Elizaveta Romanova, 1887
Elizaveta Fyodorovna Romanova (1864-1918) - Grand Duchess.
In 1864, a girl was born in the German city of Darmstadt, who was named Elizabeth Alexandra Louise Alice. Judging by the number of names, patron saints should have been enough for her for a long time, happy life. Ella's father, that was the name of the girl in the family, was the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV, and her mother was Princess Alice, the daughter of Queen Victoria of England. Until the age of 14, the girl was raised by her mother, who devoted a lot of time to charity. In 1878, at the age of 35, her mother died, and Ella went to live with her grandmother in England.
Ella had many talents that gave her beauty subtlety and spirituality: she had a pleasant voice and sang well, understood painting and knew how to draw, loved flowers and made beautiful bouquets of them.
In 1884, twenty-year-old Ella married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857-1905), brother of Emperor Alexander III (1845-1894), and became Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. It would seem that a happy family life lies ahead. However, the family turned out to be strange. Some said that the strangeness was determined by the indifference of the prince to women. Others - the religiosity of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich.
It is difficult to understand to what extent charity was caused by the inner motivation of Elizabeth Feodorovna, and to what extent - by family circumstances. Yes, and this "weighing" is hardly necessary. At that time, charity was natural, and the position of the wife of the governor general gave additional opportunities for this. The Grand Duchess used them and, not having her own children, helped thousands of "strangers" who needed her help.
Dedicated to Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna
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Elizaveta Romanova, 1887 |
I look at you, admiring hourly: Some meekness and innermost sadness Let nothing on earth among evils and many sorrows |
Every person has their own path in life. By him he is either saved or lives his life in condemnation. In this sense, wealth and poverty, sufficiency and poverty, security and want are in themselves neither virtues nor conditions of salvation. It all depends on how exactly a person manages his life circumstances. If for the glory of God, then poverty and poverty are not a hindrance to him. And wealth with glory is not a shame. And although, as Holy Scripture testifies, it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is by no means easier for a poor man. How easy it is for a needy person to fall into anger and envy, to burn 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 the rich not to become proud, not haughty, not to experience a sense of superiority over the "losers" and "tramps" ...
Icon of the Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna Romanova. Gallery of Shchigry icons.
Elizaveta Feodorovna was born among the strong and glorious of this world. She was born on November 1, 1864 in the German city of Darmstadt, in a house on Wilhelminenstrasse. Her mother Alice was the daughter of Queen Victoria of England, and her father Theodor Ludwig IV was the Grand Duke of Hesse. Ella's parents - this diminutive name was once called the great Russian saint - in character and way of life were active and good Christians. Their subjects were entitled 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 graciously influence the morals of the people and straighten out all its social flaws by a personal example of piety.
Only life in Christ completely changes a person - regardless of his material condition and the class to which he belongs.
Ella's mother, Grand Duchess Alice, after her death, was perceived by the Germans as the true mother of the country, as an example of an exemplary family life, as a mother of well-bred children, as a standard of good morals and love for 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 martyr 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, inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria of England. All her life she affirmed by deeds the two most important Christian principles for the salvation of the soul - repentance and mercy. Duchess Alice organically gravitated towards charity.
In the book of Countess A. A. Olsufyeva, maid of honor of the Grand Duchess (“The Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna of Russia”, London, 1923), we find the following characteristic lines: “Elizaveta Feodorovna received from her mother an early education that prepared her for a high destiny. This wise and tender mother instilled in the minds of children from an early age the main principle of Christianity - love for one's neighbor.
She herself, always remaining an Englishwoman in her soul, fell deeply in love with her new country; endowed with tact and discretion, 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 - generosity in deeds and restraint in speech. She never allowed herself to harshly criticize anyone 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, devoting herself to the needy and sick, proved that she was "the true daughter of the Grand Duchess Alice."
A living love for a suffering person, along with the beauty and sophistication of the grand ducal lifestyle, outstanding people who visited their parents - musicians, composers, artists and poets - all this contributed to the formation in Ella of an exceptionally tender 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 destitute, high demands on oneself and amazing personal modesty and humility, which took its source from the strict observance of the commandments of Christ.
Icon of the Martyrs Elizabeth and Barbara. Icon from the Church of the Iberian Mother of God on Vspolye, Moscow.
The magnificent castle in which Ella's family lived was partially turned by her father into a museum, where paintings by famous artists were collected (among them - Holbein Jr.), stained glass windows, rare exhibits of flora and fauna. This neighborhood had the most positive effect on the development aesthetic sense in all children.
