Pre-on-add-but-mu-che-no-tsa ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya Eli-sa-ve-ta was born on October 20, 1864, in pro- te-stant family of ve-li-ko-go-her-tso-ga of Ges-sen-Darm-stadt-ko-go Lu-dvi-ga IV and princess Ali-sy, do-che -ri of the English king-role-you Vik-to-rii. In 1884, she married the ve-is-who-the-th prince Sergei Alek-san-dro-vi-cha, brother im-pe-ra-to-ra Ros- this is Alexander III.
Seeing the deep faith of your su-pr-ga, ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya with all your heart is-ka-la answer to the question - ka -what is the re-li-gia is-tin-na? She fervently prayed and asked the Lord to open Her will to her. On April 13, 1891, in La-za-re-vu sub-bo-tu, over Eli-sa-ve-that Fe-o-do-dov-noy, the rank was completed at -nya-tia to the Pra-glorious Church. In the same year, the great prince Sergei Alek-san-dro-vich was appointed general-gu-ber-na-to-rum of Moscow.
Seeing temples, pain-ni-tsy, children's shelters, houses for the elderly and prisons, we, ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya de la many stra-da-ny. And everywhere she tried to do something to make them easier.
After the na-cha-la in 1904, the Russian-Japanese war, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na in many ways, mo-ga-la front-tu, Russian in-and-us. She worked until half-the-th out of-not-m-zh-niya.
On February 5, 1905, a terrible event happened, from my neck all my life, Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do-ditch-ny. From the explosion of the bomb, would be re-vo-lu-qi-o-ne-ra-ter-ro-ri-hundred, the great prince Sergei Alek-san-dro-vich died. Throw-siv-sha-i-sya to the place of the explosion Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na uvi-de-la car-ti-nu, in your own way -su pre-vos-ho-div-shui che-lo-ve-che-in-about-ra-same-tion. Silently, without crying and tears, standing on her knees in the snow-gu, she began to collect and put on but-strength parts of the body-la go- rya-cho lu-bi-mo-go and live-in-go for a few more minutes on the back of her husband.
In the hour of the hardest is-py-ta-niya Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on pro-si-la for help and comfort at Bo ha. The next day, she partook of the Holy Mysteries in the temple of Chu-do-va mo-na-sta-rya, where the coffin of su-pru-ga stood. On the third day, after gi-be-li husband Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on, went-la to prison to the murderer. She doesn’t is-py-you-va-la hate him-vi-sti. The great prince-gi-nya ho-te-la, so that he would ra-ka-yal-sya in his terrible crime-step-le-ni and pray to the Lord about -she-nii. She da-da-da-la go-su-da-ryu about the mi-lo-va-nii of the killer.
Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on re-shi-la to consecrate your life to the Lord through the service of people and create an offence in Moscow tel work-yes, mi-lo-ser-diya and mo-lit-you. She ku-pi-la on the street Big-shay Or-melon-ka teaching the drain of the earth with four houses and a large garden-house. In obi-the-whether, someone-of-heaven would-la-name-on Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-skay in honor of the holy sisters Mar-fa and Mary, would-whether built two temples - Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky and Po-krov-sky, pain-no-tsa, consider-tav-sha-I-sya in the aftermath of the best necks in Moscow, and ap-te-ka, in some swarm of le-kar-stva from-pus-ka-were the poor free of charge, children's shelter and school. Outside the walls of the obi-te-li, a house-pain-no-tsa was built for women who were sick with tuber-ku-le-zom.
February 10-ra-la, 1909, the abode on-cha-la his de-I-tel-ness. April 9, 1910, for the all-night vigil, Bishop Dmitrovsky (Tur-ke-sta-nov; † 1934) according to rank, raz-ra- bo-tan-no-mu Holy-shim Si-no-house, holy-til on-villages in the rank of cross sisters of love and mi-lo-ser- diya. Sisters made a vow, according to the example of foreign-throw, to lead a virgin life in labor and prayer. On the next day, after the Divine Li-tour-gi-her, the saint, mit-ro-po-lit Mos-kovsky and Ko-lo-men-sky ; - led to the rank of one-hundred-I-tel-ni-tsy obi-te-li. The great prince-gi-nya said that day: "I leave the shining world ... but together with all of you I rise to a greater world - to the world of the poor and the suffering."
In Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky ob-te-whether ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on ve-la in motion no-che-sky life: spa-la on de-re-vyan-noy kro-va-ti without mat-ra-sa, often no more than three hours; pi-shu used-treb-la-la all-ma moderately-ren-but and strictly with-blu-yes-la in-stay; at midnight, get up-va-la for mo-lit-vu, and then about-ho-di-la all pa-la-you are sick, often until dawn va-ya u-ste-whether tya-lo-pain-no-tho. She says-vo-ri-la sisters-ram obi-te-li: "Isn't it scary that we are from a false human-man-no-sti-ra-em-sya to lull such hopefully for their imaginary well-being. We would have given them the best service, if we had -Go-then-wi-whether them to Christ-sti-an-sko-mu re-re-ho-du into eternity. Without the b-go-word-ve-niya of the spirit-hov-no-ka obi-te-whether pro-that-and-e-ray Mit-ro-fa-on Se-reb-ryan-sko-go and without co -ve-tov old-tsev Op-ti-noy Vve-den-skoy desert-ni, other mo-na-sta-rey, she didn’t pre-pri-ni-ma-la. For the full listening to the old-tsu, she is better-chi-la from God, her inner consolation and stya-zha-la peace in her soul .
From the na-cha-la First world-ro-howl of the war Ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya or-ga-ni-zo-va-la help the front. Under her leadership, for-mi-ro-va-lis-sa-ni-tar-nye-driving-yes, arranged-and-va-lied warehouses of drugs and sleep -tion, from-right-la-lis to the front on-going churches.
From-re-che-nie im-pe-ra-to-ra Ni-ko-lai II from pre-hundred-la was a big blow for Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do -ditches. Her soul would have been shaken, she could not speak without tears. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na vi-de-la, into some abyss le-te-la Russia, and bitterly pla-ka-la about Russian- skom on-ro-de, about dear royal family to her.
In her letters of that time there are the following words: this and her children, who at the present time do not know what they are doing. -ro-go we love a hundred times more during his illness than when he was happy and healthy? suffering, help him. Holy Russia cannot perish. But Great Russia, alas, is no more. We ... must we direct our thoughts to the Kingdom of Heaven ... and say with meekness: "Thy will be done."
ve-kuyu prince-gi-nu Eli-sa-ve-tu Fe-o-do-ditch-well are-sto-wa-li on the third day of Holy Easter 1918, yes, in Light Tuesday. On that day, the saint served mo-le-bain in obi-te-li.
With her, it’s time-re-shi-whether to go sister-ram obi-te-whether Var-va-re Yako-left-howl and Eka-te-rine Yana-she-howl. They were brought to the Siberian city of Ala-pa-evsk on May 20, 1918. Here-whether to-stav-le-we-whether the great prince Ser-gay Mi-hi-lo-vich and his secretary Fe-o-dor Mi-hi-lo-vich Re -mez, the great princes John, Kon-stan-tin and Igor Kon-stan-ti-no-vi-chi and Prince Vla-di-mir Pa-lei. Companion Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do-ditch-ny from-great-vi-whether to Eka-te-rin-burg and there from-pu-sti-li to freedom. But sister-ra Var-va-ra had to be left to be left with the great princess.
July 5 (18), 1918, uz-no-kov but-whose-whether they were in the right-le-ni de-roar-no X-nya-chi-hi. Behind the city, on the abandoned ore-ni-ke, and co-ver-shi-moose blood-va-voe-step-le-tion. With a square ru-ga-nyu, from bi-vai mu-che-ni-kov p-cla-da-mi win-to-wok, pa-la-chi began to throw them into check-tu. The first collision-well-whether ve-kuyu prince-gi-nu Eli-sa-ve-tu. She crossed herself and prayed loudly: "God, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing!"
Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na and Prince John did not fall to the bottom of the mine, but to a ledge, on-going at a depth of 15 meters -ditch. Strongly from-ra-nen-naya, she torn-la from her apo-so-no part of the fabric and made-la-la re-re-knit-ku prince-zyu John-well, to alleviate his suffering. Kre-stya-nin, case-but-eye-head-shy-not-yes-le-ku from the mine, I heard how in the depths of the mine you sounded-cha-la He-ru -vim song is pe-whether mu-che-no-ki.
A few months later, army admiral-ra-la Aleksandra Wa-si-lie-vi-cha Kol-cha-ka for-nya-la Eka-te-rin-burg, those -la mu-che-no-kov would be from-le-che-us from the mines. At the pre-dob-but-mu-che-nits of Eli-sa-ve-you and Var-va-ra and at the ve-is-who-prince Ioan-on the fingers would they say women for the cross-but-th knowledge.
