiers went to the front. The Grand Duchess sent camp churches with icons and everything necessary for worship to the front. I personally sent Gospels, icons and prayer books. At her own expense, the Grand Duchess formed several ambulance trains.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, D. Belyukin
Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
In Moscow, she set up a hospital for the wounded and created special committees to provide for the widows and orphans of those killed at the front. But Russian troops suffered one defeat after another. The war showed Russia's technical and military unpreparedness and the shortcomings of public administration. Scores began to be settled for past grievances of arbitrariness or injustice, the unprecedented scale of terrorist acts, rallies, and strikes. The state and social order was falling apart, a revolution was approaching.
Sergei Alexandrovich believed that it was necessary to take tougher measures against the revolutionaries and reported this to the emperor, saying that given the current situation he could no longer hold the position of Governor-General of Moscow. The Emperor accepted his resignation and the couple left the governor's house, moving temporarily to Neskuchnoye.
Meanwhile, the fighting organization of the Social Revolutionaries sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. Its agents kept an eye on him, waiting for an opportunity to execute him. Elizaveta Fedorovna knew that her husband was in mortal danger. Anonymous letters warned her not to accompany her husband if she did not want to share his fate. The Grand Duchess especially tried not to leave him alone and, if possible, accompanied her husband everywhere.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, V.I. Nesterenko
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Princess Elizaveta Feodorovna
On February 5 (18), 1905, Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev. When Elizaveta Feodorovna arrived at the scene of the explosion, a crowd had already gathered there. Someone tried to prevent her from approaching the remains of her husband, but with her own hands she collected the pieces of her husband’s body scattered by the explosion onto a stretcher.
On the third day after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna went to the prison where the murderer was kept. Kalyaev said: “I didn’t want to kill you, I saw him several times and the time when I had a bomb ready, but you were with him, and I did not dare to touch him.”
- « And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him? - she answered. She further said that she had brought forgiveness from Sergei Alexandrovich and asked him to repent. But he refused. Nevertheless, Elizaveta Fedorovna left the Gospel and a small icon in the cell, hoping for a miracle. Leaving prison, she said: “My attempt was unsuccessful, although who knows, perhaps at the last minute he will realize his sin and repent of it.” The Grand Duchess asked Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but this request was rejected.
Meeting of Elizaveta Fedorovna and Kalyaev.
From the moment of the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna did not stop mourning, began to keep a strict fast, and prayed a lot. Her bedroom in the Nicholas Palace began to resemble a monastic cell. All the luxurious furniture was taken out, the walls were repainted white, and only icons and paintings of spiritual content were on them. She did not appear at social functions. She was only in church for weddings or christenings of relatives and friends and immediately went home or on business. Now nothing connected her with social life.
Elizaveta Fedorovna in mourning after the death of her husband
She collected all her jewelry, gave some to the treasury, some to her relatives, and decided to use the rest to build a monastery of mercy. On Bolshaya Ordynka in Moscow, Elizaveta Fedorovna purchased an estate with four houses and a garden. In the largest two-story house there is a dining room for the sisters, a kitchen and other utility rooms, in the second there is a church and a hospital, next to it there is a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic for incoming patients. In the fourth house there was an apartment for the priest - the confessor of the monastery, classes of the school for girls of the orphanage and a library.
On February 10, 1909, the Grand Duchess gathered 17 sisters of the monastery she founded, took off her mourning dress, put on a monastic robe and said: “I will leave the brilliant world where I occupied a brilliant position, but together with all of you I ascend to a greater world - to a world of the poor and suffering."
Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova.
The first church of the monastery (“hospital”) was consecrated by Bishop Tryphon on September 9 (21), 1909 (on the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in the name of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. The second church is in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, consecrated in 1911 (architect A.V. Shchusev, paintings by M.V. Nesterov)
Mikhail Nesterov. Elisaveta Feodorovna Romanova. Between 1910 and 1912.
