Elizabeth Feodorovna's husband killed in 1905. Unquenchable light

13.09.2020

“... And I love your soul more than your face ...” - A. S. Pushkin

“Beauty will save the world…” - now these words are often pronounced. But, what beauty did the famous writer-philosopher F.M. Dostoevsky? The beauty of the body and face cannot be called beauty without the beauty of the soul. If the soul is ugly, then everything else takes on the same ugly features. And if this is not immediately noticeable, then after some time the understanding comes that there is simply no beauty without a soul.

Many moral qualities were destroyed and lost over time. And only love for one's neighbor can bring them back.

Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna

Now the memory of those who did good deeds, showed mercy or extended a helping hand to the destitute is returning to Russia. Charitable work in Russia was a common thing for rich people, it was even the rule, not the exception. Rich people knew that the work of mercy is the rule of a Christian's life, indicated among all others in the Gospel.

A significant part of hospitals, hospices and other care and even cultural and educational institutions until 1917 were built with the money of donors and patrons. For example, by the beginning of the 20th century, many hospitals were built, on which memorial plaques hung with the names of the benefactors of the merchants Morozov, Kashchenko, the book publisher Soldatenkov, and Prince Shcherbatov.

Orphanages, widows' houses, almshouses, cheap, and even free apartments, vocational schools were built with the money of the manufacturers Bakhrushins, Rakhmanovs, Solodovnikovs and other donors. The People's University in Moscow was built by the gold miner Shanyavsky.

Among all the names today in the days of the Light Christ's Resurrection I would like to recall the name of the founder of the Martha and Mary Convent, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the sister of the last Russian Empress. She was the wife of the Moscow Governor-General - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was killed by Kalyaev in Moscow in 1905.

The future Grand Duchess married a member of the imperial family, converted to Orthodoxy and immediately began to engage in charitable activities, to which she was accustomed from an early age by her parents, who generously distributed income throughout her life.

As children, Elizaveta Fedorovna and her sisters went to hospitals every Saturday, visiting suffering people. Therefore, love for one's neighbor for the Grand Duchess was the main feature of her character, seemingly soft, but in fact strong and noble. Many contemporaries spoke of her in the same way: "rare beauty, wonderful mind, ... angelic patience, noble heart."

During the Russo-Japanese War, Elizaveta Fedorovna led the patriotic movement: she organized sewing workshops for the needs of the army, which included women of all classes, equipped several ambulance trains at her own expense, visited hospitals daily, took care of the widows and orphans of the dead.

When Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich died, she devoted herself entirely to charitable activities. Elizaveta Feodorovna was a deeply religious person, and this is what explained many of her actions. For example, after the death of her husband, she turned to the king for a pardon for the murderer. After a long period of mourning, she dismissed her court and decided to withdraw completely from the world, to devote her life to serving God and her neighbors, the needy and the suffering.

She divided her entire fortune into three parts: to the treasury, and to charitable needs. She left nothing for herself, not even a wedding ring. On Bolshaya Ordynka, the Grand Duchess acquired a small estate with four houses and a garden. A hospital with a house church, a pharmacy, an outpatient clinic, a shelter for girls and other household facilities were located here. In addition, there was a library, a dining room and a hostel for the sisters.

In 1910, 17 girls of different classes became the first sisters of the new convent. In 1911, when, according to the project of A.V. Shchusev, the Cathedral of the Intercession Church was built, this abode of goodness and mercy took on a completed architectural appearance, they called it Marfo-Mariinsky.

The Gospel speaks of two sisters Martha and Mary, who combined the two main life paths: the spiritual path is service to God and the path of mercy is service to others. The sisters of the monastery shared equally any work. The best doctors worked in her hospital - experts in their field.

Every week, 34 doctors saw patients, and for free, they did not take money from the poor for medicines, others received medicines at a big discount compared to other pharmacies in the city. On Sundays, classes were held in the monastery for the illiterate. Orphanage girls, in addition to learning to read and write, received medical training.

The personal life of Elizabeth Feodorovna was, one might say, harsh. She slept on a wooden bed without a mattress, observed a strict fast, and on other days her food consisted of vegetables and a small amount of milk. The Grand Duchess prayed for a long time at night, and during the day she constantly took care of her sisters, distributed assignments - to everyone in her power, monitored the health of the sisters, went around all the hospital wards.

For the most seriously ill, Elizaveta Fedorovna looked after herself and even assisted in operations. In addition to her work and cares in the monastery, the abbess visited and helped the poor locally. People learned from each other with what care and love they treat the sick and suffering here in the monastery, and they petitioned for treatment, for employment, for looking after small children, and even with petitions for help in finding a place to study.

The monastery received more than ten thousand petitions a year. And besides everything, help came from here both in money and in clothes. But most importantly, the suffering and sick needed compassion, and they received it here.

And that was not all. Elizaveta Feodorovna went around the rooming houses of the "famous" Khitrov market, as she revered the soul of any person as immortal and honored the image of God in it. And the inhabitants of this part of the city were far from divine. But the princess tried to touch the heart of everyone, mired in sins and vices, to touch the depths of the soul and turn it to repentance.

Sometimes these same people called themselves: “We are not people, how come you come to us!” She persuaded the parents of little children living in this swamp, as M. Gorky once said - “At the bottom”, to give their children to be raised in a monastery. The girls were brought up in an orphanage, and the boys were placed in a hostel.

The sisters of the monastery needed neither glory nor reward, all their activities were bound by the gospel commandments - love for God and neighbor.

By 1914, there were already 97 sisters in the monastery. The war began, some of the sisters went to the field hospitals, others worked in a hospital in Moscow.

1917 Chaos began in the country. More than once the German ambassador tried to see Elizaveta Fedorovna, offering her a trip to Germany. She did not accept him, but replied that she refused to leave Russia: “I have done nothing wrong to anyone. Be the will of the Lord."

1918 The Chekists arrested several patients from the monastery, then took away all the orphans. On the third day of Easter in April, Elizaveta Fedorovna was also arrested, because all those who bore the name of the Romanovs were doomed to death, and her good deeds were not included in the calculation.

In the dead of night on July 18, 1918, along with other members of the imperial family, Elizaveta Feodorovna was thrown into the mine of an old mine. Before the execution, according to the testimony of an “eyewitness”, she was baptized all the time and prayed: “Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” And when, after three months, the bodies of the executed were removed, next to the princess they found the body of the victim with a bandaged wound. So the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna left her earthly life, fulfilling the gospel commandments until the last minute.

After the arrest of the abbess, the monastery, apparently thanks to Krupskaya, still existed for about seven years. Then the sisters of the monastery were sent to Central Asia, and the premises of the monastery were given over to various institutions, in the very same Intercession Church they arranged a club.

The memory of the Grand Duchess will help us find the way for moral and spiritual rebirth.