During the retreat-le-nii of the White Army, coffins with mo-scha-mi pre-do-but-mu-che-nits in 1920 would-would-be-stay-le- we are in Jeru-sa-lim. At the present time, their relics are chi-va-yut in the temple of equal-noap-o-stol-Ma-riy Mag-da-li-na at the bottom zhiya Yele-on-sky mountain.
Pre-on-dob-but-mu-che-no-tsa foreign-ki-nya Var-va-ra would-la cross-sister-swarm and one of the first on-villages of Mar -fo-Ma-ri-in-sky obi-te-li in Moscow. Bu-duchi ke-lei-ni-tsei and sister-swarm, sa-my close to the ve-li-koy princess Eli-sa-ve-te Fe-o-do-even, she is not pre-voz -but-si-la and didn’t be proud of it, but would-la with all kindness, kindness and about-ho-di-tel-na, and everyone loved her. In Eka-te-rin-burg-ge sister-ru Var-va-ru from-pu-sti-li to freedom, but she and the other sister-ra - Eka-te-ri- on Yany-she-va pro-si-whether to return them to Ala-pa-evsk. In response to for-pu-gi-va-niya, Var-va-ra said-for-la that go-that-va-de-pour fate-boo-her ma-tush-ki-na- hundred-I-tel-ni-tsy. As a more senior in age, they brought her back to Ala-pa-evsk. Mu-che-no-che-skuyu kon-chi-well, she took-nya-la at the age of about 35 years.
Pa-myat pre-dob-but-mu-che-nits ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni Eli-sa-ve-you and ino-ki-ni Var-va-ry co-ver-sha- et-sya on July 5 (18) and on the day of So-bo-ra but-in-mu-che-ni-kov and is-po-ved-ni-kov of Russian.
Holy pre-dob-but-mu-che-no-tsa ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na-la second-eye re-ben-com in the family of the ve-li-ko-go-her-tso-ha of Ges-sen-Darm-stad-go Lu-dvi-ga IV and princess Ali-sy, do- che-ri co-role-you of the English Vic-to-rii. One more daughter of this couple - Ali-sa will later become them-pe-ra-tri-tsey Russian Alek-san-dra Fe-o-do-even-noy.
De-ti re-pi-you-wa-lis in the tra-di-qi-yah of old England, their life went-ho-di-la in a strict order, tired new-len-no-mu ma-te-ryu. Children's clothes and food would be sa-we-mi pro-sta-mi. Older do-che-ri sa-mi you-half-nya-whether your home-machine-ra-bo-tu: kill-ra-come-on-you, in-ste-li, then-pee -whether ka-min. Subsequently, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na go-vo-ri-la: “In the house, teach me everything.” Mother, pay attention-ma-tel-but follow-di-la for ta-lan-ta-mi and on-clone-but-sta-mi of each of the seven-me-ry children and old-ra- I tried to re-nurture them on a solid basis, but-ve hri-sti-an-sky for-in-ve-dei, to put love for their neighbors in their hearts, especially ben- but to the guardians.
Ro-di-te-whether Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do-ditch-we once-yes-whether most of your so-stand-i-niya for the good -ri-tel-needs, and de-ti in a hundred-yan-but ez-di-li with ma-ter-ryu in the state-pi-ta-li, shelters, do-ma for in -va-li-dov, bring with you big boo-ke-you flowers, put them in a vase, different-but-si-whether in pa-la -there are sick.
Eli-sa-ve-ta since childhood, lu-bi-la with-ro-du and especially-ben-but flowers, someone is passionate about ri-so-va-la. She had a gift for life, and all her life she devoted a lot of time to this for-no-tia. Lu-bi-la class-si-che-mu-zy-ku. Everyone who knew Eli-sa-ve-tu from childhood, from me-cha-whether her re-li-gi-oz-ness and love for neighbors. How-to-ri-la later sa-ma Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na, even in my earliest youth they had a huge -noe influence of life and the movement of St. Eli-sa-ve-you Ty-rin-gen-sky, in honor of someone swarm she bore her name.
In 1873, he was beaten to death in front of his mother's three-year-old brother Eli-sa-ve-you Friedrich. In 1876, in Darmstadt, epi-de-miya dif-te-ri-ta began, for-bo-le-whether all de-ti, except for Eli-sa-ve-you . Mother of the pro-si-zhi-va-la but-cha-mi at the steps of the sick children. Soon, four-you-reh-year-old Maria died, and after her, for-bo-le-la, and died-la-sa-ma ve-li-kai Duke-gi-nya Ali -sa at the age of 35 years.
That year, for Eli-sa-ve-you, you ended in childhood. Go-re usi-li-lo her mo-lit-you. She understood that life on earth is the path of the Cross. Re-be-nok all-mi si-la-mi tried to ease the grief of the father, support him, comfort him, and sister his sister ram and brother in some way for-me-thread mother.
In the two-twentieth year of the life of Prince Eli-sa-ve-ta became-la the bride-stand of the ve-li-ko-go-prince Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vi -cha, the fifth son-on im-pe-ra-to-ra Alexander II, brother of im-pe-ra-to-ra Alexander III. She knew her future husband in childhood, when he came to Germany with his mother , im-pe-ra-tri-tsey Ma-ri-ey Alek-san-drov-noy, also about-is-ho-div-shey from Ges-sen-sko-go-ma. Before that, everything is pre-ten-den-you on her ru-ku in-lu-cha-li ot-kaz: prince-ses-sa Eli-sa-ve-ta in her youth gave a vow to the maiden- stva (without marriage). After a blood-vein-noy be-se-dy of her with Ser-ge-em Alek-san-dro-ve-what did you-clear-no-moose that he secretly took a vow of virginity. By mutual consent, their marriage was spiritual, they lived like brother and sister.
The whole family co-pro-leader-yes-la prince-ses-su Eli-sa-ve-tu for a wedding in Russia. Together with her came-e-ha-la and two-on-dtsa-ti-year-old sister Ali-sa, someone-paradise met-ti-la here her-e-go-du -she-go su-pru-ga, tse-sa-re-vi-cha Ni-ko-laya Alek-san-dro-vi-cha.
Ven-cha-nie with-one-hundred-I-moose in the church-vi Bol-sho-go-palace of St. after him and according to pro-stant-sko-mu in one of the go-sti-ny palaces. Ve-li-knya-gi-nya is on-true-wife-but for-no-ma-las Russian language, wanting to deeply study culture-tu-ru and especially ben- but ve-ru new-howl of its own ro-di-ny.
Ve-li-knya-gi-nya Eli-sa-ve-ta would-la donkey-pi-tel-but beauty-si-wa. In those times, they say that in Europe there are only two beauties, and both - Eli-sa-ve-you: Eli-sa- ve-ta Austrian, su-pru-ha im-pe-ra-to-ra Franz-Jose-fa, and Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on.
For most of the year, the ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya lived with her husband in their estate of Ilyinsky, in six-sti-de-sya-ti ki-lo-met -pakh from Moscow-you, on the bank of the Moscow-you-re-ki. She loves-bi-la Moscow-va with its old-rin-ny-mi temple-ma-mi, mo-on-stay-rya-mi and pat-ri-ar-khal-ny-tom. Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vich was a deep-bo-ko-re-li-gi-oz-ny man, strict with-blu-gave all church ka-but -we, a hundred often went to the service, went to the mo-on-sta-ri - ve-li-knya-gi-nya was carrying de-follow-to-va-la for husband and pro-sta-i-va-la long church services. Here she ex-py-you-va-la udi-vi-tel-noe feeling, so unlike what she met in the pro-te-stant-sky kir-ke. She is vi-de-la-ra-worthy of the state of Ser-gei Alek-san-dro-vi-cha after the acceptance of the Holy Ta-in of Christ by him and she herself is so for-ho-te-moose in a way to the Holy Chalice in order to de-pour this joy. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on-sta-la ask her husband to get her a book of spirit-hov-no-go so-der-zha-niya, right -glorious ka-te-hi-zis, interpretation of Pi-sa-nia, in order to comprehend with the mind and heart, what kind of re-li-giya is-tin-na.
In 1888, he-pe-ra-tor Alexander III instructed Sergei Alek-san-dro-vi-chu to be his pre-sta-vi-te-lem at the consecration the temple of St. Mary Mag-da-li-na in Gath-si-ma-nia, in a way-en-no-go on the Holy Land in the memory of their ma-te- ri im-pe-ra-tri-tsy Ma-rii Alek-san-drov-ny. Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vich was already in the Holy Land in 1881, where he participated in the foundation of Pra-glory-no-go Pa- Le-stin-sko-go-Society, becoming the pre-se-da-te-lem of it. This is a society of research-ki-va-lo means for helping the Russian Mission in Pa-le-stin and pa-lom-ni-kam, ras-shi-re-nia mis-si-o-ner-sky ra-bo-you, pri-o-re-te-niya lands and pa-myat-nik-kov, connected with the life of Spa-si-te -la.