The day at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent began at 6 o’clock in the morning. After the general morning prayer rule. In the hospital church, the Grand Duchess gave obedience to the sisters for the coming day. Those free from obedience remained in the church, where the Divine Liturgy began. The afternoon meal included reading the lives of the saints. At 5 o'clock in the evening, Vespers and Matins were served in the church, where all the sisters free from obedience were present. On holidays and Sundays an all-night vigil was held. At 9 o'clock in the evening, the evening rule was read in the hospital church, after which all the sisters, having received the blessing of the abbess, went to their cells. Akathists were read four times a week during Vespers: on Sunday - to the Savior, on Monday - to the Archangel Michael and all the Ethereal Heavenly Powers, on Wednesday - to the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary, and on Friday - to the Mother of God or the Passion of Christ. In the chapel, built at the end of the garden, the Psalter for the dead was read. The abbess herself often prayed there at night. The inner life of the sisters was led by a wonderful priest and shepherd - the confessor of the monastery, Archpriest Mitrofan Serebryansky. Twice a week he had conversations with the sisters. In addition, the sisters could come to their confessor or the abbess every day at certain hours for advice and guidance. The Grand Duchess, together with Father Mitrofan, taught the sisters not only medical knowledge, but also spiritual guidance to degenerate, lost and despairing people. Every Sunday after the evening service in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, conversations were held for the people with the general singing of prayers.
Marfo-Mariinskaya Convent
Archpriest Mitrofan Srebryansky
Divine services in the monastery have always been at a brilliant height thanks to the exceptional pastoral merits of the confessor chosen by the abbess. The best shepherds and preachers not only from Moscow, but also from many remote places in Russia came here to perform divine services and preach. Like a bee, the abbess collected nectar from all flowers so that people could feel the special aroma of spirituality. The monastery, its churches and worship aroused the admiration of its contemporaries. This was facilitated not only by the temples of the monastery, but also by a beautiful park with greenhouses - in the best traditions of garden art of the 18th - 19th centuries. It was a single ensemble that harmoniously combined external and internal beauty.
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna
A contemporary of the Grand Duchess, Nonna Grayton, maid of honor to her relative Princess Victoria, testifies: “She had a wonderful quality - to see the good and the real in people, and tried to bring it out. She also did not have a high opinion of her qualities at all... She never said the words “I can’t”, and there was never anything dull in the life of the Marfo-Mary Convent. Everything was perfect there, both inside and outside. And whoever was there took away a wonderful feeling.”
In the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, the Grand Duchess led the life of an ascetic. She slept on a wooden bed without a mattress. She strictly observed fasts, eating only plant foods. In the morning she got up for prayer, after which she distributed obediences to the sisters, worked in the clinic, received visitors, and sorted out petitions and letters.
In the evening, there is a round of patients, ending after midnight. At night she prayed in a chapel or in church, her sleep rarely lasting more than three hours. When the patient was thrashing about and needed help, she sat at his bedside until dawn. In the hospital, Elizaveta Feodorovna took on the most responsible work: she assisted during operations, did dressings, found words of consolation, and tried to alleviate the suffering of the sick. They said that the Grand Duchess emanated a healing power that helped them endure pain and agree to difficult operations.
The abbess always offered confession and communion as the main remedy for illnesses. She said: “It is immoral to console the dying with false hope of recovery; it is better to help them move into eternity in a Christian way.”
The healed patients cried as they left the Marfo-Mariinskaya Hospital, parting with “ great mother", as they called the abbess. There was a Sunday school at the monastery for female factory workers. Anyone could use the funds of the excellent library. There was a free canteen for the poor.
The abbess of the Martha and Mary Convent believed that the main thing was not the hospital, but helping the poor and needy. The monastery received up to 12,000 requests a year. They asked for everything: arranging for treatment, finding a job, looking after children, caring for bedridden patients, sending them to study abroad.
She found opportunities to help the clergy - she provided funds for the needs of poor rural parishes that could not repair the church or build a new one. She encouraged, strengthened, and helped financially the priests - missionaries who worked among the pagans of the far north or foreigners on the outskirts of Russia.
One of the main places of poverty, to which the Grand Duchess paid special attention, was the Khitrov market. Elizaveta Fedorovna, accompanied by her cell attendant Varvara Yakovleva or the sister of the monastery, Princess Maria Obolenskaya, tirelessly moving from one den to another, collected orphans and persuaded parents to give her children to raise. The entire population of Khitrovo respected her, calling her “ sister Elizabeth" or "mother" The police constantly warned her that they could not guarantee her safety.
Varvara Yakovleva
Princess Maria Obolenskaya
Khitrov market
In response to this, the Grand Duchess always thanked the police for their care and said that her life was not in their hands, but in the hands of God. She tried to save the children of Khitrovka. She was not afraid of uncleanliness, swearing, or a face that had lost its human appearance. She said: " The likeness of God may sometimes be obscured, but it can never be destroyed.”