Icon of the Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
From the page of the Pupil of the St. Alexis Convent of the book Saratov St. Alexis Convent
Parents constantly took their children with them to hospitals and shelters, opened their eyes to human pain, 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 direct sincerity and cordiality.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. From an article by Shamordino, embroidered icons of the monastery.
“Every Saturday morning,” Ernst Ludwig recalled, “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 associated with children... and became friends with many patients and unconditionally learned to have sympathy for others. There were no age restrictions here; 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 father, I wish you a happy New Year. Mom put your picture in our school room. We were at the city hall, where poor children received Christmas gifts, and their dads were at war. Farewell, dear father. 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.
They were courted by all the noble ladies of Darmstadt. What an analogy can be traced 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 would also look after the wounded, send bales with things, gifts and food to the front!
Ella's father Theodor Ludwig, like his wife Alice, also helped create a healthy Christian atmosphere in the family. There was neither a sense of exaltation from belonging to a noble family, nor aristocratic arrogance and arrogance in relations with subjects. As mentioned above, fate ordinary people, suffering and needy, were put at the forefront in Ella's family. The power and influence given to them from God was perceived by the Grand Duke Ludwig and his wife Alice solely as an honorable burden of responsibility for arranging the fate of those who were entrusted to their care by God himself.
In addition, love and peace, warmth of the heart and complete spiritual kinship reigned in the personal relationship between Ludwig and Alice. “I hope that my beloved Louis will be with me again tonight,” Alice wrote to her mother, Queen Victoria, “this is such a wonderful occasion for joy and gratitude. When he is next to me, all worries dissolve into peace and happiness. What a beneficial effect these sensitive and caring parental relationships had on children!.. A kind and comfortable life, conversations on lofty topics, regular communication with children, care for their spiritual and physical health, frequent trips to nature and travel - all this was gratefully imprinted by a soft child's soul, gave its development the necessary and saving direction.
Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse took her maternal duty, which is inseparable from the Christian faith, very seriously. It is in this respect, 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, embroidered. Today, the Red Hall of the Hessian Palace recreated after the Second World War houses her amazing children's drawings and sewing.
Saint Ella's favorite 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 dominions. Elizabeth wandered for a long time, lived with the poor, bandaged their wounds, wore coarse clothes, slept on bare ground, walked barefoot and was a model of Christian humility. Her ascetic way of life was very attractive to Ella, who always aspired to Christian perfection and already in her early youth secretly understood that without inner spiritual asceticism and strict abstinence she would never be achieved.
The tragic death of Ella's younger brother Friedrich and the early death of her mother, who died of diphtheria at the age of thirty-five, drew a line under the girl's happy childhood and put her on the next stage of spiritual growth - the Christian understanding of life as the Cross, the preservation of the purity of youth and the further realization of the main life goal - salvation of the soul through active love for one's neighbor. She selflessly helped her father in everything, trying to alleviate his grief, looked after her sisters, and kept housekeeping. 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, wields pans in prison and feels at home in the garden beds.
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 of Russia Alexandra Feodorovna.
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 the traditions of 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 did their own 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.
Elizaveta Feodorovna with her husband Sergei Alexandrovich.
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. Orthodox rite, and after him in the Protestant style 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, 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
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
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 did it start Russo-Japanese War, Elizaveta Fedorovna immediately took up the organization of 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 desktops. 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 set up 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 of public administration. 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 in mortal 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. in the biggest two-story house a dining room for sisters, a kitchen and other utility rooms were located, in the second - a church and a hospital, next to it - 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 convent 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 more great 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 temple where the Divine Liturgy. 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. Under holidays and Sundays all-night vigil. At 9 pm in the hospital church they read evening rule, after him 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 Incorporeal Heavenly Forces, on Wednesday - to the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary, and on Friday - Mother of God or 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. 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 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 best traditions 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 wooden bed without 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 consolation, 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 placed in closed educational institutions or shelters, where they also monitored 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 happily hurried to the temple to pray at the shrine. Reverend 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 hand over 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.
Soon after February Revolution the 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 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 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
Mikhail Nesterov
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 drove up to the monastery: black bread, dried fish, vegetables, some fat and sugar. Of the medicines, bandages and essential medicines were issued in limited quantities.
Text: Zoya Zhalnina
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, 1904 Archival photos and documents from the museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy
A person's deeds and letters speak best of all. Elizaveta Feodorovna's letters to close people reveal the rules on which she built her life and relationships with others, allow you to better understand the reasons that prompted the brilliant high-society beauty to turn into a saint during her lifetime.