Having learned about the possibility of visiting the Holy Land, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on-re-pri-nya-la is like Pro-thought Bo and prayed that at the Sepulcher of the Lord, the Savior Himself would reveal His will to her.
The great Prince Sergei Alek-san-dro-vich with his wife arrived in Pa-le-sti-nu in October 1888. The temple of St. Mary Mag-da-li-na was built in Gath-si-man-s-du, at the foot of the Eleon-sky mountain. This five-domed temple with gold-lo-you-mi ku-po-la-mi and to this day is one of the most beautiful temples of Jeru-sa-li-ma . On the top of the Yele-on-sky mountain, a huge ko-lo-kol-nya, called the “Russian candle”, stood out. Seeing this beauty and b-go-give, the ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya said-for-la: “How would I like to be ho-ro-nen- Noah is here." Then she didn’t know what pro-ro-th-thing was about, somehow-ro-mu judge-de-but is-half-thread-sya. As a gift to the temple of St. Mary Mag-da-li-na Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on brought-were-la-dra-go-valuable co-su- dy, gospel-ge-lie and air-du-hi.
After-se-shche-tion of the Holy Land-whether ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the firm-to re-shi-la re-rei-ti to the right-in-glory. From this step, she was restrained by the fear of causing pain to her relatives, and first of all to her father. Finally, on January 1, 1891, she wrote a letter to her father about her decision.
This letter is ka-zy-va-et, which way did Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na go. We bring it in almost half-no-stu:
“... And now, dear Pa-pa, I want to say something to you and I beg you to give your blessing. You should-we-whether to notice, what-some deep-bo-some b-go-go-ve-ve-tion I have been pi-tha to the local re-li-gy since you would -whether here for the last time - more-lu-that-ra years ago. All the time I du-ma-la and chi-ta-la and prayed to God - show me the right path, and came to the key, that only in this re-ligion can I find the whole real and strong faith in God to have wives in order to be ho-ro-shim hri-sti-a-ni-nom. It would be a sin to stay the way I am now - to join one church in form and for the outside world, and inside you can pour and believe like my husband. You can’t imagine yourself how kind he was, that he never tried to come to me, no-ka-ki -mi-means-mi, providing all this with-per-shen-but one of my co-ve-sti. He knows what a serious step this is, and that it is necessary to be perfect, but sure, before deciding on it. I would do it-la-la yes and before, only to mu-chi-lo me that with this I give you pain. But you, don't you understand, my dear Pa-pa? You know me so well, you must see that I decided to take this step only in deep faith and that I feel -I say that I must stand before God with a pure and believing heart. How would it be simple - stay the way it is now, but then, how-so-mer-but, how false-shi-vo would it be, and how can I -gu to lie to everyone - pretending that I'm pro-the-stunt-ka in all external rituals, when my soul lives half-but -stu re-li-gyi here. I think-ma-la and do-ma-la deep-bo-ko about all this, being in this country for more than 6 years, and knowing that re-ly-gy "fin-de- on the". I so strongly desire to partake of the Holy Mysteries with my husband at Easter. It is possible that this seems to you out-of-the-way, but I have been thinking about this for so long, and now, finally, I don’t mo-gu from-cla-dy-vat this-go. My conscience does not allow me to do this. Please, please, according to these lines, forgive your daughter, if she hurts you. But since faith in God and faith-is-by-ve-yes-is not one of the main consolations of this mi- ra? Please-lui-hundred, pro-te-le-gra-fi-rui-te me just one line, when you lu-chi-te this letter. God bless you. This will be such a consolation for me, because I know that there will be many unpleasant moments, since no one understand this step. I only ask for a little laziness, a kind letter.
Father didn’t send until-che-ri-la-e-my te-le-gram-we with b-go-word-ve-no-em, but wrote a letter, in which to-rum said that solving it brings him pain and suffering, and he cannot give blessings. Then Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na pro-reveal-la mu-s-stvo and, despite moral-suffering, firm-to-re- shi-la re-rei-ti in right-in-glory-vie. A few more snatches from her pi-sem near-kim:
“... My conscience does not allow me to continue in the same spirit - it would be a sin; I have been lying all this time, remaining for everyone in my old faith ... It would be impossible for me to continue to live the way I used to live...
Yes, in a slav-vyan-ski way, I can do almost everything, never teaching him. There is a Bible in both Slavic and Russian languages, but in the next it is easy to read.
You say ... that the external brilliance of the church-vi ocha-ro-shaft me. In this you are mistaken-ba-eat-sya. Nothing external attracts me and does not serve - but the foundations of the faith. External signs-only-to-mi-na-yut to me about internal-ren-it ...
I re-re-ho-zhu from pure persuasion; I feel that this is the sa-may you-with-kaya re-ligia, and that I will do it with faith, with a deep conviction-de-ni-em and sure-ren- no-stu that there is God's blessing for this.
13 (25) ap-re-la, in La-za-re-vu sub-bo-tu, it was co-ver-she-but Ta-in-stvo Mi-ro-po-ma-za-nia ve-prince-gi-ni Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-to-dov-ny with leaving-le-ni-it to her former name, but already in honor of St. that great-ved-noy Eli-sa-ve-you - ma-te-ri of St. John-on Pred-te-chi, pa-myat-to-swarm Right-to-glorious-church co-ver-sha-et 5 (18) september-rya. After Mi-ro-po-ma-za-niya im-pe-ra-tor Alexander III blessed his daughter-in-law with the dra-go-valuable icon Neru-ko- creative-no-go Spa-sa, someone-ruyu Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the holy honor all my life. Now she could say to her so-su-pr-gu with the words of the Bible: “Your people have become my home, Your God is my god!” ().
In 1891, im-pe-ra-tor Alexander III appointed the ve-li-ko-go-prince Sergey Alek-san-dro-vi-cha of the Moscow Ge- not-ral-gu-ber-na-to-rum. Su-pru-ga gen-ne-ral-gu-ber-na-to-ra should-on-la-full-take a lot of obligations-za-no-stay - walked a hundred-yan -nye pre-e-we, con-cer-you, ba-ly. Need-ho-di-mo would-lo smile-bat-sya and bow-to-go-stay, dance-tse-vat and ve-sti be-se-dy ne-vi-si-mo from on-stro -e-niya, co-sto-i-niya of health-ro-vya and well-la-niya. After re-re-ez-yes to Moscow Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on re-re-zhi-la death of close people: hot-rya-cho my beloved bride-princessy - Alek-san-dra (wife Pav-la Alek-san-dro-vi-cha) and father. It would be like her soul-shev-no-go and spirit-hov-no-go-hundred.
Live Moscow, you will soon appreciate her sweet heart. She went to hospitals for the poor, to bo-ga-del-ni, to shelters for demonic children. And ves-de-sta-ra-lased to alleviate the suffering of people: once-yes-wa-la food, clothes, money, improve-sha-la living conditions nor unfortunate.
After the death of her father, she and Ser-ge-em Alek-san-dro-vi-what-we-traveled-la along the Volga, with stops in Yaroslavl, Ro-sto-ve, Ug-li-che. In all these cities, su-pru-gi prayed in local temples.
In 1894, after many obstacles, there was a decision about the engagement of the great prince-gi-ni Ali-sy from on -trace-no-one of the Russian-si-sko-go pre-sto-la Ni-ko-la-em Alek-san-dro-vi-what. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na-ra-do-va-las so that young people in love can, finally, co- one thread, and her sister will live in dear Russia, her heart. Prince-ses-se Ali-se was 22 years old and Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na-de-I-las that sister-ra, live in Ros -this, understand and love the Russian people, master the Russian language in perfection and be able to get it right Xia to you-with-to-mu-serving them-pe-ra-three-tsy Russian.
But everything happened in a different way. The bride-a-hundred-next-no-ka-la came to Russia, when they-pe-tor Alexander III lay in death-death pain. On October 20, 1894, he-pe-ra-tor passed away. On the next day, Princess Ali-sa went to the right-of-glory with the name of Alek-san-dra. Bra-ko-so-che-ta-nie im-pe-ra-to-ra Ni-ko-lai II and Alek-san-dra Fe-o-do-ditch-ny so-hundred-I-moose in a week -lu after-after-ho-ron, and in the spring of 1896, so-hundred-I-moose-ro-no-va-nie in Moscow. Celebrations were overshadowed by a terrible disaster: on the Khodynsky field, where once-yes-was-was-given-ki on-ro-du, on-cha- las dav-ka - you-sya-chi people would be ra-not-us or for-dav-le-na.
So on-cha-elk this is a tra-gi-che-king-stvo-va-nie - among pa-ni-hid and in-gre-bal-nyh resurrections-on-on-ny.