Princess of Hesse Elisabeth-Alexandra-Louise-Alice (her family name was Ella) was born on October 20 (November 1), 1864 in Darmstadt. She was the second daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, and granddaughter of English queen Victoria. There were seven children in the family. Subsequently, one of her younger sisters, Alice, was destined to become the wife of the last Russian emperor. The Duchy of Hesse experienced a difficult period during Ella's childhood: participation in the Austro-Prussian war ruined the country.
They brought up children quite strictly, for example, older children themselves had to keep order in the rooms, help the younger ones. Ella's mother, Princess Alice, founded a number of charitable institutions (some are still active). When visiting a hospital or an orphanage, she often took older children with her, sought to develop compassion in her daughters. An important role in the spiritual life of the family was played by the image of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, after whom Ella was named. This saint, the ancestor of the Dukes of Hesse, became famous for her works of mercy.

In 1873, Elizabeth's little brother died. It was the first serious shock in her life. The girl takes a vow of chastity in order not to have children. (Note that, having married, she did not violate this vow. All this became known when Elizabeth's confessor was forced to testify about the orgies that allegedly took place within the walls of the monastery, and in response he presented Matushka's medical record, where it was written: "Virgo" ).
The year 1878 brought an even worse disaster: Ella's sister and mother died in an epidemic of diphtheria. And here the young girl shows amazing selflessness. As if forgetting about herself, she comforts her father, Queen Victoria; it is up to her and her older sister Victoria to take care of the whole house, of the younger children, especially of the six-year-old Alice - Elizabeth forever retained her maternal attitude towards her younger sister.
In 1884, Ella's life turned upside down: she marries Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of Tsar Alexander III. I must say right away that Ella loved her husband very much. There is a lot of gossip around their marriage; I do not know their source, I only know that in my letters - to different people, incl. Queen Victoria, with whom she was very close and frank, Ella wrote repeatedly that she was happily married. I think that's enough for us.
The wedding was very magnificent and also with an element of poetry. For example, according to the description of L. Miller - her book about Elizabeth Feodorovna was her first fairly complete biography in our country - “Her fiancé, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, knowing how much she loved flowers, decorated all her wagons with fragrant flowers of exceptionally white color” . Just imagine what a beauty - a fragrant train!

After the wedding, the newlyweds went to their Ilinskoye estate near Moscow. And here is another act that characterizes Elizabeth as an extraordinary person with an open heart: instead of carelessly having fun, as it should be for a woman who has just married the king’s brother, she goes around the houses of the peasants on the estate. And he is horrified. Poverty, dullness, lack of basic medical care... At her insistence, Sergei had to urgently prescribe an obstetrician for his peasant women, and later a hospital was set up in Ilyinsky, fairs were periodically held in favor of the peasants (the guests of Sergei and Ella bought all kinds of products of local craftsmen). In addition, Ella passionately took up the study of the Russian language. She mastered it perfectly, spoke almost without an accent.

Quite quickly, the young couple had a circle of friends who liked to visit them both in Ilyinsky and in St. Petersburg. Ella did an excellent job of hosting the house. I must say that she really was very beautiful, many considered her appearance to be impeccable, while still being a bride, she was considered one of the two best beauties in Europe. But not a single photograph, not a single portrait could convey this beauty. There are a few successful photographs of Elizabeth, and even then, they depict her usually half-turned, and her beauty cannot be called extraordinary from them. Apparently, all her charm lay in the beauty of the soul, the radiance of her eyes, her simple and elegant manner, kindness and attention to people. She had a very pleasant voice, sang well, drew, made bouquets of flowers with great taste. A lively sense of humor and tact attracted her interlocutors. She fervently believed in God, and, while still a Protestant, attended Orthodox services with her husband.
In 1888, Elizabeth and her husband visited the Holy Land. This pilgrimage made a deep impression on her. In the church of St. Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Mount of Olives, she said: “How I would like to be buried here!” Her prophecy was fulfilled: now her relics and the relics of her cell-attendant Varvara Yakovleva, who suffered with her, lie in this temple. At the Holy Sepulcher, Elizabeth prayed a lot for Russia, for her family... This time was a time of spiritual search. Elizabeth faced the question of converting to Orthodoxy.
This was difficult to decide. Elizabeth was tormented by the thought that her father and all her relatives would not understand her step, they would explain it with considerations of position in the world, submission to the will of her husband, etc. She wrote piercing letters to her father, brother, sisters, grandmother.

“And now, dear Pope, I want to say something to you and beg you to give your blessing ... I kept thinking and reading and praying to God - to show me the right path - and I came to the conclusion that only in this religion to find a real and strong faith in God, which a person must have in order to be a good Christian ... I would have done this even before, it only tormented me that I was causing you pain and that many relatives would not understand me. But you, don’t you understand, my dear Papa?.. Please, please, upon receipt of these lines, forgive your daughter if she hurts you ... I only ask for a small affectionate letter ... ”(quoted from the book by L. Miller )
Elizabeth asked that a note be drawn up for her father explaining the dogmas of the Orthodox Church in comparison with the Protestant dogma. This note was compiled for her by Protopresbyter John Yanyshev.
Unfortunately, almost none of the relatives supported Elizabeth in her intention. She had to get rather harsh answers from her father and brother, and only two Victorias - Elizabeth's sister Princess Battenberg and Queen Victoria - did not reproach her, but tried to encourage her with their letters. Orthodox relatives from the house of the Romanovs supported Elizabeth in her decision. The Sacrament of Confirmation was performed on Lazarus Saturday, 1891.
In the same year, Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed governor-general of Moscow. It was a serious change in the whole way of life for Elizabeth. She became the first secular lady in Moscow. Moving from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the need to actively participate in social life, attend receptions and concerts and arrange them at home - all this undermined Elizabeth's health. She got migraines.

Here I see the riddle of the soul. Elizaveta Fyodorovna was extraordinarily impressionable; sentimental notes can be found in her letters, the events of the external and spiritual world had a strong effect on her, sometimes she suffered greatly from misunderstanding, from gossip - more than, perhaps, others in her place. And at the same time, setting herself the goal of doing something for the glory of God and for the sake of mercy, she went to this goal without hesitation. She, already being the abbess of the monastery of mercy, visited the slums, where terrifying filth, disease and depravity reigned. She assisted in complex abdominal operations. She cared for purulent and burn patients. Those sisters of the current Marfo-Mariinsky Convent who now work in the burn center hardly come to their senses after work - she didn’t betray anything that it’s hard for her to see all this. How did this gentle woman, who loves flowers and quiet conversations, manage for the sake of God to overcome what the strongest men cannot do?