In Russia, Elizaveta Feodorovna was known not only as “the most beautiful princess in Europe”, the sister of the Empress and the wife of the Tsar’s uncle, but also as the founder of the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, a new type of convent.
In 1918, the founder of the monastery of mercy, wounded but alive, was thrown into a mine in a deep forest so that no one would find it - by order of the head of the Bolshevik Party V.I. Lenin.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was very fond of nature and often walked for a long time - without ladies-in-waiting and "etiquette". In the photo: on the way to the village of Nasonovo, not far from the Ilyinsky estate near Moscow, where she and her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, lived almost without a break until his appointment in 1891 to the post of Governor-General of Moscow. End of the 19th century. State Archive of the Russian Federation
On faith: “External signs only remind me of the internal”
By birth, a Lutheran, Elizabeth Feodorovna, if desired, could remain her all her life: the canons of that time prescribed a mandatory transition to Orthodoxy only to those members of the august family who were related to the succession to the throne, and Elizabeth's husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was not the heir to the throne . However, in the seventh year of marriage, Elizabeth decides to become Orthodox. And he does this not “because of her husband”, but of her own free will.
Princess Elizabeth with her family in her youth: father, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, sister Alix (future Empress of Russia), Princess Elizabeth herself, older sister, Princess Victoria, brother of Ernst-Ludwig. Mother, Princess Alice, died when Elizabeth was 12 years old.
Artist Heinrich von Angeli, 1879
From a letter to his father, Ludwig
IV
, Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine
(January 1, 1891):
I took this step [-conversion to Orthodoxy-] only out of deep faith and I feel that I must appear before God with a pure and believing heart. How easy it would be to remain as it is now, but then how hypocritical, how false it would be, and how can I lie to everyone - pretending to be a Protestant in all outward rites, when my soul belongs entirely to the religion here. I thought and thought deeply about all this, being in this country for more than 6 years, and knowing that the religion was "found".
Even in Slavonic, I understand almost everything, although I have never learned this language. You say that the outward brilliance of the church fascinated me. In this you are wrong. Nothing external attracts me, and not worship - but the foundation of faith. External signs only remind me of the internal ...
Certificate of high medical qualification of the sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Labor Community dated April 21, 1925. After the arrest of Elizaveta Feodorovna in 1918, a "labor artel" was set up in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and a hospital was preserved where the sisters of the convent could work. The sisters worked so well that they even earned praise from Soviet power. That did not prevent her from closing the monastery a year after the issuance of the certificate, in 1926. A copy of the certificate was provided to the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent by the Central Archive of Moscow
About the revolution: “I prefer to be killed by the first random shot than to sit with folded arms”
From a letter from V.F. Dzhunkovsky, adjutant of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1905):
The revolution cannot end any day now, it can only worsen or become chronic, which in all probability it will. My duty is now to take care of helping the unfortunate victims of the uprising ... I prefer to be killed by the first accidental shot from some window than to sit here with folded arms.<…>
Revolution of 1905-1907 Barricades in Ekaterininsky Lane (Moscow). Photo from the Museum of Modern History of Russia. Newsreel RIA Novosti
From a letter to Emperor Nicholas II (December 29, 1916):
We are all about to be overwhelmed by huge waves<…>All classes - from the lowest to the highest, and even those who are now at the front - have reached the limit! ..<…>What other tragedy could unfold? What more suffering do we have ahead of us?
Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna. 1892
Elizaveta Feodorovna in mourning for her murdered husband. Archival photos and documents from the museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
On forgiveness of enemies: "Knowing the good heart of the deceased, I forgive you"
In 1905, the husband of Elizaveta Feodorovna, the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was killed by a bomb by the terrorist Kalyaev. Elizaveta Fedorovna, having heard an explosion that thundered not far from the governor's palace, ran out into the street and began to collect her husband's body torn to pieces. Then she prayed for a long time. After some time, she filed a petition for pardon for her husband's killer and visited him in prison, leaving the Gospel. She said she forgives him everything.