In July 1903, with-hundred-I-moose, the tor-same-stven-noe pro-glory-le-nie pre-do-no-go. The whole im-pe-ra-tor-family would come to Sa-rov. Im-pe-ra-tri-tsa Alexander Fe-o-do-ditch-na mo-li-la pre-dob-no-mu about giving her a son. When on-the-next-nick the pre-sto-la was born, according to the wish of them-pe-ra-tor-che-you pre-table of the lower church-vi, in a row -en-noy in Tsar-skoe Se-le, was consecrated in the name of the reverend Se-ra-fi-ma Sa-rov-sko-go.
In Sa-rov pri-e-ha-la and Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na with su-pru-gom. In a letter from Sa-ro-va, she writes: “... What kind of infirmity, what pains we see, but also what kind of faith. Ka-za-moose, we live in the time-on-the-earth life-no Spa-si-te-la. And how could they, how did they cry - these poor mothers with sick children, and, thank God, many foxes. The Lord helped us to see how a dumb girl for-go-vo-ri-la, but how mother prayed for her ... "
When the Russian-Japanese war started, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-at an immediate-len-but for-nya-las-or-ga-ni -for-qi-her in-mo-schi front-that. One of her za-me-cha-tel-nyh na-chi-na-ny would be the arrangement of masters for the help of the sol-yes-there - under them would be for -nya, you are all for the Kremlin palace, except for the Throne. You-sya-chi women worked over the seamstresses-my ma-shi-na-mi and ra-bo-chi-mi hundred-la-mi. Huge sacrifices in-stu-pa-whether from all over Moscow and from the provinces. From-here-yes, tu-ki went to the front with food, ob-moon-di-ro-va-ni-em, me-di-ka-men-ta-mi and gift-ka-mi for sol-dates. Ve-li-knya-gi-nya from-right-la-la to the front on-going churches with icon-on-mi and everything necessary for co-execution god-of-service. Personally, from myself in-sy-la-la Evan-ge-lia, icons-ki and mo-lit-ven-ni-ki. At their own expense, the great prince-gi-nya sfor-mi-ro-va-la several sa-ni-tar-nyh rides.
In Moscow, she arranged-i-la gos-pi-tal for the wounded, co-created special-ci-al-com-mi-te-you to provide widows and si -mouth died on the front. But the Russian how-ska ter-pe-whether one-but-ra-the-same after the other. War-on-ka-for-la tech-no-che-sky and military unsuitable-to-tov-len-ness of Russia, lack of stats-ki of the state-state-no-go management. On-cha-moose-de-accounts for past grievances about-from-la or injustice-whether-whether-in-sti, sky-va-ly-max-ter-ro- ri-sti-che-acts, mi-ting-gi, for-b-stov-ki. The state-state and public in a row-dock once-wa-li-val-sya, re-in-lu-tion was moving.
Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vich believed that it was necessary to take more stringent measures in relation to re-vo-lu-qi -o-no-ram and told them-pe-ra-to-ru about this, saying that with the fold-living-she-si-tu-a-tion it can’t hurt- she for-no-mother duty to the general-not-ral-gu-ber-na-to-ra of Moscow-you. Go-su-dar accepted from-stav-ku and su-pr-gi to-ki-well-whether Gu-ber-na-tor-sky house, re-re-having time-men-but in Neskuch- Noah.
Tom vre-me-nem bo-e-vaya or-ga-ni-za-tion eser-ditch pri-go-vo-ri-la ve-li-ko-go-prince Ser-gay Alek-san-dro -vi-cha to death. Her agents are following him, waiting for a convenient opportunity to carry out an execution. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na knew that su-pru-gu was in mortal danger. In an-nim-nyh letters, she is pre-du-pre-waited so that she does not accompany her husband, if she doesn’t want to de-pour his fate. The great prince-gi-nya, all the more, did not leave him alone and, if possible, in all-du-accompanying -yes-la su-pru-ga.
5 (18) February 1905, Ser-gey Alek-san-dro-vich was killed by a bomb-boy, thrown by ter-ro-ri-stom Ivan Ka-la-e- you m. When Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na arrived at the place of the explosion, a crowd had already gathered there. Someone tried to interfere with her getting to the remains of the su-pr-ga, but she-and-mi ru-ka-mi co-bra-la on but -strength of times-bro-san-nye explosion pieces of the body of the husband. After the first pa-ni-hi-dy in Chu-do-vom mo-na-sta-re Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the vra-ti-las in palace, re-dressed in a black mra-ur dress and na-cha-la pi-sat te-le-gram-we, and before everything else - sister re Alek-san-dre Fe-o-do-even, asking her not to come to-ho-ro-ny, tk. ter-ro-ri-sty could-whether use them for-ku-she-niya on im-pe-ra-tor-che-tu. When the great prince-gi-nya pi-sa-la te-le-gram-we, she inquired several times about the state of the wound-nen-but- go ku-che-ra Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vi-cha. She was told that, in the same way, ku-che-ra without-on-reliable, but he might die soon. In order not to upset the mind-ra-yu-shche-go, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on took off the tra-ur-noe dress, on-de -la the same sa-my go-lu-boe, in someone-rum it was before that, and went to the state-pi-tal. There, leaning over the bed of die-ra-yu-shche-go, she, re-si-living herself, smiled at him kindly and said for-la: “He sent me to you.” Soothed by her words, thinking that Ser-gay Alek-san-dro-vich is alive, the faithful coach Efim died the same night.
On the third day after the death of her husband, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na went to the prison, where the killer was kept ca. Ka-la-ev said: “I didn’t want to kill you, I saw him several times and at that time when I had a bomb , but would you be with him, and I did not dare to touch him.
“And you don’t think that you killed me with him?” - from-ve-ti-la she. Yes-lea, she said that she brought pro-la from Sergey Alek-san-dro-vi-cha and pro-si-la him for-ka-yat-sya. But he from-ka-hall-sya. All the same, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the left-vi-la in the ca-me-re Evangel-ge-lie and a small-lazy icon-ku, on-de-is on miracle. You-going out of prison-we, she said: “My torture-ka-eye-was without-re-zul-tat-noy, ho-tya, who knows, it’s it is possible that in the last mi-well-tu he realizes his sin and ras-ka-is in it. Ve-li-kaya prince-gi-nya pro-si-la im-pe-ra-to-ra Ni-ko-lai II about mi-lo-va-nii Ka-la-e-va, but this pro-she-tion would-lo from-clo-not-but.
Of the great princes on the gre-be-nii, there are only Kon-stan-tin Kon-stan-ti-no-vich (K.R.) and Pa-vel Alek-san-dro-vic. Did you row him in the little church of Chu-do-va mo-on-stay, where every day, but in those days, so-ro-ka days, sha-lis for-upo-koy-nye pa-ni-hi-dy; the great prince-gi-nya is present-wa-la at every service and often come-ho-di-la here-yes-no-whose, praying for no- in-pre-becoming-len-nom. Here she is, in a sense-of-va-la, b-go-data-power and strengthening from the holy relics of the holy-ty-te-la, mit-ro-po-li- that Mos-kov-sko-go, someone-ro-go since then has been especially chi-ta-la. Great prince-gi-ni but-si-la se-reb-rya-ny cross-stick with part of the relics of St. Alexis. She considered that St. Alexis put in her heart the desire to dedicate the rest of her life to God.
At the site of the murder of her husband, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on-dvig-la pa-myat-nik - a cross according to the project hu-dozh-ni- ka you-not-tso-va. On the memory-no-ke, would there be the words Spa-si-te-la from the Kre-hundred: “From-che, from-pu-sti to them, they don’t know bo what are you doing.
From the mo-men-ta end-chi-na su-pru-ga Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na, don’t take off-ma-la tra-ur, began-la keep strict gy post, a lot of mo-li-las. Her bedroom in the Ni-ko-la-ev-sky palace became a mo-na-she-cell cell. All the luxurious furniture would be you-not-se-na, the walls were re-re-kras-she-na in white, they were only on icons and kar-ti-ny of the spirit-hov-no-go so-der-zha-niya. She didn’t appear at secular receptions. Be-va-la only in the temple on bra-ko-so-che-ta-ni-yah or baptism of relatives and friends and immediately leave -la to-my or de-lam. Now it has nothing to do with secular life.
She collected all her dra-go-values, part from-yes-la to the treasury, part - from relatives-no-kam, and the rest re-shi-la upo-require-beat on the build-ku obi-te-whether mi-lo-ser-diya. On the Bolshoy Or-dyn-ke in Moscow Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the pri-ob-re-la manor-bu with four do-ma-mi and sa -House. In the largest two-story house, there were a hundred for sisters, a kitchen and other household facilities place, in the second - the church and the pain-ni-tsa, next to the house - ap-te-ka and am-bu-la-to-riya for incoming pain nyh. In the fourth house, na-ho-di-las kvar-ti-ra for the priest-no-ka - du-hov-no-ka obi-te-li, school classes for de-vo-check at-y-ta and bib-lio-te-ka.