This period was difficult and for one more reason. First, the wife of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich died. Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna were very friendly with this family. It was a big shock for them. The dying woman gave birth to a premature baby, who was brought out in Ilyinsky. Subsequently, Grand Duke Pavel fell into disgrace because of his second marriage, and his two children were handed over to the upbringing of Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna by the royal will.
And soon the father of Elizabeth also died. She loved her father very much and took his death hard. Her health further deteriorated. To recover, she and her husband traveled along the Volga, and after a while they visited Queen Victoria.
Despite all these experiences, Elizaveta Fedorovna was very actively engaged in charitable activities, which she had previously carried out, but not to the same extent. The position of governor-general gave her a wide opportunity for the affairs of public charity. If you look through the periodicals of the 1890s, in the sections on charity, the name of E.I.V. Elizabeth Feodorovna, along with Fr. I.I. Sergiev - Fr. John of Kronstadt. The most significant work during this period was the Elizabethan Benevolent Society. “The Elizabethan Charitable Society, which is under the Highest patronage of Their Imperial Majesties and under the August patronage of the Empress Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna, was established specifically to ... look after the legitimate babies of the poorest mothers, who until then were placed, although without any right, in the Moscow Orphanage, disguised as illegal. Founded in January 1892, exclusively for the capital, and at the end of the same year, with the highest permission, its charitable activities throughout the Moscow province, the Elisabeth Society met with warm sympathy among Muscovites, which gave it the opportunity to form Elisabeth committees in a short time. at all 224 Moscow church parishes and open the same in all county towns of the Moscow province ”(Children's Help magazine, 1894). The activities of the Society were carefully planned and covered children of various ages, ensuring their future.
In addition, Elizaveta Fedorovna headed the Ladies' Committee of the Red Cross, and after the death of her husband, she was appointed chairman of the Moscow Red Cross Department.
With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, Elizaveta Feodorovna organized a Special Committee for Assistance to Soldiers. Under this committee, a donation warehouse was created in the Grand Kremlin Palace in favor of the soldiers. Bandages were prepared there, clothes were sewn, parcels were collected, camp churches were formed.
There, on February 4, 1905, a terrible explosion caught Elizabeth Feodorovna. No one in the warehouse understood what had happened. And Elizabeth, crying out: “This is Sergey!” rushed to run along the corridors of the palace, ran out into the street in one dress - someone threw a cloak over her - and in a carriage standing near the porch she hurried to the site of the explosion. The sight was terrible. A strong explosion turned the carriage of the Grand Duke into a pile of chips, and tore him apart, disfiguring him beyond recognition. The snow all around mixed with blood. Elizabeth, on her knees, was collecting what had been her husband a few minutes ago.

For the next few days, Elizabeth lived like an automaton, did not eat anything, her eyes were numb. The only thing that supported her was prayer and Communion. And again an unexpected act: on the same day, in her same blue dress, she went to the hospital to the coachman of the Grand Duke. When asked if Sergei Alexandrovich was alive, she replied: "He sent me to you." The coachman died with a calm heart. A few days later, Elizabeth visited her husband's murderer, Ivan Kalyaev, in prison. She gave him forgiveness on behalf of Sergei Alexandrovich, left him the Gospel. Moreover, she filed a petition for a pardon for the terrorist, but it was not granted.
Shortly thereafter, Elizaveta Feodorovna decided to devote herself entirely to serving people. She had a lot of beautiful jewelry. She separated the part that belonged to the Romanov family and gave it to the treasury, not yet most gave to my friends. She sold the remaining jewelry, and with this money she bought an estate with 4 houses and a vast garden on Bolshaya Ordynka, where the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was located. The movement of sisters of mercy, which began to unfold since the Crimean War, was well known to Elizabeth: she, together with Sergei Alexandrovich, was a trustee of the Iberian community of sisters of mercy, participated in its management and had the most vivid idea of the possibilities of such a community. But she wanted more: to revive the deaconess movement. Deaconesses - ministers of the Church of the first centuries - were ordained through ordination, participated in the celebration of the Liturgy, approximately in the role in which subdeacons now serve, engaged in catechism of women, helped with the baptism of women, ministered to the sick - in a word, their role was significant. Christianity came to Russia already at the end of this movement, and there were never deaconesses here. Here is how Elizabeth Feodorovna herself describes the attitude of a part of the Russian Church towards the idea of such a monastery:
“You see, we asked for the name “deaconess”, which in Greek means “servants”, that is, servants of the Church, in order to make our position in the country as clear as possible: we are an organization of the Orthodox Church. And in an interview with Hermogenes (Bishop of Saratov, member of the Synod - E.L.), published in the newspapers, we are sharply reproached for imitating Protestantism, while we work under the direct guidance of the Metropolitan, in constant direct contact with the bishops ... The Church must support us, don't leave us, and fortunately, for the most part, that's the way it is. Alix (Empress Alexandra, Elizabeth's sister - E.L.) finds that everything is completely clear with our house of sisters, but I just cannot fully agree with this and I hope, as soon as our "rank of initiates" is approved Holy Synod, we will stand firmly on this and expect that we will be clearly and openly presented to the country as an ecclesiastical, Orthodox ecclesiastical organization. I don't want more. You can die any day, and I would be very sorry if this type of monastery - not exactly a monastery and, of course, not an ordinary secular community - underwent a change ... All our services are conducted as in a monastery, all work is based on prayer ... ”(letter to Nikolai P, quoted from the book“ Materials for Life ... ”).
The charter and structure of the monastery were unique: on the one hand, they absorbed the experience of Orthodox monasteries, and, on the other hand, the experience of Western communities of deaconesses. Under the guidance of the elders of the Zosima Hermitage, Elizabeth, together with the court priest Yanyshev and other church leaders, developed the charter of the monastery. They scrupulously studied the European experience of charitable activity, in particular, in Germany. In the homeland of Elizabeth, they studied the charters of the communities of deaconesses and settled on the Stuttgart charter, as the closest to the possibilities of Russia. Deeply respecting the path of Russian monasticism, the Grand Duchess nevertheless believed that constant prayer, inner contemplation should be the final stage and reward for those who had already given their strength for the benefit of serving God through their neighbor. Subsequently, according to the charter of the monastery, it was supposed to create a skete so that the hardworking sisters could accept monasticism if they wished.

The basis of the life of the monastery is reflected in its name. Martha and Mary are gospel sisters who received Christ in their home. Martha cared about serving the Lord. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His word. In the accepted reading of this passage in the Church, verses from the next chapter are added to it, where Jesus says: "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Martha and Mary are an image of work and prayer. At the initiation, the sisters were given a rosary with an order to unceasingly say the Jesus Prayer.
The first sisters appeared in the monastery at the beginning of 1909. There were only 6 of them, but by the end of the year their number increased to 30, and from her mournful journey to the Urals, Mother sent a note to each sister - 105 notes. The sisters of the monastery could be Orthodox Christian women, maidens or widows, aged 20 to 40 years (it took a lot of physical strength to perform such a service). Women of any marital status and not necessarily Orthodox could be employees of the monastery. They came to help the monastery in their free time.