Revolutionary Ivan Kalyaev (1877-1905), who killed Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich in Moscow and executed by the tsarist government. From the family of a retired police officer. In addition to the revolution, he loved poetry, wrote poetry. From the notes of the archpriest of the prison Shlisselburg St. John the Baptist Cathedral, John Florinsky: “I have never seen a person going to his death with such calmness and humility of a true Christian. When I told him that in two hours he would be executed, he calmly answered me: “ I'm quite ready to die I don't need your sacraments and prayers I believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit He is always with me and I will die accompanied by Him But if you are a decent person and if you have compassion for me let's just talk like friends.” And he hugged me!” Newsreel RIA Novosti
From the encrypted telegram of the Prosecutor of the Senate E.B. Vasiliev dated February 8, 1905:
The meeting of the Grand Duchess with the killer took place on February 7 at 8 pm in the office of the Pyatnitsky part.<…>When asked who she was, the Grand Duchess replied “I am the wife of the one you killed, tell me why you killed him”; the accused stood up, saying "I did what I was instructed to do, this is the result of the existing regime." The Grand Duchess graciously turned to him with the words “knowing the good heart of the deceased, I forgive you” and blessed the murderer. Then<…>I was alone with the criminal for about twenty minutes. After the meeting, he told the accompanying officer that "the Grand Duchess is kind, and you are all evil."
From a letter to Empress Maria Feodorovna (March 8, 1905):
Violent shock [ from the death of her husband] I have been smoothed out by a small white cross placed at the spot where he died. The next evening I went there to pray and I was able to close my eyes and see this pure symbol of Christ. It was a great mercy, and then, in the evenings, before I go to bed, I say: "Good night!" - and I pray, and in my heart and soul I have peace.
Handmade embroidery by Elizabeth Feodorovna. The images of the sisters Martha and Mary meant the path of service to people chosen by the Grand Duchess: active kindness and prayer. Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow
About prayer: “I don’t know how to pray well…”
From a letter to Princess Z. N. Yusupova (June 23, 1908):
Peace of heart, peace of mind and soul brought me the relics of St. Alexis. If only you could approach the holy relics in the temple and, after praying, simply kiss them with your forehead, so that the world would enter into you and stay there. I hardly prayed - alas, I don’t know how to pray well, but only fell: I fell, like a child to a mother’s breast, without asking for anything, because he is at peace, from the fact that a saint is with me, on whom I can lean and don't get lost alone.
Elizaveta Feodorovna dressed as a sister of mercy. The clothes of the sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent were made according to the sketches of Elizaveta Feodorovna, who believed that white was more appropriate for the sisters in the world than black.
Archival photos and documents from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
About monasticism: “I accepted it not as a cross, but as a path”
Four years after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna sold her property and jewelry, giving to the treasury that part that belonged to the Romanov family, and with the proceeds she founded the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow.
From letters
Emperor Nicholas II (March 26 and April 18, 1909):
Mine starts in two weeks new life blessed in the church. I kind of say goodbye to the past, with its mistakes and sins, hoping for a higher goal and a purer existence.<…>For me, taking vows is something even more serious than marriage for a young girl. I am betrothed to Christ and His cause, I give everything I can to Him and others.
View of the Martha and Mary Convent on Ordynka (Moscow) at the beginning of the 20th century. Archival photos and documents from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
From a telegram and a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to Professor
St. Petersburg Theological Academy A.A. Dmitrievsky (1911):
Some do not believe that I myself, without any outside influence, decided to take this step. It seems to many that I have taken on an unbearable cross, which I will regret one day and either throw it off or collapse under it. I accepted it not as a cross, but as a path abounding in light, which the Lord showed me after the death of Sergei, but which, long years before, began to dawn in my soul. For me, this is not a “transition”: it is something that little by little grew in me, took shape.<…>I was amazed when a whole battle was played out to prevent me, to intimidate me with difficulties. All this was done with great love and good intentions, but with an absolute misunderstanding of my character.
Sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent
On relationships with people: "I have to do what they do"
From a letter to E.N. Naryshkina (1910):
... You can tell me, following many others: stay in your palace as a widow and do good "from above". But, if I demand from others that they follow my convictions, I must do the same as they do, I myself experience the same difficulties with them, I must be strong in order to console them, encourage them by my example; I have neither mind nor talent - I have nothing but love for Christ, but I am weak; the truth of our love for Christ, our devotion to him, we can express by comforting other people - this is how we give our lives to him ...
A group of wounded soldiers of the First World War in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. In the center are Elizaveta Feodorovna and Sister Varvara, Elizaveta Feodorovna's cell attendant, the venerable martyr, who voluntarily went into exile with her superior and died with her. Photo from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
On his attitude towards himself: “You need to move forward so slowly that it seems that you are standing still”
From a letter to Emperor Nicholas II (March 26, 1910):
The higher we try to climb, the greater feats we impose on ourselves, the more the devil tries to make us blind to the truth.<…>You need to move forward so slowly that it seems that you are standing still. A person should not look down, he should consider himself the worst of the worst. It often seemed to me that there was some kind of lie in this: to try to consider yourself the worst of the worst. But this is precisely what we must come to - with the help of God, everything is possible.