February 10, 1909, ve-li-knya-gi-nya, co-bra-la 17 se-ster os-no-van-noy obi-te-li with her, took off-la-tra-ur -noe dress, dressed in mo-na-she-clothing and said: “I leave the shining world, where I am for-no -ma-la shining in the same place, but together with all of you I ascend into a greater world - into the world of the poor and suffering.
The first temple of obi-te-li (“pain-no-thing”) was consecrated by Bishop Tri-fo-nom on September 9 (21), 1909 (on the day of the holiday -va-nia of the Nativity of the Pre-holy Bo-go-ro-di-tsy) in the name of the holy wives-mi-ro-no-sits of Mar-fa and Mary. The second temple is in honor of the Intercession of the Pre-Holy Bo-go-ro-di-tsy, consecrated in 1911 (ar-khi-tek-tor A.V. Schu-sev , Ros-pi-si M.V. Nester-ro-va). Built according to the models of the new-born-Pskov-th-architecture, it kept the warmth and comfort of small hod-sky churches-vey. But, nevertheless, it was counted on the presence of more than you-sya-chi mo-lya-shchih-sya. M.V. Nesterov said about this temple: “The Church of Po-kro-va is the best of the modern constructions of Moscow, which can, under other conditions, -yah to have in-my-my-direct-on-the-me-for-ho-yes, on-the-me-the-thing-to-the-same-but-vos-pi-ta- tel-noe for the whole of Moscow. In 1914, under the temple, there would be an arrangement for the church - a mustache-fingers in the name of the Powers of Heaven and All Saints, I -tel-ni-tsa pre-la-ga-la to make a place of your own reference. The painting of the mustache-fingers was done by P.D. Ko-rin, student of M.V. Neste-ro-va.
Know-me-on-tel-but in-the-sacred-of-the-created obi-the-whether to the saints-to-us-mi-ro-no-si-tsam Mar-fe and Mary. The monastery should have become, as it were, the home of the holy La-za-rya - a friend of God, in someone-rum it would have been so often a spa-si- Tel. Sisters obi-te-whether they-was-was-to-one-thread you-with-ky-biy-biy of Ma-ria, hear-ly-shchy-gla-go-lam of eternal life, and the service of Mar-fa is the service of the Lord according to the du through his neighbor.
In the os-no-wu of Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky ob-te-li mi-lo-ser-diya, the charter of the mo-on-styr-sko-go-sche-zhi -tiya. On April 9 (22), 1910, in the Church of Saints Martha and Mary, the bishop consecrated to the rank of the cross sisters of love and mi-lo-ser-diya 17 se-ster obi-te-li in the head with the ve-prince-gi-her Eli-sa-ve-toy Fe-o-do-even. During the solemn service, Bishop Tri-fon, turning to already dressed in mo-na-she-clothing to the great princess, said: “This clothes will hide you from the world, and the world will be hidden from you, but at the same time it will be -tel-ni-tsey V-shey b-go-creative de-i-tel-no-sti, someone-paradise rises-si-i-et before the Lord-in-the-house for His glory " . The words of the vlady-ki Three-for-on came true. Oza-ren-naya b-go-da-tiu of the Spirit of the Holy de-I-tel-ness of the great prince-gi-no illuminate-ti-la with divine fire -noy love-vi before-re-in-lu-qi-on-nye years of Russia and pre-ve-la os-no-va-tel-ni-tsu Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in -skoy obi-te-whether to the mu-che-no-che-sko-mu wreath, together with its ke-lei-ni-tsey ino-ki-ney Var-va-roy Yako-left-howl.
A day in Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky ob-te-whether on-chi-nal-sya at 6 o'clock in the morning. After the general morning-no-mo-lit-ven-no-go-great-vi-la in the sick-nothing-temple-ve-li-kai-knya-gi-nya yes-va- la-hearing-sha-niya sisters on the eve-hundred-th day. Free from listening, they remained in the temple, where the Divine Liturgy was being celebrated. Daily tra-pe-for pro-ho-di-la with reading the lives of the saints. At 5 o'clock, ve-che-ra in the church serve ve-cher-nu with matins, where there are all free from services sha-nii sisters. Under the holidays and the resurrection of the co-ver-sha-moose all-night vigil. At 9 o'clock, ve-che-ra in the sick-no-no-church-me chi-ta-elk ve-black-her right-vi-lo, after him all the sisters, after-be-chiv blah -th-word-ve-ne-on-a-hundred-I-tel-ni-tsy, dis-ho-di-lied through the cells. Che-you-re ra-za in a week after ve-black-her chi-ta-lis aka-fi-sta: on Sunday - Spa-si-te-lu, in not -del-nick - Ar-khan-ge-lu Mi-ha-i-lu and all the Immortal Heavenly Forces, on Wednesday - the same holy-us-mi-ro-no -si-tsam Mar-fe and Ma-rii, and on Friday - God's Ma-te-ri or the Passion of Christ. In the cha-sovne, co-wife-noy at the end of the sa-yes, the Psalm-tire was recited by no means. Cha-a-hundred but-cha-mi mo-li-las there sa-ma na-hundred-I-tel-ni-tsa. Inner-ren-her life-new se-ster ru-ko-vo-dil for-me-cha-tel-ny priest-nick and shepherd - du-hov-nick obi-te-li, pro- then-and-rei Mit-ro-fan Se-reb-ryan-sky. Twice a week he held talks with his sisters. In addition to that, the sisters could, every day, but at the determined hours, come for co-ve-th and become-le-ni-em to the spirit-hov-ni-ku or to the-sto-I-tel-ni-tse. The great prince-gi-nya, together with his father Mit-ro-fa-n, taught the sister not only me-di-qing-know-ni-yam, but also du -hov-no-mu on-becoming-le-niyu lowered-shih-sya, for-fornication and from-cha-yav-shih-sya people. Every Sunday, after the evening, the service would be in co-bo-re Po-krov-va God-mother Ma-te-ri arrange-and-wa-be -se-dy for na-ro-yes with a common ne-no-eat mo-litv.
“On the whole external about-sta-nov-ke, obi-there and itself its internal-ren-it would be, and on all in general co-building-ni-yah -which prince-gi-ni, le-sting from-pe-cha-tok of grace and cultural-tour-no-sti not in the way that she gave-yes-wa-la this-mu some-thing-bo-sa-mo-to-influencing-th-meaning, but in a way that such-to-was-not-out-of-volitional action her creative spirit, ”the mit-ro-po-lit Ana-sta-siy writes in his vos-po-mi-na-ni-yah.
God-serving in the obi-there is always a hundred-I-lo on the bli-sta-tel-noy you-so blah-go-yes-rya is-key-chi-tel -nym in their past-tyr-sky to-hundred-in-stva du-hov-ni-ku, from-bran-no-mu on-one-hundred-I-tel-ni-tsei. Here-yes, come-ho-di-li for the completion of the bo-go-services and pro-ve-to-va-niya the best past-you-ri and pro- not only in Moscow, but also in many other places in Russia. Like a bee, so-bi-ra-la na-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa nek-tar from all flowers, so that people can feel a special aro-mat of spirits -but-sti. The abode, its temples and god-serving you-zy-wa-whether the resurrection of modern-men-ni-kov. This-mu-prop-stvo-wa-whether not only the temple-we ob-the-whether, but also a beautiful park with oran-re-i-mi - in the best tra- di-qi-yah sa-do-vo-go art of the XVIII-XIX centuries. It was a single en-ensemble, uniting the gar-mo-nothing-but external and internal beauty.
Modern-men-ni-tsa ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni - Non-on Gray-ton, frey-li-on her relatives-ni-tsy princess Vik-to-rii, sw -de-tel-stu-et: “She’s about-la-da-la for-me-cha-tel-ny quality - to see a good-ro-neck and really-I-shche in people, and stared at it you-y-yat. She also, with everything, didn’t have you-with-an opinion about her qualities ... She never had the words “I can’t ”, And never-ever-no-thing was un-ho-lo-go in the life of Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky obi-te-li. Everything would be there co-ver-shen-but both inside-ri and sleep-ru-zh. And whoever would be there would take away the beautiful feeling.
In Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky ob-te-whether ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya led a life in motion. Spa-la on de-re-vyan-noy kro-va-ti without mat-ra-tsa. Strictly co-blu-yes-la in a sta, tasting only ra-ti-tel-nuyu food. In the morning, get up-wa-la for mo-lit-woo, after that, ras-pre-de-la-la at the hearing of the sisters, ra-bo-ta-la in kli-ni -ke, with-ni-ma-la in-se-ti-te-lei, raz-bi-ra-la pro-she-niya and letters.
Ve-che-rum - about the course of the sick, for-kan-chi-va-yu-shchy-sya full-night. But whose she prayed in a chapel or in a church, her sleep rarely lasted more than three hours. When the patient rushed about and needed help, she pro-si-zhi-va-la at his place until dawn. In the pain-no-tse Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on bra-la on yourself the most-responsible-ra-bo-tu: as-si-sti -ro-va-la at opera-ra-tsi-yah, de-la-la pe-re-vyaz-ki, na-ho-di-la words of consolation, striving for - ease the suffering of the sick. They go-vo-ri-whether that from the great prince-gi-ni is-ho-di-la healing power-la, someone-paradise in-mo-ga-la them pe-re-but-sit pain and agree to heavy operations.