In April 1910, Bishop Tryfon (Turkestanov), one of the monastery's patron friends, ordained the first 17 sisters, led by the Grand Duchess, as cross sisters. They took vows of chastity, non-acquisitiveness and obedience, however, unlike nuns, after a certain period (1 year, 3, 6 or more years) they could leave the monastery, start a family and be free from previous vows. According to the charter, the monastery was supposed to help such sisters, prepare a dowry for them and support them at first.
The activities of the monastery differed significantly from the activities of the communities of mercy that were then in Moscow. Communities of mercy were limited mainly to medical care needy. According to the plan of Elizabeth Feodorovna, the monastery was supposed to provide comprehensive, spiritual, educational and medical assistance. For these purposes, for the first 3 years, the sisters studied the life of the poorest families, information about which was received by a special mailbox on the wall of the monastery. Based on the established needs, the detainees were often not only given food and clothes, but they were helped in finding employment, they were placed in hospitals. Often the sisters persuaded families who could not give their children a normal upbringing (for example, professional beggars, drunkards, etc.) to send their children to an orphanage, where they were given education, good care and a profession. Elizabeth herself walked around Khitrov market (the most “rotten” place in Moscow at that time, slums and brothels). Here she was greatly respected for the dignity with which she carried herself, and her complete lack of arrogance over these people.

The sisters received very serious psychological, methodological, spiritual and medical training before their release to the convicts. They were given lectures by the best doctors of Moscow, conversations with them were conducted by the confessor of the monastery, Fr. Mitrofan Srebryansky, a man of outstanding spiritual abilities, and the second priest of the monastery, Fr. Eugene Sinadsky. In addition, Fr. Iosif Fudel to acquaint the sisters with prison life and ways to alleviate the moral suffering of criminals. The monastery had a hospital with 22 beds (it did not expand on purpose), an excellent dispensary, a pharmacy, where some of the medicines were given out free of charge, a shelter, a free canteen, and many other institutions. According to the plan of Matushka and Father Mitrofan, the monastery should become a spiritual center for all of Russia, a school for deaconesses, where the sisters would receive guidance, support, and the opportunity for moral renewal.
Having settled in the monastery, Elizaveta Fedorovna began a life of direct asceticism: sometimes she hardly slept, at night caring for the seriously ill or reading the Psalter over the dead, and during the day she worked, along with her sisters, bypassing the poorest quarters. In addition, famous surgeons of the city invited her to assist in complex operations.
The Intercession Cathedral Church played a very important role in the educational activities of the monastery. There were 2 temples in the monastery; the first - in honor of the righteous Martha and Mary - was intended for sisterly prayers, as well as for the seriously ill, who could hear the service from their chambers adjacent to the church premises. The second temple - the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos - is of particular interest. Built in 1910 by the largest Russian architect A.V. But the main thing is the reverent services performed by the clergy of the monastery, and often by the hierarchs of the Church with the wonderful singing of the sisters, and enlightening lectures and conversations that were conducted every Sunday in the refectory of this church by the confessor of the monastery, Fr. Mitrofan and the best preachers of that time invited by him. Muscovites actively attended these classes. Meetings of the Palestinian Society were also held in the refectory of the temple, Geographic Society, spiritual readings and other activities.
Elizaveta Fedorovna did not leave her former activities. She continued to be the chairman of the Moscow Committee of the Red Cross, visited various charitable institutions. During the war, she actively took care of equipping the army and helping the wounded.
It is difficult to find a sphere of social service that would not be covered by the patronage of the Great Mother. Here is a list of her duties (far from complete: Elizaveta Feodorovna held more than 150 positions during her life!)

Honorary Chairman of the House for the Education of Orphans of Killed Soldiers, Moscow City School.
Chairman of the Elisabeth Women's Gymnasium.
Honorary member of the Society of the Blind, the Moscow Branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society, the Water Rescue Society.
Chairman of the Palestinian Society.
Trustee of the Military Infirmary on Sivtsev Vrazhka, the Committee on Military Hospitals, the Committee of Mobile Churches and Hospitals in Moscow, etc.
These public affairs were not a formality: the Great Mother delved into the essence of each case. She did not escape slander either: during World War I, wanting to help prisoners of war with whom hospitals were overcrowded, she was accused of aiding the Germans. The result of the protest against the fact that G. Rasputin lived at court was the estrangement of Empress Alexandra from her sister.
Since the beginning February Revolution Aggressive groups began to come to the monastery, threatening the Grand Duchess, looking for weapons supposedly hidden there. But at first everything went well, thanks to the endurance and wisdom of mother Elizabeth and father Mitrofan. Germany was worried about the fate of Elizabeth Feodorovna; Kaiser Wilhelm, who once offered her his hand, persuaded her to leave Russia; one of the conditions of the Brest Peace, Germany set the opportunity for the Grand Duchess to freely leave Russia. But she refused to leave her new homeland and her spiritual children, although she clearly foresaw terrible events and spoke of a martyr's crown that awaits many in the monastery.
On the third day of Easter 1918, the Chekists took the Great Mother out of the monastery and sent her, together with her sisters Ekaterina Yanysheva and Varvara Yakovleva, first to Perm, and then to Alapaevsk. The sisters were asked to save their lives by leaving their abbess. Elizaveta Feodorovna persuaded Catherine to leave, to convey news of their situation and letters to the sisters to the monastery. And Varvara firmly decided to share the fate of Mother.
The Moscow soldiers refused to escort Elizaveta Feodorovna, and this task was entrusted to the Latvian riflemen. They saw in her just one of the representatives of the hated Romanov dynasty, and she was subjected to various humiliations, so that Patriarch Tikhon had to intercede for her. But she did not lose her presence of mind, in letters she instructed the remaining sisters, bequeathing them to keep love for God and neighbors.
July 5 (18), 1918, on the day of St. Sergius of Radonezh, whom Elizabeth greatly honored, the day after the murder royal family, Elizaveta Fedorovna, together with her cell-attendant Varvara and 6 more Alapaevsk prisoners - members of the Romanov family - were thrown into an old mine near Alapaevsk. They were thrown alive. They were severely injured in the fall. The Grand Duchess prayed: “Lord, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing!” When the bodies were removed from the mine by the Kolchak commission, it was found that the victims lived after the fall, dying of hunger and wounds. The great mother continued her merciful service there too: the wound of Prince John, who fell on the ledge of the mine near her, was bandaged with a part of her apostle. The surrounding peasants say that for several days the singing of prayers was heard from the mine.

The bodies of the Alapaevsk victims were transported to Beijing, then 2 coffins - Elizabeth and Barbara - were sent to Jerusalem. The bodies of these martyrs, unlike the other six, almost did not undergo decay, but exuded an amazing aroma.
In 1992, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Grand Duchess Elisaveta and Nun Barbara as the Holy New Martyrs of Russia.

June 3 (15), 1884 Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt married in the court cathedral of the Winter Palace with the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother Russian emperor Alexander III, not suspecting what tests she will have to endure in Russia. AiF.ru remembers one of the most famous Orthodox saints Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova.