Mother of God and Apostle John the Theologian at the Cross on Golgotha. A fragment of stucco decorating the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.
Why God Allows Suffering
From a letter
Countess A.A. Olsufieva (1916):
I'm not exalted, my friend. I am only sure that the Lord who punishes is the same Lord who loves. I have been reading the Gospel a lot lately, and if we realize that great sacrifice of God the Father, Who sent His Son to die and rise for us, then we will feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who illuminates our path. And then joy becomes eternal even when our poor human hearts and our little earthly minds experience moments that seem very terrible.
About Rasputin: "This is a man who leads several lives"
Elizaveta Feodorovna was extremely negative about the excessive trust with which her younger sister, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, treated Grigory Rasputin. She believed that the dark influence of Rasputin brought the imperial couple to "a state of blindness that casts a shadow over their home and country."
Interestingly, two of the participants in the murder of Rasputin were in the closest social circle of Elizabeth Feodorovna: Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, who was her nephew.
Canonization often obscures a real person from us, replacing him with an ideal image on an icon. We tried to talk about the real Elizabeth Feodorovna with the researcher of her biography, Apollinaria Voloshun.
Apollinaria Voloshun- writer, religious scholar Born in 1980, she graduated from the Missionary Faculty of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University. Researcher and author of the biography of the Holy Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, post-graduate student of Tverskoy state university departments national history. Founder of the LitAcademy literary portal, administrator of the PSTGU student forum, active participant in the blogosphere.
Apollinaria Voloshun
- Elizaveta Fedorovna is a saint close to us in time. We read her letters, look at photographs ... And often the lines of K.R. “Like an angel, you are quiet, pure and perfect” ...
– I would not say that the image of the Grand Duchess is simple and understandable. The thing is that after canonization, a person automatically loses some individual, purely human features. If we think of the holiness of a person exclusively as a kind of his chosenness by God, about the primary inclinations of a saint, then we will be wrong from the point of view of Orthodox dogma. The main thing is the path that the person went to his salvation, and if she were not tempted, if she did not overcome difficulties, if she did not make a choice, then she would hardly be able to reach the heights that we are now seeing.
Therefore, to say that Elizaveta Feodorovna was originally an angel in the flesh is not only wrong, but can also create a dangerous idea about the impossibility of her own salvation.
What kind of person was she?
– Elizaveta Feodorovna was, first of all, real woman, with her love for flowers and drawing, beautiful clothes, cheerful companies. Her origin, appearance and character did not so much make her life easier as they burdened her with duties. If we now look at the image of the Grand Duchess, we will see beautiful woman, a rich, famous, real princess from a fairy tale. Subsequently, in view of the glorification of Elizabeth Feodorovna in the face of saints, she appears as a quiet, modest sufferer, living for the sake of others.
And what was between these radically different images? What led to such a transformation?
– Maybe it was laid in childhood?
– Origin, upbringing, religion - it is impossible to explain the character of the Grand Duchess only by this. Empress Alexandra Fedorovna also had all this, and, nevertheless, she did not gain such popularity among the people, did not do charity work in such a volume, and she perceived Orthodoxy in her own way.
Two sisters, both beautiful, both descendants of the Queen of England, both Germans, both Protestants, both married Russian grand dukes, both converted to Orthodoxy, both raised children, both did charity work, and both eventually got rid of images imposed by etiquette and lived contrary to secular prescriptions - one, the empress, was hiding from the people, the other personally delved into all matters and sought to preserve this freedom without losing privileges ...
What then is the difference between them? Why was one popular among the people, the other remained misunderstood?
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna in mourning for V.K. Sergei Alexandrovich
– It is always difficult in a foreign country, for a German woman in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, especially after the start of the war - even more so. Did they both suffer from attacks?
– For the most part, it was the Empress who was accused of German origin, as Paleologus, his friend Buchanan, Mosolov and other contemporaries write about it. Elizaveta Fedorovna also complained of Germanophobia, but even Muscovites considered her Russian. As N. Nesterov wrote: it was Elizabeth Feodorovna, and not the Empress at all, who had an accent until the end of her life. And indeed, she corresponded in Russian extremely rarely. That is, one feels prejudice to the youngest of the sisters. Contemporaries constantly compared them, and it is natural that someone received praise, and someone reproaches.