She placed the boys torn from Khitrovka into dormitories. From one group of such recent ragamuffins an artel of executive messengers of Moscow was formed. The girls were placed in closed educational institutions or shelters, where their health, spiritual and physical, was also monitored.
Elizaveta Feodorovna organized charity homes for orphans, disabled people, and seriously ill people, found time to visit them, constantly supported them financially, and brought gifts. They tell the following story: one day the Grand Duchess was supposed to come to an orphanage for little orphans. Everyone was preparing to meet their benefactress with dignity. The girls were told that the Grand Duchess would come: they would need to greet her and kiss her hands. When Elizaveta Fedorovna arrived, she was greeted by little children in white dresses. They greeted each other in unison and all extended their hands to the Grand Duchess with the words: “kiss the hands.” The teachers were horrified: what would happen. But the Grand Duchess went up to each of the girls and kissed everyone’s hands. Everyone cried at the same time - there was such tenderness and reverence on their faces and in their hearts.
« Great Mother“hoped that the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, which she created, would blossom into a large fruitful tree.
Over time, she planned to establish branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia.
The Grand Duchess had a native Russian love of pilgrimage.
More than once she traveled to Sarov and happily hurried to the temple to pray at the shrine of St. Seraphim. She went to Pskov, to Optina Pustyn, to Zosima Pustyn, and was in the Solovetsky Monastery. She also visited the smallest monasteries in provincial and remote places in Russia. She was present at all spiritual celebrations associated with the discovery or transfer of the relics of the saints of God. The Grand Duchess secretly helped and looked after sick pilgrims who were expecting healing from the newly glorified saints. In 1914, she visited the monastery in Alapaevsk, which was destined to become the place of her imprisonment and martyrdom.
She was the patroness of Russian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. Through the societies organized by her, the cost of tickets for pilgrims sailing from Odessa to Jaffa was covered. She also built a large hotel in Jerusalem.
Another glorious deed of the Grand Duchess was the construction of a Russian Orthodox church in Italy, in the city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra of Lycia rest. In 1914, the lower church in honor of St. Nicholas and the hospice house were consecrated.
During the First World War, the Grand Duchess's work increased: it was necessary to care for the wounded in hospitals. Some of the sisters of the monastery were released to work in a field hospital. At first, Elizaveta Fedorovna, prompted by Christian feelings, visited the captured Germans, but slander about secret support for the enemy forced her to abandon this.
In 1916, an angry crowd approached the gates of the monastery with a demand to hand over a German spy - the brother of Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was allegedly hiding in the monastery. The abbess came out to the crowd alone and offered to inspect all the premises of the community. A mounted police force dispersed the crowd.
Soon after the February Revolution, a crowd with rifles, red flags and bows again approached the monastery. The abbess herself opened the gate - they told her that they had come to arrest her and put her on trial as a German spy, who also kept weapons in the monastery.
Nikolai Konstantinovich Konstantinov
In response to the demands of those who came to immediately go with them, the Grand Duchess said that she must make orders and say goodbye to the sisters. The abbess gathered all the sisters in the monastery and asked Father Mitrofan to serve a prayer service. Then, turning to the revolutionaries, she invited them to enter the church, but to leave their weapons at the entrance. They reluctantly took off their rifles and followed into the temple.
Elizaveta Fedorovna stood on her knees throughout the prayer service. After the end of the service, she said that Father Mitrofan would show them all the buildings of the monastery, and they could look for what they wanted to find. Of course, they found nothing there except the sisters’ cells and a hospital with the sick. After the crowd left, Elizaveta Fedorovna said to the sisters: “ Obviously we are not yet worthy of the crown of martyrdom.".
In the spring of 1917, a Swedish minister came to her on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm and offered her help in traveling abroad. Elizaveta Fedorovna replied that she had decided to share the fate of the country, which she considered her new homeland and could not leave the sisters of the monastery in this difficult time.
Never have there been so many people at a service in the monastery as before the October revolution. They went not only for a bowl of soup or medical help, but also for consolation and advice." great mother" Elizaveta Fedorovna received everyone, listened to them, and strengthened them. People left her peaceful and encouraged.
Mikhail Nesterov
Fresco "Christ with Martha and Mary" for the Intercession Cathedral of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow
Mikhail Nesterov
Mikhail Nesterov
For the first time after the October revolution, the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was not touched. On the contrary, the sisters were shown respect; twice a week a truck with food arrived at the monastery: black bread, dried fish, vegetables, some fat and sugar. Limited quantities of bandages and essential medicines were provided.