Second daughter of the Grand Duke Hesse-Darmstadt Louis IV and princesses alice was born November 1, 1864. From childhood, Elizabeth was religiously minded, engaged in charity work. The future princess grew up to be a beautiful, intelligent and gifted girl: she sang beautifully, and there were rumors about her beauty. She was predicted to be the husbands of Friedrich of Baden and the Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm. However, in 1884, 20-year-old Elizabeth became the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of Alexander III.

Soon the princess perfectly mastered the Russian language and converted to Orthodoxy. She wrote to her father: “I thought and read and prayed all the time to God to show me the right path – and came to the conclusion that only in this religion can I find a real and strong faith in God, which a person must have in order to be a good Christian. ". The princess was engaged in charity work: in 1892 she organized the Elizabethan charitable society, the purpose of which was "to look after the legitimate babies of the poorest mothers." In addition, Elizaveta Feodorovna headed the Ladies' Committee of the Red Cross.

Orthodox German

The princess felt like a part of the Russian aristocracy, she was in favor of harsh measures against the rebels. So, after the assassination of the Minister of the Interior Dmitry Sipyagin she wrote Nicholas II: "Is it really impossible to judge these animals (killers of the minister - ed.) field court?.. ...everything must be done to prevent them from becoming heroes...to kill in them the desire to risk their lives and commit such crimes (I think that he would rather pay with his life and thus disappear!). But who he is and what he is - let no one know ... and there is nothing to pity those who themselves pity no one.

Elizaveta Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

In the light of such a position of the princess in relation to terrorists, it is surprising how she kept herself after the murder of her husband. February 4, 1905 revolutionary Ivan Kalyaev threw a hand bomb at the Grand Duke, after the explosion of which he instantly died. According to eyewitnesses, the princess collected pieces of her husband's body with her own hands. She was very upset by the loss, but she was able to find strength in herself and visited the dying coachman, who had served the prince for many years and was injured during the assassination attempt.

At that time, almost all the newspapers wrote about the visit by the princess of the murderer of her husband. Yes, the newspaper Russian word On February 28, 1905, she reported: “According to reliable rumors from Moscow, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna visited the killer and asked him why he killed her husband. The assassin replied: "I carried out the will of the revolutionary committee." The Grand Duchess asked: "Are you a believer?" After receiving an affirmative answer, Her Highness gave the killer the icon and said, “I forgive you. God will be the Judge between the Prince and you, and I will intercede for your life." The killer burst into tears."

The meeting between the princess and Kalyaev did take place, but we do not know anything about the content of the conversation. Newspapers published information from the words of the head of the Police Department, Alexei Lopukhin, who was not present at the conversation. It is possible that the press controlled by the authorities used this information for the purposes of political propaganda. Kalyaev himself assessed this visit as follows: “The government decided not only to kill me, but also to compromise ... to show that a revolutionary who took the life of another person is afraid of death himself and is ready ... [at any cost] to buy himself the gift of life and mitigation of punishment. It is for this purpose that the Police Department sent the widow of the murdered man to me.” However, the fact remains: the princess petitioned for a pardon for the murderer. The request was denied.

Charity of a new type

After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna wore mourning for several years. In 1907, with her own money, she bought a large plot of land on Bolshaya Ordynka with four buildings and a garden, where she opened two years later. The princess took off her mourning and put on the white robes of a sister of mercy. In one of her letters, she wrote: "I am leaving the brilliant world where I held a brilliant position, but together with all of you I am ascending into a greater world - into the world of the poor and suffering."

The first on the territory of the monastery was built the Church of the Intercession according to the project of the architect Alexey Shchusev, in which he painted frescoes Mikhail Nesterov. Then there was a hostel for the sisters of mercy, a chapel. Services began in the church of Martha and Mary. The doors of the temple were opened wide so that all the sick could hear the service, even those who could not get out of bed.

When creating the monastery, the princess showed great organizational talent, fortitude, and used all her connections. The fact is that for Russia at the beginning of the 20th century the idea of the Martha and Mary Convent was extremely unusual. Many opposed the new undertaking, and only the highest command of Nicholas II allowed the institution to open.

The sisters who lived in the monastery were not nuns in the direct understanding of the Russian Orthodox Church. They took vows of chastity, non-possession and obedience, however, unlike nuns, after a certain time they could leave the monastery and start a family, become free from vows. The princess herself never took monastic vows.

Martha and Mary

Great importance was attached to the monastery vocational training sisters: there were lectures on medicine, methodology, psychology, which were read by the best doctors of their time. Fr. Mitrofan Srebryansky, later canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Elizaveta Feodorovna created the monastery using Russian and European experience. According to her idea, assistance to those in need should have been provided comprehensively. Here they not only gave out food and clothes, but also treated, spiritually admonished, helped in finding employment, and placed them in hospitals for further rehabilitation.

Elizaveta Feodorovna in the clothes of a sister of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

The name of the monastery also has a special meaning for Christians. The two sisters of Lazarus, resurrected by Christ, had two different characters, two different approaches to serving God, which were supposed to be combined in the Martha and Mary Convent. The Gospel of Luke: “A woman named Martha received Him into her house; she had a sister, named Mary, who sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened to His word. Martha, however, was anxious about a great treat, and, coming up, said: Lord! Or do you not need that my sister left me alone to serve? tell her to help me. Jesus answered her and said, Martha! Martha! you care and fuss about many things, but only one thing is needed; Mary chose the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Over time, a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, a shelter, a free canteen and many other institutions were created in the monastery. Lectures, discussions, meetings, spiritual readings and other events were held in the Intercession Church. A great burden fell on the monastery during the First World War.

Death

After the start of the revolution, the princess refused to leave the monastery and was arrested in April 1918. In May, she, along with other representatives of the Romanov dynasty, was transported to Yekaterinburg, and later to the city of Alapaevsk. On the night of July 5, 1918, the princess, along with other prisoners, was thrown into a mine 18 kilometers from the city. It is reliably known that all the prisoners, except for the shot Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, were thrown into the mine alive, and some of them died of hunger and wounds for several days after falling. After the whites occupied Alapaevsk, the bodies of those killed were removed from the mine. According to eyewitnesses, a smile froze on the princess's calm face. The wound of Prince John, which he received during the fall, was bandaged with a part of her monastic attire.

The monastery existed until 1926, after which it was renamed into a polyclinic, where the sisters continued to work. In 1928, some of the sisters were deported to Turkestan, and some moved to the Tver region. A cinema was organized in the premises of the Pokrovsky Cathedral, and later a house of social education. Also in the Marfo-Mariinsky Church, the outpatient clinic of F. A. Rein was organized - a branch of TsEKUBU, and after the Great Patriotic War the building of the Intercession Church was handed over for restoration workshops (later - the restoration center named after I. E. Grabar).