As the main remedy for ailments on-st-I-tel-ni-tsa, always before-la-ha-la is-after-after all, and part-part . She go-vo-ri-li: “Without-moral-stvenno-but to console the mind-ra-yu-shchih with false hope for you-health-le-nie, better by -to help them in hri-sti-an-ski re-rei-ti into eternity.
Sisters obi-te-whether pro-ho-di-li course of teaching me-di-qing-sky knowledge-ni-pits. Their main task was to give them sick, poor, abandoned children, to give them medical care, ma-te-ri-al-noy and mo-ral-noy in power.
In pain-no-tse obi-te-whether ra-bo-ta-whether the best specialists of Moscow-you, all opera-ra-tions pro-did-were demon-boards -but. Here, those from whom the doctors from-ka-zy-va-lied were used.
Is-whole-pa-tsi-en-you pla-ka-li, leaving Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky pain-ni-tsy, breaking up with " ve-li-koy ma-tush-koy, ”as they call-zy-wa-li on-sto-I-tel-ni-tsu. With obi-te-whether ra-bo-ta-la resurrection school for workers at factories. Anyone could use the background-da-mi beautiful bib-lyo-te-ki. Action-wa-la free-of-charge hundred-lo-vaya for the poor.
Na-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky obi-te-li considered that the main thing is still not pain-no-tsa, but help poor and needy-y-y-shim-sya. Ob-tel in-lu-cha-la up to 12,000 pro-she-tions a year. Whatever you ask about: arrange for a le-che-nie, find a job, look after the children, ear-live for the le-zha-chi -mi pain-us-mi, send-off to study abroad.
She is on-ho-di-la the opportunity to help the spirit-ho-ven-stvo - yes-wa-la funds for the needs of poor rural pri-ho -dov, someone could not-whether from-re-mon-ti-ro-wat a temple or build a new one. She rim-rya-la, strengthened-la-la, po-mo-ga-la ma-te-ri-al-but sacred-ni-kam-mis-si-o-ne-ram, labor diva -shim among the tongues of the Extreme Se-ve-ra or foreigners of the outskirts of Russia.
Khit-ry -nok. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na in co-pro-leader-de-nii of her ke-lei-ni-tsy Var-va-ry Yako-left-howl or sister-ry obi-te-whether princesses Mary Obo-Lena, neuto-mi-mo re-re-ho-dya from one-to-the-to-on to another, co-bi -ra-la si-rot and ugo-va-ri-va-la ro-di-te-lei from-give her to re-pi-ta-nie children. All on-se-le-nie Hit-ro-va respect-zh-lo her, na-zy-vaya “sister Eli-sa-ve-toy” or “ma-tush-koy”. Po-li-tion in a hundred-yan-but pre-du-pre-waiting for her, that it’s not in the state of gar-ran-ti-ro-vat her safety. In response to this, the great prince-gi-nya is always blah-go-da-ri-la-li-tion for-bo-tu and go-vo-ri-la that her life is not in their hands, but in the hands of God. She began to spa-sat de-tey Khit-rov-ki. It’s not a p-ga-whether it’s something, scolding, having a che-lo-ve-che-sky appearance of a face. She goes-vo-ri-la: “God’s-be-for-God-may-be-sometimes-for-that-not-but, but it can never be uni-something -but".
Mal-chi-kov, torn from Khit-rov-ki, she arranges-and-wa-la in the community. From one group of such recent rvan-tsev, a-ra-zo-va-las were ar-tel-pol-ni-tel-nyh in the syllables of Moscow. De-vo-check arrange-and-va-la in closed educational facilities or shelters, where they also follow their health, spiritual and physical.
Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na or-ga-ni-zo-va-la do-ma-vision for si-mouths, in-va-li-dov, tya- zhe-lo sick, na-ho-di-la time for se-sche-ing them, in-sto-yan-but under-der-zhi-va-la ma-te-ri-al -but, with-in-zi-la for gifts. Ras-say-zy-va-yut such a case: one-on-a-wait, ve-li-knya-gi-nya should-on-la come-e-hat to a shelter for laziness -kih si-mouth. Everything was going to be worthy, but to meet your bla-go-de-tel-ni-tsu. The de-voch-kam said-for-whether that a ve-li-kaya prince-gi-nya is coming: it will be necessary to be healthy with her and tse- lo-vat pens. When Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na pri-e-ha-la - meet her ma-lut-ki in white frocks. They were friendly, but well-ro-wa-lied and all about-ta-well-whether their hands to the ve-li-koy princess with the words: “ki-lui-those hands ". Vos-pi-ta-tel-ni-tsy horror-well-lis: what will be. But the ve-li-knya-gi-nya went to each of the de-vo-cheques and all the whole-lo-va-la hand-ki. At the same time, everything was crying - such a mind-le-nie and b-go-go-ve-lo on faces and in hearts.
“Ve-li-kai ma-tush-ka” on-de-I-laxed that the Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky monastery created by her Mi-lo-ser-diya dis- blooms with a big fruity tree.
Over time, she co-bi-ra-lased to arrange from-de-le-niya ob-te-whether in other cities of Russia.
Ve-li-koi-knya-guina would have been-la-su-scha is-con-but Russian love for pa-lo-no-thing.
More than once she went to Sa-rov and with ra-do-stu rush-shi-la to the temple in order to pray at the ra-ki pre-good-no-go Se- ra-fi-ma. She traveled to Pskov, to Op-ti-nu-well, to the desert, to Zo-si-mo-woo to the desert, to-la in the So-lo-vets-com mo-on-stay-re. For-se-scha-la and the sa-my little-lazy mo-on-stay-ri in the out-of-the-lust and from-far-away places of Russia. The presence-of-va-la at all spiritual celebrations associated with the discovery or re-re-not-se-ni-eat pleases-no-kov God-zhi-them. Sick pa-lom-ni-kam, expect-give-shim healing from but-in-pro-glory-la-e-my saints, ve-li-kai prince-gi- nya tai-but po-mo-ga-la, uh-uh-wa-la for them. In 1914, she was in-se-ti-la mo-na-styr in Ala-pa-ev-sk, for some reason it was supposed to become her place for some reason -che-niya and mu-che-no-che-death.
She would-la in-ro-vi-tel-ni-tsey Russian pa-lom-ni-kov, from-right-ly-ly-shih-sya to Jeru-sa-lim. Through the societies of or-ga-ni-zo-van-nye by her, covered with a hundred-and-bridge of bi-le-t pa-lom-nik-kov, floating from Odessa-sy in Yaf-fu. She is in the order-and-la-so-great go-sti-ni-tsu in Ieru-sa-li-me.
Another glorious de-i-nie of the great prince-gi-ni - build the Russian right-of-glorious-no-th temple in Italy, in the city-ro-de Ba-ri, where the relics of the saint-ty-te-la Ni-ko-lai Mirli-ki-sko-go are located. In 1914, the lower church was consecrated in honor of St. Ni-ko-lai and the country-but-prior-im-ny house.
In the years of the first world war of labor at the ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni-ba-vi-elk: it was necessary-ho-di-mo-lo-ear-zhi -wat for ra-not-us-mi in la-for-re-tah. Part of the sister obi-te-would-la from-pu-sche-na for ra-bo-you in the field state-pi-ta-le. The first time Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na, in-boo-da-e-may with a hri-sti-an-sky feeling, na-ve-scha-la and captured Germans, but cle-ve-ta about secret support against-it-no-ka for-sta-vi-la her from-ka-za-sya from this.
In 1916, an angry mob-pa with tr-s-bo-va-ni-em gave out German-man-sko- go spi-o-na - bra-ta Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do-ditch-ny, supposedly hiding-vav-she-go-sya in obi-there. Na-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa went out to the crowd alone and pre-lo-zhi-la to inspect all the premises of the community. The Lord did not let her die that day. The equestrian detachment, in a li-tion, dispersed the crowd.
Soon after the February Revolution, a crowd came again to the ob-te-whether with wine-to-ka-mi, red fla -ga-mi and bang-ta-mi. Sa-ma na-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa from-kry-la in-ro-ta - tell her-reveal-whether that you come-e-ha-li in order to arrest her and pre -to give the court as a German spy-on-ku, besides, keeping weapons in the mo-on-hundred-re.
On the tre-bo-va-tion of those who came immediately, but go with them, the ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya said that she should do the race rya-niya and forgiveness with sisters-ra-mi. On-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa co-bra-la of all the sisters in ob-te-li and in-pro-si-la from Mit-ro-fa-to serve mo-le -Ben. Then, turning to re-vo-lu-qi-o-ne-ram, invite them to the church, but leave weapons at the entrance Yes. They reluctantly took off the wines and went to the temple.