In 1873, Elizabeth’s three-year-old brother Friedrich fell to his death in front of his mother. In 1876, an epidemic of diphtheria began in Darmstadt; all the children except Elizabeth fell ill. The mother sat at night by the beds of her sick children. Soon, four-year-old Maria died, and after her, the Grand Duchess Alice herself fell ill and died at the age of 35.
That year the time of childhood ended for Elizabeth. Grief intensified her prayers. She realized that life on earth is the path of the Cross. The child tried with all his might to ease his father’s grief, support him, console him, and to some extent replace his mother with his younger sisters and brother.
In her twentieth year, Princess Elizabeth became the bride of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II, brother of Emperor Alexander III. She met her future husband in childhood, when he came to Germany with his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who also came from the House of Hesse. Before this, all applicants for her hand had been refused: Princess Elizabeth in her youth had vowed to remain a virgin for the rest of her life. After a frank conversation between her and Sergei Alexandrovich, it turned out that he had secretly made the same vow. By mutual agreement, their marriage was spiritual, they lived like brother and sister.
Elizaveta Fedorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich
The whole family accompanied Princess Elizabeth to her wedding in Russia. Instead, her twelve-year-old sister Alice came with her, who met here her future husband, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
The wedding took place in the church of the Grand Palace of St. Petersburg according to the Orthodox rite, and after it according to the Protestant rite in one of the living rooms of the palace. The Grand Duchess intensively studied the Russian language, wanting to study more deeply the culture and especially the faith of her new homeland.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth was dazzlingly beautiful. In those days they said that there were only two beauties in Europe, and both were Elizabeths: Elizabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and Elizabeth Feodorovna.
For most of the year, the Grand Duchess lived with her husband on their Ilyinskoye estate, sixty kilometers from Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. She loved Moscow with its ancient churches, monasteries and patriarchal life. Sergei Alexandrovich was a deeply religious person, strictly observed all church canons and fasts, often went to services, went to monasteries - the Grand Duchess followed her husband everywhere and stood idle for long church services. Here she experienced an amazing feeling, so different from what she encountered in the Protestant church.
Elizaveta Feodorovna firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy. What kept her from taking this step was the fear of hurting her family, and above all, her father. Finally, on January 1, 1891, she wrote a letter to her father about her decision, asking for a short telegram of blessing.
The father did not send his daughter the desired telegram with a blessing, but wrote a letter in which he said that her decision brings him pain and suffering, and he cannot give a blessing. Then Elizaveta Fedorovna showed courage and, despite moral suffering, firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy.
On April 13 (25), on Lazarus Saturday, the sacrament of anointing of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was performed, leaving her former name, but in honor of the holy righteous Elizabeth - the mother of St. John the Baptist, whose memory the Orthodox Church commemorates on September 5 (18).
In 1891, Emperor Alexander III appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as Moscow Governor-General. The wife of the Governor-General had to perform many duties - there were constant receptions, concerts, and balls. It was necessary to smile and bow to the guests, dance and conduct conversations, regardless of mood, state of health and desire.
The residents of Moscow soon appreciated her merciful heart. She went to hospitals for the poor, almshouses, and shelters for street children. And everywhere she tried to alleviate the suffering of people: she distributed food, clothing, money, and improved the living conditions of the unfortunate.
In 1894, after many obstacles, the decision was made to engage Grand Duchess Alice to the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich. Elizaveta Feodorovna rejoiced that the young lovers could finally unite, and her sister would live in Russia, dear to her heart. Princess Alice was 22 years old and Elizaveta Feodorovna hoped that her sister, living in Russia, would understand and love the Russian people, master the Russian language perfectly and be able to prepare for the high service of the Russian Empress.
But everything happened differently. The heir's bride arrived in Russia when Emperor Alexander III lay dying. On October 20, 1894, the emperor died. The next day, Princess Alice converted to Orthodoxy with the name Alexandra. The wedding of Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna took place a week after the funeral, and in the spring of 1896 the coronation took place in Moscow. The celebrations were overshadowed by a terrible disaster: on the Khodynka field, where gifts were distributed to the people, a stampede began - thousands of people were injured or crushed.