After the collapse Soviet Union The monastery was handed over to the Moscow Patriarchate by a decree of the Moscow government, but its revival was slow. So, the restoration center vacated the monastery only in 2006, because it had no other premises.

At present, a charitable canteen and patronage service work in the monastery. In 2010, the medical center "Mercy" for children with cerebral palsy was opened here. About 20 branches of the monastery work in Siberia, the Urals, Far East, in the European part of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

In 1992, Princess Elizaveta Feodorovna was the Bishops' Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Holy Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna 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 Russian Alexandra Fedorovna.

Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and the Rhine 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 Elisabeth (right).

Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

Children were brought up in traditions old england, their life passed according to the strict order established by the mother. Children's clothes and food were the most basic. The older daughters themselves did their homework: they cleaned the rooms, beds, stoked the fireplace. Subsequently, Elizaveta Fedorovna said: "The house taught me everything." The mother carefully followed the talents and inclinations of each of the seven children and tried to educate them on a solid basis of Christian commandments, to put love for their neighbors, especially for those who suffer, into their hearts.

The parents of Elizabeth Feodorovna gave away most of their fortune for charitable purposes, and the children constantly traveled with their mother to hospitals, shelters, homes for the disabled, bringing with them large bouquets of flowers, put them in vases, carried them to the wards of patients.

Since childhood, Elizabeth loved nature and especially flowers, which she painted with enthusiasm. She had a picturesque gift, and all her life she devoted a lot of time to this occupation. Loved classical music. Everyone who knew Elizabeth from childhood noted her religiosity and love for her neighbors. As Elizabeth Feodorovna herself later said, even in her earliest youth, she was greatly influenced by the life and deeds of her holy 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 crashed to death in front of his mother. In 1876, an epidemic of diphtheria broke out in Darmstadt, all the children fell ill, except for Elizabeth. The mother sat at night by the beds of sick children. Soon the four-year-old Maria died, and after her, Grand Duchess Alice herself fell ill and died at the age of 35.

In that year, the time of childhood ended for Elizabeth. Grief intensified her prayers. She realized that life on earth is the way of the Cross. The child tried with all his might to alleviate the grief of his father, support him, console him, and to some extent replace his mother for his younger sisters and brother.

Alice and Louis with their children: Marie in the arms of the Grand Duke and (from left to right) Ella, Ernie, Alix, Irene, and Victoria

Grand Duchess of Hesse and Rhineland Alice

Artist - Henry Charles Heath

Princesses Victoria, Elizabeth, Irene, Alix of Hesse mourn their mother.

In the twentieth year of her life, 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 Hessian house. Before that, all applicants for her hand were refused: Princess Elizabeth in her youth made a vow to keep her virginity all her life. After a frank conversation between her and Sergei Alexandrovich, it turned out that he secretly made the same vow. By mutual agreement, their marriage was spiritual, they lived like brother and sister.

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich

Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

Elizaveta Feodorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich

Elizaveta Feodorovna 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 the culture and especially the faith of her new homeland in depth.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth was dazzlingly beautiful. In those days, they said that there were only two beauties in Europe, and both were Elizabeths: Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph, and Elizaveta Feodorovna.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova.

F.I. Rerberg.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova.

Zon, Karl Rudolf-

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova.

A.P.Sokolov

For most of the year, the Grand Duchess lived with her husband in their Ilinskoye estate, sixty kilometers from Moscow, on the banks of the Moscow River. She loved Moscow with its ancient churches, monasteries and patriarchal way of life. Sergei Alexandrovich was a deeply religious person, strictly observed all church canons, 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 unlike what she met in a Protestant church.

Elizaveta Feodorovna firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy. From this step, she was held back by 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 Feodorovna showed courage and, despite moral suffering, firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy.

On April 13 (25), on Lazarus Saturday, the sacrament of chrismation of the 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 Orthodox Church takes place on 5 (18) September.

Friedrich August von Kaulbach.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, V.I. Nesterenko

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, 1887 Artist S.F. Alexandrovsky

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

In 1891 the Emperor Alexander III appointed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as Governor-General of Moscow. The wife of the governor-general had to perform many duties - there were constant receptions, concerts, balls. It was necessary to smile and bow to the guests, dance and carry on conversations, regardless of mood, state of health and desire.

The people of Moscow soon appreciated her merciful heart. She went to hospitals for the poor, to almshouses, to shelters for homeless children. And everywhere she tried to alleviate the suffering of people: she distributed food, clothes, money, improved the living conditions of the unfortunate.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna's room

In 1894, after many obstacles, a decision was made on the engagement of the Grand Duchess Alice with the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich. Elizaveta Fedorovna was glad 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 Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth Feodorovna

But everything happened differently. The bride of the heir arrived in Russia when Emperor Alexander III was in a terminal illness. On October 20, 1894, the emperor died. The next day, Princess Alice converted to Orthodoxy with the name Alexandra. The marriage 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 arrangement of workshops to help the soldiers - all the halls of the Kremlin Palace, except for 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 from the provinces. From here, bales of food, uniforms, medicines and gifts for soldiers went to the front. The Grand Duchess sent marching churches to the front with icons and everything necessary for worship. She personally sent Gospels, icons and prayer books. At her own expense, the Grand Duchess formed several sanitary trains.

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, D. Belyukin

Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

In Moscow, she arranged a hospital for the wounded, created special committees to provide for the widows and orphans of those who died at the front. But the Russian troops suffered one defeat after another. The war showed the technical and military unpreparedness of Russia, the shortcomings government controlled. The settling of scores for past insults of arbitrariness or injustice, an unprecedented scale of terrorist acts, rallies, strikes began. 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 in the current situation he could no longer hold the post of Governor-General of Moscow. The sovereign accepted his resignation and the couple left the governor's house, temporarily moving to Neskuchnoye.

Meanwhile, the militant organization of the Social Revolutionaries sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. Her agents were watching him, waiting for an opportunity to carry out the execution. Elizaveta Feodorovna knew that her husband was threatened deadly danger. She was warned in anonymous letters not to accompany her husband if she did not want to share his fate. The Grand Duchess tried all the more 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 Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

On February 5 (18), 1905, Sergei Aleksandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown by the terrorist Ivan Kalyaev. When Elizaveta Fyodorovna arrived at the site 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 pieces of her husband's body scattered by the explosion on 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 did not want to kill you, I saw him several times and the time when I had the bomb at the 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 replied. Further, she said that she 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, it is possible that 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 Elizabeth Feodorovna and Kalyaev.

Since the death of her wife, Elizaveta Feodorovna did not take off her mourning, she began to keep a strict fast, she 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 in White color, they contained only icons and paintings of spiritual content. She did not appear at social receptions. I only went to the church for weddings or christenings of relatives and friends and immediately went home or on business. Now she had nothing to do with social life.