The whole mo-le-ben Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on the pro-sto-I-la on the knees. After the end of the service, she would say that Father Mi-ro-fan will tell them everything to build obi-te, and they can use kat what they want to find. Ko-nech-but, they didn’t find anything there, except for the cell-liy sister and gos-pi-ta-la with the sick. After the departure of the crowd, Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na said-for-la sisters-ram: “Obviously, we don’t stand still che-no-che-th crown.
In the spring of 1917, the Swedish mini-nistre in ru-che-nii kai-ze-ra Wil-gel-ma came to her and offered her help in you -ez-de for the border. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-on from-ve-ti-la, that re-shi-la raz-de-pour the fate of the country, I think that -he has his new-ro-di-noy, and cannot leave his sister obi-te-whether in this difficult time.
There was never-a-way for god-serving in obi-so-so-for-ro-yes, as before the October-Tyab-sky per-re-vo -ro-tom. We went not only for a plate of su-pa or medical help, but for consolation and co-ve-that “ve-li- koi ma-tush-ki. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-at all with-ni-ma-la, you-listen-shi-va-la, strengthened-la-la. Lu-di ear-di-whether from her mind-ro-tvo-ren-ny-mi and encourage-ren-ny-mi.
The first time after the October re-in-ro-ta Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky cloister is not tro-ga-li. On-against, sisters-oka-zy-va-whether respect, twice a week to ob-te-whether a load-zo-vik with a pro-to - let’s eat: black bread, vya-le-fish, vegetables, a little fat and sa-ha-ra. From me-di-ka-men-tov you-yes-va-li in an o-r-no-chen-n-n-o-li-che-stve pe-re-vya-zoch-ny ma-te-ri-al and le -car-stva first-howling necessary-ho-di-mo-sti.
But everything around would-whether on-pu-ga-ny, in-cro-vi-te-whether and with-hundred-I-tel-ny yes-ri-te-whether now-bo-I-foxed oka-zy-vat help obi-te-whether. Ve-li-kai-knya-gi-nya in from-be-zha-nie about-in-ka-tion not you-ho-di-la for vo-ro-ta, sister-ram would also be for -pre-sche-but you-go-dit on the street. One-to-the-mouth-of-a-new-len-ny race-in-the-order-of-the-day obi-there didn’t change, only the service became longer, hot mo-lit-va se-ster. Father Mi-ro-fan served every day in a re-full-n-n-noy church of the Divine Liturgy, there was a lot of communion -kov. For some time, in obi-te-whether on-ho-di-la mi-to-creative icon-on God Ma-te-ri Der-zhav-naya, ob-re -ten-naya in the suburban village of Ko-lo-men-skom on the day from-re-che-niya im-pe-ra-to-ra Ni-ko-lai P from pre-hundred -la. Before the icon-noy co-ver-sha-lis so-bor-ny mo-le-niya.
After the conclusion of the Brest-Li-tov-th world, the German pra-vi-tel-stvo to-bi-elk co-gla-this so-vet-sky power -sti on the exit of the ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni Eli-sa-ve-you Fe-o-do-ditch-ny beyond the border. By the sol of Ger-ma-nii, Count Mir-bah twice tried to see-to-do-with the great prince-gi-she, but she did not accept him and ka-te -go-ri-che-ski from-ka-za-las to leave Russia. She go-vo-ri-la: “I didn’t do anything stupid to anyone. Bu-di in-la Lord-under-nya!
Calmness in the obi-we-would-lo-we-sew before the storm. Sna-cha-la came-la-whether an-ke-you - questionnaires for those who lived and went on a le-che-nii: name, fa- mi-lia, age-age, so-qi-al-noe pro-is-hoj-de-nie, etc. After this, would there be a few people from the pain-ni-tsy. Then, announce that the orphans are going to the orphanage. In April 1918, on the third day of Pascha, when the Church celebrates the memory of the Iberian Icon of God Ma-te-ri , Eli-sa-ve-tu Fe-o-do-ditch-well, are-a-hundred-wa-whether and immediately-len-but you-carried from Moscow. On this day, the holy pat-ri-arch in-se-til Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky monastery, where he served the Divine Liturgy and mo-le-bain. After the services, the pat-ri-arch until four-you-re-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o in the obi-there, be-se-to-val from the stop-i-tel -ni-tsey and sister-ra-mi. It would be after her blessing and guidance of the head of the Russian Right-of-the-glorious Church before the cross to that ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni on Gol-go-fu.
Almost immediately after the departure of the pat-ri-ar-ha Ti-ho-na to ob-te-whether rise-e-ha-la ma-shi-na with ko-miss-sa -rum and red-no-ar-mei-tsa-mi-la-you-sha-mi. Eli-sa-ve-te Fe-o-do-even when-ca-for-whether to go with them. At the gathering, yes, half an hour. Na-sto-I-tel-ni-tsa only managed to gather the sisters in the church of saints Martha and Mary and give them the last blessing -tion. Cry all present, knowing that they see their mother and at the last time. Eli-sa-ve-ta Fe-o-do-ditch-na bla-go-da-ri-la se-ster for sa-mo-from-ver-femininity and fidelity and pro-si-la Father Mit-ro-fa-na does not leave the obi-those and serve in it until it is possible.
With a great prince-gi-her, two sisters rode - Var-va-ra Yako-vle-va and Eka-te-ri-na Yany-she-va. Before getting into the car, on-st-I-tel-no-tsa autumn-ni-la of all the sign of the cross.
Upon learning of the incident, Patri-Arch Ti-khon tried through various organizations, counting with someone -there was a new power, to beat the liberation-of-god-de-niya of the ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni. But his old eyes were in vain. All members of them-pe-ra-tor-sko-go-ma-would be about-re-che-us.
Eli-sa-ve-tu Fe-o-do-ditch-well and her companions on-pra-ve-whether along the iron road to Perm.
The last months of your life, no ve-li-kai prince-gi-nya pro-ve-la in prison, at school, on the outskirts of th -ro-da Ala-pa-ev-ska, together with the ve-li-kim prince-zem Ser-ge-em Mi-hi-lo-vi-chem (the youngest son of ve-li-ko -th prince Mi-ha-i-la Ni-ko-la-e-vi-cha, brother-ta im-pe-ra-to-ra Alexander II), his se-re-ta-rem - Fe-o-do-rum Mi-hi-lo-vi-chem Re-me-zom, three brothers-tya-mi - John-nom, Kon-stan-ti-nom and Igo-rem (son- but-vya-mi ve-li-ko-go prince-zya Kon-stan-ti-na Kon-stan-ti-no-vi-cha) and prince-zem Vla-di-mi-rom Pa-le-em (son of the ve-li-ko-th prince Pav-la Alek-san-dro-vi-cha). The end was close. Ma-tush-ka-on-a-hundred-I-tel-ni-tsa-go-ve-was to this is-ho-du, devoting all the time to mo-lit-ve.
Se-ster, co-leader-y-y-shchih his on-st-I-tel-ni-tsu, brought-whether to the regional council and pre-lo-zhi-li from-let-stit to freedom. Both urge-la-whether to return them to the great princess, then the che-ki-sta began to frighten them with torture-ka-mi and mu-che-ni-i-mi , someone-rye is in front of everyone who stays with her. Var-va-ra Yako-vle-va said-for-la that go-so-va give a signature and yes with your blood-view, what-la-et time-de-pour judge -bu with ve-li-coy prince-gi-her. So the cr-hundred-sister of Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky obi-te-li Var-va-ra Yako-le-va made your choice and come along - didn’t go to prison, wait for a decision on your fate.
In the deep night of July 5 (18), 1918, on the day of the ob-re-te-niya of the relics of pre-do-no-go Ser-gi Ra-do-nezh-sko-go , ve-li-knya-gi-nu Eli-sa-ve-tu Fe-o-do-ditch-well, together with other members-on-mi im-pe-ra-tor-sko th to-ma bro-si-whether in the mine-that of a hundred ore-no-ka. When the sound of the roaring pa-la-chi became-ki-wa-li ve-li-kuyu prince-gi-nu into the black hole, she pro-from-no-si-la mo-lit- wu, yes-ro-van-nuyu Ras-fifth on the Cross la-yut "(). For that, che-ki-sta on-cha-whether to throw hand gr-on-you into the check. One of the peasants, the former witness of the murder, said that from the depths of the mine you heard the singing of He-ru-vim- skoy. Her pe-whether but-in-mu-che-no-ki Russian-si-sky-before re-re-ho-house in eternity. They died in terrible suffering, from thirst, hunger and wounds.
The great prince-gi-nya did not fall to the bottom of the mine, but to a ledge, someone who was walking at a depth of 15 meters. Next to her were the bodies of John-na Kon-stan-ti-no-vi-cha with a re-vya-zan-noy go-lo-howl. All re-lo-man-naya, with stronger-she-shi-mi ears-ba-mi, here she also tried to alleviate the suffering of her neighbor. The fingers of the right hand of the ve-li-koy prince-gi-ni and the other-ki-ni Var-va-ra eyes-were folded-wives-us for the cross-sign me-tion.