When the Russo-Japanese War began, Elizaveta Fedorovna immediately began organizing assistance to the front. One of her remarkable undertakings was the establishment of workshops to help soldiers - all the halls of the Kremlin Palace, except the Throne Palace, were occupied for them. Thousands of women worked on sewing machines and work tables. Huge donations came from all over Moscow and the provinces. From here, bales of food, uniforms, medicines and gifts for soldiers went to the front. The Grand Duchess sent camp churches with icons and everything necessary for worship to the front. I personally sent Gospels, icons and prayer books. At her own expense, the Grand Duchess formed several ambulance trains.
In Moscow, she set up a hospital for the wounded and created special committees to provide for the widows and orphans of those killed at the front. But Russian troops suffered one defeat after another. The war showed Russia's technical and military unpreparedness and the shortcomings of public administration. Scores began to be settled for past grievances of arbitrariness or injustice, the unprecedented scale of terrorist acts, rallies, and strikes. The state and social order was falling apart, a revolution was approaching.
Sergei Alexandrovich believed that it was necessary to take tougher measures against the revolutionaries and reported this to the emperor, saying that given the current situation he could no longer hold the position of Governor-General of Moscow. The Emperor accepted his resignation and the couple left the governor's house, moving temporarily to Neskuchnoye.
Meanwhile, the fighting organization of the Social Revolutionaries sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. Its agents kept an eye on him, waiting for an opportunity to execute him. Elizaveta Fedorovna knew that her husband was in mortal danger. Anonymous letters warned her not to accompany her husband if she did not want to share his fate. The Grand Duchess especially tried not to leave him alone and, if possible, accompanied her husband everywhere.
On February 5 (18), 1905, Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev. When Elizaveta Feodorovna arrived at the scene of the explosion, a crowd had already gathered there. Someone tried to prevent her from approaching the remains of her husband, but with her own hands she collected the pieces of her husband’s body scattered by the explosion onto a stretcher.
On the third day after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna went to the prison where the murderer was kept. Kalyaev said: “I didn’t want to kill you, I saw him several times and the time when I had a bomb ready, but you were with him and I did not dare to touch him.”
- “And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him?” - she answered. She further said that she had brought forgiveness from Sergei Alexandrovich and asked him to repent. But he refused. Nevertheless, Elizaveta Fedorovna left the Gospel and a small icon in the cell, hoping for a miracle. Leaving prison, she said: “My attempt was unsuccessful, although who knows, perhaps at the last minute he will realize his sin and repent of it.” The Grand Duchess asked Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but this request was rejected.
From the moment of the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna did not stop mourning, began to keep a strict fast, and prayed a lot. Her bedroom in the Nicholas Palace began to resemble a monastic cell. All the luxurious furniture was taken out, the walls were repainted white, and only icons and paintings of spiritual content were on them. She did not appear at social functions. She was only in church for weddings or christenings of relatives and friends and immediately went home or on business. Now nothing connected her with social life.
Elizaveta Fedorovna in mourning after the death of her husband
She collected all her jewelry, gave some to the treasury, some to her relatives, and decided to use the rest to build a monastery of mercy. On Bolshaya Ordynka in Moscow, Elizaveta Fedorovna purchased an estate with four houses and a garden. In the largest two-story house there is a dining room for sisters, a kitchen and other utility rooms, in the second there is a church and a hospital, next to it there is a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic for incoming patients. In the fourth house there was an apartment for the priest - confessor of the monastery, classes of the school for girls of the orphanage and a library.
On February 10, 1909, the Grand Duchess gathered 17 sisters of the monastery she founded, took off her mourning dress, put on a monastic robe and said: “I will leave the brilliant world where I occupied a brilliant position, but together with all of you I ascend to a greater world - to a world of the poor and suffering."
The first church of the monastery (“hospital”) was consecrated by Bishop Tryphon on September 9 (21), 1909 (on the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in the name of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. The second church is in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, consecrated in 1911 (architect A.V. Shchusev, paintings by M.V. Nesterov).