Elizaveta Feodorovna in mourning after the death of her husband

She collected all her valuables, gave part to the treasury, part to her relatives, and decided to use the rest to build a monastery of mercy. On Bolshaya Ordynka in Moscow, Elizaveta Fedorovna bought an estate with four houses and a garden. The largest two-story house housed a dining room for the sisters, a kitchen and other utility rooms, in the second - a church and a hospital, next to it - a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic for visiting 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 the world of the poor and the suffering."

Elizaveta Fyodorovna Romanova.

The first temple of the monastery (“hospital”) was consecrated by Bishop Tryphon on September 9 (21), 1909 (the day of the celebration of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos) in the name of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. The second temple is in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, consecrated in 1911 (architect A.V. Shchusev, murals 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 her sisters for the coming day. Those free from obedience remained in the church, where the Divine Liturgy began. The afternoon meal was accompanied by the reading of the lives of the saints. At 5 pm Vespers and Matins were served in the church, where all the sisters who were free from obedience were present. On holidays and Sundays, an all-night vigil was performed. At 9 pm, the evening rule was read in the hospital church, after which all the sisters, having received the blessing of the abbess, dispersed to their cells. Akathists were read four times a week at Vespers: on Sunday to the Savior, on Monday to the Archangel Michael and all the Disembodied 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 was read for the dead. The abbess herself often prayed there at night. inner life the sisters were led by a wonderful priest and pastor - the confessor of the monastery, Archpriest Mitrofan Serebryansky. Twice a week he held talks with the sisters. In addition, the sisters could come daily at certain hours for advice and guidance to the confessor or to the abbess. The Grand Duchess, together with Father Mitrofan, taught the sisters not only medical knowledge, but also the spiritual guidance of degraded, lost and desperate 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 a common singing of prayers.

Marfo-Mariinsky Convent

Archpriest Mitrofan Srebryansky

Divine services in the monastery have always stood at a brilliant height thanks to the confessor chosen by the abbess, who was exceptional in his pastoral merits. The best shepherds and preachers not only of Moscow, but also of many distant places in Russia came here to perform divine services and preach. As a bee, the abbess collected nectar from all flowers so that people could feel the special aroma of spirituality. The monastery, its temples and divine services aroused the admiration of 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 Elizabeth Feodorovna

A contemporary of the Grand Duchess, Nonna Grayton, the maid of honor of 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 had the words “I can’t”, and there was never anything dull in the life of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Everything was there perfectly both inside and out. And who has been there, carried away a wonderful feeling.

In the Martha and Mary Convent, the Grand Duchess led the life of an ascetic. Slept on a wooden bed without a mattress. She strictly observed the 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, sorted out petitions and letters.

In the evening, rounds of patients, ending after midnight. At night she prayed in the chapel or in the church, her sleep rarely lasted more than three hours. When the patient rushed about and needed help, she sat at his bedside until dawn. In the hospital, Elizaveta Fedorovna took on the most responsible work: she assisted in operations, did dressings, found words of comfort, and tried to alleviate the suffering of patients. They said that a healing power emanated from the Grand Duchess, which helped them endure pain and agree to difficult operations.

As the main remedy for ailments, the abbess always offered confession and communion. She said: "It is immoral to console the dying with a false hope of recovery, it is better to help them pass in a Christian way into eternity."

Healed patients wept as they left the Marfo-Mariinsky hospital, parting with " great mother”, as they called the abbess. A Sunday school for factory workers worked at the monastery. Anyone could use the funds of the excellent library. There was a free canteen for the poor.

The abbess of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent believed that the main thing was not the hospital, but help to the poor and needy. The monastery received up to 12,000 petitions a year. They asked for everything: arrange for treatment, find a job, look after children, take care of bedridden patients, send them to study abroad.

She found opportunities to help the clergy - she gave funds for the needs of poor rural parishes who could not repair the temple or build a new one. She encouraged, strengthened, financially helped priests - missionaries who worked among the pagans of the Far North or foreigners of the outskirts of Russia.

One of the main places of poverty, to which the Grand Duchess paid Special attention, was Khitrov market. Elizaveta Feodorovna, accompanied by her cell-attendant Varvara Yakovleva or the sister of the monastery, Princess Maria Obolenskaya, tirelessly moving from one brothel to another, collected orphans and persuaded parents to give her children to raise. The entire population of Khitrov respected her, calling " 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 impurity, abuse, which lost its human face. She said: " The likeness of God may sometimes be obscured, but it can never be destroyed.”

The boys torn from Khitrovka, she arranged for hostels. From one group of such recent ragamuffins, an artel of executive messengers from Moscow was formed. The girls were arranged in closed schools or shelters, where they also looked after their health, spiritual and physical.

Elizaveta Fyodorovna organized charity homes for orphans, the disabled, the seriously ill, found time to visit them, constantly supported them financially, and brought gifts. They tell such a case: one day the Grand Duchess was supposed to come to a shelter for little orphans. Everyone was preparing to meet their benefactor with dignity. The girls were told that the Grand Duchess was coming: they would have to say hello to her and kiss her hands. When Elizaveta Fyodorovna arrived, she was met by little ones in white dresses. They greeted each other and all extended their hands to the Grand Duchess with the words: "Kiss the hands." The teachers were horrified: what will happen. But the Grand Duchess approached each of the girls and kissed everyone's hands. Everyone cried at the same time - such tenderness and reverence was on their faces and in their hearts.

« great mother”hoped that the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, which she had created, would blossom into a large fruitful tree.

Over time, she was going to arrange branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia.

The Grand Duchess had a primordially Russian love for pilgrimage.

More than once she went to Sarov and with joy hurried to the temple to pray at the shrine of St. Seraphim. She traveled to Pskov, to Optina Hermitage, to Zosima Hermitage, 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 opening or transfer of the relics of the saints of God. The Grand Duchess secretly helped and looked after sick pilgrims who were waiting for 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 is the construction of a Russian Orthodox church in Italy, in the city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra of Lycia are buried. In 1914, the lower church was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas and the hospice.

During the First World War, the work of the Grand Duchess increased: it was necessary to take care of the wounded in the infirmaries. Some of the sisters of the monastery were released to work in the field hospital. At first, Elizaveta Fedorovna, prompted by a Christian feeling, visited the captured Germans, but the slander about the secret support of the enemy forced her to refuse this.

In 1916, an angry mob approached the gates of the monastery demanding to extradite a German spy, the brother of Elizaveta Feodorovna, who was allegedly hiding in the monastery. The abbess went out to the crowd alone and offered to inspect all the premises of the community. The police cavalry dispersed the crowd.

Shortly after the February Revolution, a crowd again approached the monastery with rifles, red flags and bows. The abbess herself opened the gate - she was told 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

To the demand of those who came to immediately go with them, the Grand Duchess said that she must make orders and say goodbye to her 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.

The entire prayer service Elizaveta Feodorovna stood on her knees. 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 did not find anything there, except for the cells of the sisters and the hospital with the sick. After the crowd left, Elizaveta Fedorovna told the sisters: Obviously, we are not yet worthy of a martyr's crown..