– Why is that? Is Elizaveta Fedorovna more “lucky”?
– Is it possible to say that the people's love went to the Grand Duchess for nothing? She was a bright, strong personality who perfectly felt the “mood of the crowd” and understood that it was possible to revive and strengthen the popularity of the monarchy among the people only through communication with the people themselves, direct participation in their lives, and complete devotion to their concerns. Today it is called "PR".
The only difference is that the Grand Duchess was not a hired manager, she herself is a member of the imperial family, and her life also depended on what was happening in the country. She was sincere in her "promotion" - this is the key difference. After all, it is no secret that when traveling by train, the Empress not only did not come out to those who had gathered to greet her on the platform, but also ordered the curtains to be closed more tightly. How does the Grand Duchess act in an identical situation? Just the opposite.
– One of the most instructive acts of Elizabeth Feodorovna is the forgiveness of her husband's murderer. Many do not understand how a person is capable of such a thing.
– The Grand Duchess had to pick up the pieces with her hands human body, which in itself is shocking, even without any emotional attachment to who they belonged to. When they argue about the reasons for visiting the Grand Duchess Kalyaev, this does not cause any contradictions for me personally. An impressionable woman, a gentle princess, a Christian doing works of mercy, finds herself in such a situation. How can you not understand this? Everything becomes transparent if you turn to the very personality of Elizabeth Feodorovna, to the way she really was, in order to understand the reasons for her actions. Actually, this allows you to objectively look at many seemingly contradictory issues ...
– On the other hand, there is a "dark" spot in the life of Elizabeth Feodorovna. She is said to have been aware of the preparations to assassinate Rasputin. What do you think of it?
But an archive is an archive, whether the material is published or not, it is the source. It is possible to confirm or deny its authenticity either by the method of comparison, comparison, involving similar or contradictory information. You cannot take one thing from a source and ignore the other.
You can not interpret the facts for the sake of private opinion. It is impossible to throw away evidence (repeated) about the good relations between the Grand Duchess and Prince F.F. Yusupov, one cannot ignore the words about the oddities of the family life of the Grand Duchess.
When we work with documents of personal origin, we pay attention not only to the content, but also try to find out under what circumstances it was written, in what mood, whether character traits and changes in writing style. After all, when people wrote letters, they did not blog with the thought of subscribers, but shared what they really cared about. Of course, this is the same tool for manipulating the addressee, and, undoubtedly, the Grand Duchess knew how to use it. This can be seen from the correspondence, especially in letters to the emperor, where she carefully “dropped in” to the topic she needed, or after a straightforward recommendation she attributed: “but do as you see best, dear.” I do not consider this to be something that detracts from the merits of Elizabeth Feodorovna, she was simply smart and believed in what she was doing.
– How did Elizaveta Feodorovna turn to charity?
– Elizaveta Fedorovna did not seek to devote herself to charitable service from the first days of her stay in Russia. And even Her Highest Guardianship in the Elizabethan society was at first typical for women. royal family and did not intend to roll up his sleeves and change the patient's bandages soaked in pus.
However, she undoubtedly possessed empathy and, thanks to her openness, perfectly understood other people's moods. Gradually, she became interested in scale, she had to maintain and increase connections and means. Gradually, it took all her time and became a way of life.
That is, the fact that the Grand Duchess managed to transform her life experience and faith in God in works of mercy and completely surrendered to him - this is her personal choice. And here we are talking about the upbringing by the mother, about the worldview, about the character - as about the guidelines of the personality.
A.V. Bellegarde in his memoirs speaks of the connection between the events in the life of Elizabeth Feodorovna and the stages of her activity. That is, after the Khodynka disaster, the Grand Duchess began to diligently engage in charity work in Moscow in order to save Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich from the wrath of the crowd. It can also be said that it was the death of her husband that prompted her to found a monastery of mercy.
In wartime, Elizaveta Fedorovna came up with Committees. Or, due to dissatisfaction with Rasputin and the "epidemic of religious exaltation", she became a missionary for the sake of preserving the Orthodox faith. Indeed, it is possible to trace the cause-and-effect relationships of the decisions of the Grand Duchess. Therefore, this looks like a path that leads a person to salvation. The Lord left us so much information about herself, about her Everyday life, words and deeds so that we see the direction. So that they do not fall into despair when terrible events occur in life, and always orient themselves in their choice Holy Scripture. I think it is.
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