The day at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent began at 6 o’clock in the morning. After the general morning prayer rule. In the hospital church, the Grand Duchess gave obedience to the sisters for the coming day. Those free from obedience remained in the church, where the Divine Liturgy began. The afternoon meal included reading the lives of the saints. At 5 o'clock in the evening, Vespers and Matins were served in the church, where all the sisters free from obedience were present. On holidays and Sundays an all-night vigil was held. At 9 o'clock in the evening, the evening rule was read in the hospital church, after which all the sisters, having received the blessing of the abbess, went to their cells. Akathists were read four times a week during Vespers: on Sunday - to the Savior, on Monday - to the Archangel Michael and all the Ethereal Heavenly Powers, on Wednesday - to the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary, and on Friday - to the Mother of God or the Passion of Christ. In the chapel, built at the end of the garden, the Psalter for the dead was read. The abbess herself often prayed there at night. The inner life of the sisters was led by a wonderful priest and shepherd - the confessor of the monastery, Archpriest Mitrofan Serebryansky. Twice a week he had conversations with the sisters. In addition, the sisters could come to their confessor or the abbess every day at certain hours for advice and guidance. The Grand Duchess, together with Father Mitrofan, taught the sisters not only medical knowledge, but also spiritual guidance to degenerate, lost and despairing people. Every Sunday after the evening service in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, conversations were held for the people with the general singing of prayers.
Divine services in the monastery have always been at a brilliant height thanks to the exceptional pastoral merits of the confessor chosen by the abbess. The best shepherds and preachers not only from Moscow, but also from many remote places in Russia came here to perform divine services and preach. Like a bee, the abbess collected nectar from all flowers so that people could feel the special aroma of spirituality. The monastery, its churches and worship aroused the admiration of its contemporaries. This was facilitated not only by the temples of the monastery, but also by a beautiful park with greenhouses - in the best traditions of garden art of the 18th - 19th centuries. It was a single ensemble that harmoniously combined external and internal beauty.
A contemporary of the Grand Duchess, Nonna Grayton, maid of honor to her relative Princess Victoria, testifies: “She had a wonderful quality - to see the good and the real in people, and tried to bring it out. She also did not have a high opinion of her qualities at all... She never said the words “I can’t”, and there was never anything dull in the life of the Marfo-Mary Convent. Everything was perfect there, both inside and outside. And whoever was there was taken away with a wonderful feeling.”
In the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery, the Grand Duchess led the life of an ascetic. She slept on a wooden bed without a mattress. She strictly observed fasts, eating only plant foods. In the morning she got up for prayer, after which she distributed obediences to the sisters, worked in the clinic, received visitors, and sorted out petitions and letters.
In the evening, there is a round of patients, ending after midnight. At night she prayed in a chapel or in church, her sleep rarely lasting more than three hours. When the patient was thrashing about and needed help, she sat at his bedside until dawn. In the hospital, Elizaveta Feodorovna took on the most responsible work: she assisted during operations, did dressings, found words of consolation, and tried to alleviate the suffering of the sick. They said that the Grand Duchess emanated a healing power that helped them endure pain and agree to difficult operations.
The abbess always offered confession and communion as the main remedy for illnesses. She said: “It is immoral to console the dying with false hope of recovery; it is better to help them move into eternity in a Christian way.”
The sisters of the monastery took a course in medical knowledge. Their main task was to visit sick, poor, abandoned children, providing them with medical, material and moral assistance.
They worked in the monastery hospital the best specialists Moscow, all operations were carried out free of charge. Those who were rejected by doctors were healed here.
The healed patients cried as they left the Marfo-Mariinsky Hospital, parting with the “great mother,” as they called the abbess. There was a Sunday school at the monastery for female factory workers. Anyone could use the funds of the excellent library. There was a free canteen for the poor.
The abbess of the Martha and Mary Convent believed that the main thing was not the hospital, but helping the poor and needy. The monastery received up to 12,000 requests a year. They asked for everything: arranging for treatment, finding a job, looking after children, caring for bedridden patients, sending them to study abroad.
She found opportunities to help the clergy - she provided funds for the needs of poor rural parishes that could not repair the church or build a new one. She encouraged, strengthened, and helped financially the missionary priests who worked among the pagans of the far north or foreigners on the outskirts of Russia.
One of the main places of poverty, to which the Grand Duchess paid special attention, was the Khitrov market. Elizaveta Fedorovna, accompanied by her cell attendant Varvara Yakovleva or the sister of the monastery, Princess Maria Obolenskaya, tirelessly moving from one den to another, collected orphans and persuaded parents to give her children to raise. The entire population of Khitrovo respected her, calling her “sister Elisaveta” or “mother.” The police constantly warned her that they could not guarantee her safety.
In response to this, the Grand Duchess always thanked the police for their care and said that her life was not in their hands, but in the hands of God. She tried to save the children of Khitrovka. She was not afraid of uncleanliness, swearing, or a face that had lost its human appearance. She said: “The likeness of God may sometimes be obscured, but it can never be destroyed.”