In the spring of 1917, a Swedish minister came to her on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm and offered her help in traveling abroad. Elizaveta Feodorovna 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 at this difficult time.

There have never been so many people at worship in the monastery as before the October Revolution. They went not only for a bowl of soup or medical help, but for consolation and advice " great mother". Elizaveta Fedorovna received everyone, listened, strengthened. People left her peaceful and encouraged.

Mikhail Nesterov

Fresco "Christ with Martha and Mary" for the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow

Mikhail Nesterov

The first time after the October Revolution, the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was not touched. On the contrary, the sisters were respected, twice a week a truck with food drove up to the monastery: black bread, dried fish, vegetables, a little fat and sugar. Of the medicines issued in limited quantity dressings and essential medicines.

The Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was the second child in the family of the Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.

The family called her Ella. Her peace of mind was formed in the circle of a family warmed by mutual love. Ella's mother died when the girl was 12 years old, she planted in the young heart the seeds of pure faith, deep compassion for the crying, suffering, burdened. For the rest of her life, Ella's memories of visiting hospitals, shelters, and nursing homes remained in Ella's memory.

In the film about Ella's parents, about her heavenly patroness (before the conversion to Orthodoxy) St. Elizabeth of Thurengen, about the history of the house of Hesse-Darmstadt and its close connection with the house of Romanov, our contemporaries tell in detail - the director of the Darmstadt archive Prof. Frank and Princess Margaret of Hesse .

Russia - the vault of heaven dotted with countless stars of the saints of God

A few years later, the whole family accompanied Princess Elizabeth to her wedding in Russia. The wedding took place in the church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The Grand Duchess intensively studied the Russian language, wanting to study the culture and, most importantly, the faith of her new Motherland in depth.

The film tells about the joint stay of a married couple in the Holy Land in October 1888. This pilgrimage deeply impressed Elizaveta Feodorovna: Palestine opened up to her as a source of joyful prayerful inspiration: revived quivering childhood memories and tears of silent prayers to the Heavenly Shepherd. The Garden of Gethsemane, Golgotha, the Holy Sepulcher - the very air is sanctified here by God's presence. “I wish I were buried here,” she will say. These words were destined to come true.

After visiting the Holy Land, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna firmly decided to convert to Orthodoxy. From this step she was kept only by the fear of hurting her family and, above all, her father. Finally, on January 1, 1891, she wrote to her father about her decision to accept Orthodox faith. Here is an excerpt from her letter to her father: “I am converting from pure conviction, I feel that this is the highest religion and that I will do it with faith, with deep conviction and confidence that there is God's blessing on it.”

On April 12 (25), on Lazarus Saturday, the Sacrament of Confirmation of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was performed. She retained her former name, but in honor of the holy righteous Elizabeth - the mother of St. John the Baptist. After the Anointing, Emperor Alexander III blessed his daughter-in-law with the precious icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, with which Elizaveta Feodorovna did not part all her life and died a martyr's death with it on her chest.

The film tells about her trip to Sarov in 1903 to glorify St. Seraphim of Sarov, documentary newsreel footage is given. “Father, why don’t we now have such a strict life as the ascetics of piety had?” - once asked the Monk Seraphim.
“Because,” the monk answered, “we don’t have the determination to do so. The grace and help of God to the faithful and those who seek the Lord with all their hearts is now the same as it was before”

Moscow - where national shrines from all over the fatherland are collected by spark, in which spiritual fire burned for centuries

Further, the film tells about the riots, numerous victims, among which were prominent politicians who died at the hands of revolutionary terrorists. On February 5 (18), 1905, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by a bomb thrown at him by the terrorist Ivan Kalyaev.

On the third day after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna went to prison to see the killer. She wanted Kalyaev to repent of his terrible crime and pray to the Lord for forgiveness, but he refused. Despite this, the Grand Duchess asked Emperor Nicholas II to pardon Kalyaev, but this request was rejected.

“Acquire the spirit of peace and around you thousands will be saved,” said St. Seraphim of Sarov. Praying at the coffin of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna received a revelation - “to move away from secular life, to create a monastery of mercy to help the poor and sick.”

After four years of mourning on February 10, 1909, the Grand Duchess did not return to secular life, but dressed in the attire of the cross sister of love and mercy, and having gathered the seventeen sisters of the Martha and Mary Convent founded by her, she said: “I leave the brilliant world, where I occupied a brilliant position, but together with all of you I am ascending into a greater world – into the world of the poor and the suffering.”

The basis of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy was the charter of the monastic community. One of the main places of poverty, to which the Grand Duchess paid special attention, was the Khitrov market. Many owed their salvation to her.

Another glorious deed of the Grand Duchess is the construction of a Russian Orthodox church in Italy, in the city of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra are buried.

From the very beginning of his life in Orthodoxy and until last days The Grand Duchess was in complete obedience to her spiritual fathers. Without the blessing of the priest of the Martha and Mary Convent, Archpriest Mitrofan Serebryansky, and without the advice of the elders of Optina Hermitage, Zosima Hermitage and other monasteries, she herself did nothing. Her humility and obedience were amazing.

After the February Revolution, in the summer of 1917, the Swedish minister came to the Grand Duchess, who, on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm, was to persuade her to leave the increasingly restless Russia. Warmly thanking the minister for his care, the Grand Duchess quite calmly said that she could not leave her monastery and the sisters and patients entrusted to her by God, and that she had decided to firmly remain in Russia.

In April 1918, on the third day of Easter, Elizaveta Feodorovna was arrested, and her cell-attendant Varvara Yakovleva voluntarily went under arrest with her. Together with the Grand Dukes of the Romanovs, they are brought to Alapaevsk.

“The Lord has found it time for us to bear His cross. We will try to be worthy of this joy,” she said.

In the dead of night on July 5 (18), on the day of the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her cell attendant Varvara Yakovleva, along with other members of the Imperial House, were thrown into the mine of an old mine. Prayer chants were heard from the shaft.

A few months later, the army of Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak occupied Yekaterinburg, the bodies of the martyrs were removed from the mine. The Monk Martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara and Grand Duke John had their fingers folded for the sign of the cross. The body of Elizabeth Feodorovna remained incorrupt.

Through the efforts of the White Army, the coffins with the relics of the martyrs were brought to Jerusalem in 1921 and placed in the tomb of the church of St. Mary Magdalene Equal-to-the-Apostles in Gethsemane, according to the wish of Grand Duchess Elizabeth.

Directed by Viktor Ryzhko, screenplay by Sergei Drobashenko. 1992
The film is a laureate of the All-Russian Orthodox Film Festival in 1995. Audience Award 1995.
Diploma winner of the IFF “Golden Knight”, 1993.
(in preparing the review, the book by L. Miller "The Holy Martyr of Russia, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna" was used)