She placed the boys torn from Khitrovka into dormitories. From one group of such recent ragamuffins an artel of executive messengers of Moscow was formed. The girls were placed in closed educational institutions or shelters, where their health, spiritual and physical, was also monitored.
Elizaveta Feodorovna organized charity homes for orphans, disabled people, and seriously ill people, found time to visit them, constantly supported them financially, and brought gifts. They tell the following story: one day the Grand Duchess was supposed to come to an orphanage for little orphans. Everyone was preparing to meet their benefactress with dignity. The girls were told that the Grand Duchess would come: they would need to greet her and kiss her hands. When Elizaveta Fedorovna arrived, she was greeted by little children in white dresses. They greeted each other in unison and all extended their hands to the Grand Duchess with the words: “kiss the hands.” The teachers were horrified: what would happen. But the Grand Duchess went up to each of the girls and kissed everyone’s hands. Everyone cried at the same time - there was such tenderness and reverence on their faces and in their hearts.
The “Great Mother” hoped that the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, which she created, would blossom into a large fruitful tree.
Over time, she planned to establish branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia.
The Grand Duchess had a native Russian love of pilgrimage.
More than once she traveled to Sarov and happily hurried to the temple to pray at the shrine of St. Seraphim. She went to Pskov, to Optina Pustyn, to Zosima Pustyn, and was in the Solovetsky Monastery. She also visited the smallest monasteries in provincial and remote places in Russia. She was present at all spiritual celebrations associated with the discovery or transfer of the relics of the saints of God. The Grand Duchess secretly helped and looked after sick pilgrims who were expecting healing from the newly glorified saints. In 1914, she visited the monastery in Alapaevsk, which was destined to become the place of her imprisonment and martyrdom.
She was the patroness of Russian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. Through the societies organized by her, the cost of tickets for pilgrims sailing from Odessa to Jaffa was covered. She also built a large hotel in Jerusalem.
Another glorious deed of the Grand Duchess was the construction of a Russian Orthodox church in Italy, in the city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra of Lycia rest. In 1914, the lower church in honor of St. Nicholas and the hospice house were consecrated.
During the First World War, the Grand Duchess's work increased: it was necessary to care for the wounded in hospitals. Some of the sisters of the monastery were released to work in a field hospital. At first, Elizaveta Fedorovna, prompted by Christian feelings, visited the captured Germans, but slander about secret support for the enemy forced her to abandon this.
In 1916, an angry crowd approached the gates of the monastery demanding the extradition of a German spy - the brother of Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was allegedly hiding in the monastery. The abbess came out to the crowd alone and offered to inspect all the premises of the community. A mounted police force dispersed the crowd.
Soon after the February Revolution, a crowd with rifles, red flags and bows again approached the monastery. The abbess herself opened the gate - they told her that they had come to arrest her and put her on trial as a German spy, who also kept weapons in the monastery.
In response to the demands of those who came to immediately go with them, the Grand Duchess said that she must make orders and say goodbye to the sisters. The abbess gathered all the sisters in the monastery and asked Father Mitrofan to serve a prayer service. Then, turning to the revolutionaries, she invited them to enter the church, but to leave their weapons at the entrance. They reluctantly took off their rifles and followed into the temple.
Elizaveta Fedorovna stood on her knees throughout the prayer service. After the end of the service, she said that Father Mitrofan would show them all the buildings of the monastery, and they could look for what they wanted to find. Of course, they found nothing there except the sisters’ cells and a hospital with the sick. After the crowd left, Elizaveta Fedorovna said to the sisters: “Obviously we are not yet worthy of the crown of martyrdom.”
In the spring of 1917, a Swedish minister came to her on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm and offered her help in traveling abroad. Elizaveta Fedorovna replied that she had decided to share the fate of the country, which she considered her new homeland and could not leave the sisters of the monastery in this difficult time.
Never have there been so many people at a service in the monastery as before the October revolution. They went not only for a bowl of soup or medical help, but for the consolation and advice of the “great mother”. Elizaveta Fedorovna received everyone, listened to them, and strengthened them. People left her peaceful and encouraged.
For the first time after the October revolution, the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was not touched. On the contrary, the sisters were shown respect; twice a week a truck with food arrived at the monastery: black bread, dried fish, vegetables, some fat and sugar. Limited quantities of bandages and essential medicines were provided.
But everyone around was scared, patrons and wealthy donors were now afraid to provide assistance to the monastery. To avoid provocation, the Grand Duchess did not go outside the gate, and the sisters were also forbidden to go outside. However, the established daily routine of the monastery did not change, only the services became longer and the sisters’ prayers became more fervent. Father Mitrofan served the Divine Liturgy in the crowded church every day; there were many communicants. For some time, the monastery housed the miraculous icon of the Mother of God Sovereign, found in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow on the day of Emperor Nicholas II’s abdication from the throne. Conciliar prayers were performed in front of the icon.
After the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, the German government achieved agreement Soviet power for Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna to travel abroad. The German Ambassador, Count Mirbach, tried twice to see the Grand Duchess, but she did not accept him and categorically refused to leave Russia. She said: “I didn’t do anything bad to anyone. The Lord's will be done!
The calm in the monastery was the calm before the storm. First they sent the questionnaires - questionnaires for those who lived and were undergoing treatment: first name, last name, age, social origin, etc. After this, several people from the hospital were arrested. Then they announced that the orphans would be transferred to an orphanage. In April 1918, on the third day of Easter, when the Church celebrates the memory of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, Elizaveta Fedorovna was arrested and immediately taken out of Moscow. On this day, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon visited the Martha and Mary Convent, where he served the Divine Liturgy and prayer service. After the service, the patriarch remained in the monastery until four o’clock in the afternoon, talking with the abbess and sisters. This was the last blessing and parting word from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church before the way of the cross of the Grand Duchess to Golgotha.
Almost immediately after Patriarch Tikhon’s departure, a car with a commissar and Latvian Red Army soldiers drove up to the monastery. Elizaveta Fedorovna was ordered to go with them. We were given half an hour to get ready. The abbess only managed to gather the sisters in the Church of Saints Martha and Mary and give them the last blessing. Everyone present cried, knowing that they were seeing their mother and abbess for the last time. Elizaveta Feodorovna thanked the sisters for their dedication and loyalty and asked Father Mitrofan not to leave the monastery and serve in it as long as this was possible.
Two sisters went with the Grand Duchess - Varvara Yakovleva and Ekaterina Yanysheva. Before getting into the car, the abbess made the sign of the cross over everyone.
Having learned about what had happened, Patriarch Tikhon tried to various organizations, with whom I took into account new government, achieve the release of the Grand Duchess. But his efforts were in vain. All members of the imperial house were doomed.
Elizaveta Feodorovna and her companions were sent to railway to Perm.
Last months The Grand Duchess spent her life in prison, in a school on the outskirts of the city of Alapaevsk, together with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich ( youngest son Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, brother of Emperor Alexander II), his secretary - Fyodor Mikhailovich Remez, three brothers - John, Konstantin and Igor (sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich) and Prince Vladimir Paley (son of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich). The end was near. Mother Superior prepared for this outcome, devoting all her time to prayer.
The sisters accompanying their abbess were brought to the Regional Council and offered to be released. Both begged to be returned to the Grand Duchess, then the security officers began to frighten them with torture and torment that would await everyone who stayed with her. Varvara Yakovleva said that she was ready to sign even with her blood, that she wanted to share her fate with the Grand Duchess. So the sister of the cross of the Martha and Mary Convent, Varvara Yakovleva, made her choice and joined the prisoners awaiting a decision on their fate.
Deep at night On July 5 (18), 1918, on the day of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, along with other members of the imperial house, was thrown into the shaft of an old mine. When the brutal executioners pushed the Grand Duchess into the black pit, she said a prayer: “Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Then the security officers began throwing hand grenades into the mine. One of the peasants, who witnessed the murder, said that the singing of the Cherubim was heard from the depths of the mine. It was sung by the Russian new martyrs before their transition into eternity. They died in terrible suffering, from thirst, hunger and wounds.
The Grand Duchess did not fall to the bottom of the shaft, but to a ledge that was located at a depth of 15 meters. Next to her they found the body of John Konstantinovich with a bandaged head. All broken, with severe bruises, here too she sought to alleviate the suffering of her neighbor. The fingers of the right hand of the Grand Duchess and nun Varvara were folded for the sign of the cross.
The remains of the abbess of the Martha and Mary Convent and her faithful cell attendant Varvara were transported to Jerusalem in 1921 and placed in the tomb of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene Equal to the Apostles in Gethsemane.
The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992 canonized the venerable martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and nun Varvara as the holy new martyrs of Russia, establishing a celebration for them on the day of their death - July 5 (18).