Remains of on-sto-ya-tel-ni-tsy Mar-fo-Ma-ri-in-sky ob-te-li and her faithful ke-lei-ni-tsy Var-va-ry in 1921 -would it be pe-re-ve-ze-ny in Jeru-sa-lim and-lo-same-us in the mustache-fal-ni-tse temple of the holy equal-noap-o-so- Noah Ma-rii Mag-da-li-ny in Gath-si-ma-nia.
In 1931, on-ka-nun, ka-no-no-for-tion but-in-mu-che-no-kov of the Russian-si-Russian Pra-glorious Church-to- I look beyond the border, their coffins are re-shi-whether to open. Autopsy of the pro-from-in-di-la in Ieru-sa-li-me ko-miss-siya headed by the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission of the ar- hi-mand-ri-tom An-to-ni-em (Grab-be). The coffin-ni-tsy but-in-mu-che-nits in a hundred-vi-li on the am-out in front of the Tsar-ski-mi vra-ta-mi. According to God's prophecy, it so happened that the ar-khi-mand-rit An-to-niy was left alone at the behind-pa-yan-ny coffins. Unexpectedly-given-but the coffin of the prince-gi-ni Eli-sa-ve-you opened. She got up and went to Father An-to-nii for the blessings. The shocking father An-to-niy gave a blessing, after something, but-in-mu-che-no-tsa returned to his coffin, without leaving any traces. When-whether the coffin with the body of the great prince-gi-ni was opened, then the place was half-moose b-go-ear-no-eat. In the words of ar-khi-mand-ri-ta An-to-niya, feeling-stvo-val-sya "a strong smell, as it were, of honey and jas-mi-na." Powerful but-in-mu-che-eyes-for-partially-but imperishable-mi.
Pat-ri-arch of Ieru-sa-lim-sky Di-o-dor b-go-word-vil to perform a solemn re-re-not-se-ing of relics but- in-mu-che-nits from the mustache-fingers-ni-tsy, where they had been before, to the very church of St. Mary Mag-da-li-na. Do you know the day of May 2, 1982 - the feast of the holy Zhen Mi-ro-no-sits. On this day, for the divine service, the Holy Chalice, Evangelion and air-du-hi, pre-under-not-sen-nye were used the temple of sa-my ve-li-koy prince-gi-ney Eli-sa-ve-toy Fe-o-do-even-noy, when she was here in 1886.
The Ar-khi-herey-sky So-bor of the Russian Pra-glorious Church in 1992 added-number-lil to the list of saints but-in-mu-che-no- kov of Russia pre-do-do-but-mu-che-no-tsu ve-li-kuyu prince-gi-nu Eli-za-ve-tu and ino-ki-nu Var-va-ru, tired no-viv them feast-no-va-nie on the day of con-chi-na - July 5 (18).
On the Lord, cry out: stichera, tone 7:
Come, let us praise and sing praises to the venerable martyr Elizabeth, / the faithful armor of Christ's army, / the most glorious star, more than nature ascended in the west, / in the east she ended her way, / she enlightened the darkness of this godless age with her appearance, / later she shone more in the Kingdom of Christ our God , / The same is the King of glory and the East of easts.
Tell us, Elisaveto, even now you see the secret; / but for the sake of this vision from youth you desired, / for the sake of them you neglected the temporary life of this dreamy sweetness, / you did not count the tormentors with malice, / yes, and we, having been wounded by this good desire, / have been sick of this saving ailment, / we will neglect the temporary in improve the eternal good.
The Lord's witness, holy martyrs, / the mirror of the Divine glory was pure, / otherwise the night of godlessness would not be enlightened with the light of your deeds, / how would they see the path to salvation? / If the Russian land is not fattened by your blood, / no matter how barren a desert it becomes? / Pray now to the Lord, that he may visit this grape, / may he strengthen us in the coming temptations and mournful times, / in a hedgehog to vouchsafe us sinners the feat according to the strength to perceive / and in our weakness testify to the greatness of the glory of God.
Glory, tone 6:
The judgment of the Lord over the Russian land draw near, / poorer love and mercy are exhausted. / Have mercy, Lord, on our long-suffering fatherland, / through the prayers of St. Elizabeth and all the new martyrs / and for the sake of their honest suffering / give the Russian people a little more time to repent, / and save, Lord, the little flock - Your holy Church, / let them not overcome it the gates of hell according to your promise / and let us sing praises to your wonderful saints, / with their blood the Russian land is sanctified / and the Church is established.
And now, the Theotokos.
On the verse, see the stichera at the Great Vespers.
The troparion was written at the Great Vespers.
Blessed is the man: 1st antiphon.
On the Lord, cry out: stichera, tone 1.
Like: Heavenly ranks:
Many times from your youth, the Lord tested your faith, / and no unrighteousness was found in you; / sorrow and joy with thanksgiving you received from the Lord / and you obeyed His will, / and so from strength to strength you grew.
This is the election of God, / this is the glory of His saints: / whoever seeks the Lord, him the Lord will seek. / For this reason, bring you out of the land of your kinship / and in your new homeland enlighten you with the light of Orthodoxy, / after being called to the path of sorrow and hardship, / having walked along, you reached the heavenly cloisters, / where the Lord gives rest to His faithful love of the cross.
When, in the anointing of the saint, you received the gift of the Holy Spirit, Elisabeth, / and you approached the Divine Chalice with reverence, / then the Lord filled you with His Communion with unspeakable sweetness, / like a newly chosen church child. / Be the same day of that Lazarus resurrection memory: / on that day the Lord called you with Himself, coming to free passion.
Other stichera, tone 4:
When your husband was killed by godless villains, / you didn’t grumble at the Lord at all, / but you surrendered to His will, without hesitation, Elisabeth; / having gloriously adorned yourself with reverence and purity, / you appeared to the title of God as a quick novice / and a zealous ascetic of Christ's mercy, / and a wise acquisitive of the Holy Spirit.
You carry the image and mercy of the Lord of the Cross in your heart, / you forgave your husband’s murderer without hypocrisy, / and, wanting to even deny yourself to the end, / serve God and your neighbor with humility, / you created the monastery, and you settled in it, / and You pleased the Lord with a good feat.
Two ways and two images of love for the Lord, the holy wives Martha and Mary, have been predestined to us: / Ova, as if you served the Man Christ, / Ova, sitting at His feet and listening to His Divine words: / you wisely united these two in one service, Elisabeth. / The Lord, however, still desires to lay the feat of martyrdom on you, / let him adorn you with a glorious crown in His Kingdom.
Other stichera, tone 5:
Bright weeks of joy and the triumph of Christ's Resurrection / with tears mixing the sisters of your holy monastery, / always see you off to a great and terrible feat; / you, moreover, being strengthened in spirit, fear no human fear, / below you wanted to reject this cup or turn away the way of the cross, / but you endured everything, even from the Lord, / but do not be separated from Him.
Rejoice, blessed Elisabeth, / faithful servant of the Most Holy Trinity, / new ascetic and martyr, / cast into the abyss from the atheists and receiving death, / receiving retribution in Heaven: / God Himself give you rest from your labors and glorify. / We, crouching, pray to you: / do not leave us with merciful love, / be a prayer book for our souls / and warm representative of the Russian country.
Glory, the same voice:
Sons of perdition, murderers of saints, / desiring to consume your very memory from the Russian land; / Lord, destroy the council of their wickedness / and crush the power of those who blaspheme Him. / But we, the weak hymn-singers of your feat, / magnify thee, glorify and say: / rejoice, royal martyr, golden-crowned Elizabeth.
Entrance. Prokeimenon day and reading.
Isaiah's prophecies reading
Thus says the Lord: All the Gentiles will gather together and the princes will gather from them. Who will proclaim this in them, or even from the beginning, who will do it to you in hearing? Let their witnesses bring and be justified, and let them hear, and let them speak the truth; Wake Me witnesses, and I am a Witness, says the Lord God, and the Servant, His chosen one, so that you know and believe Me, and understand that I am: before Me there was no other god, and after Me it will not be. I am God, and do not save Me. I proclaimed and saved, humiliated, and not be a stranger in you. You are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God, and from the beginning I am: and delivered from my hands; I will create, and who will turn it away? The Lord God says to this, deliver you the Holy One of Israel.
Wisdom of Solomon reading
The righteous souls are in the hand of God, and torment will not touch them; unworrying of the former in the eyes of the insane, die, and imputed their embitterment, and the procession from us is contrition; they are the essence of the world. For before the face of a human being they will also receive torment, their hope of immortality is fulfilled; and, in the past, small punishments, great blessings will be: as God test me, and find them worthy of Himself. Like gold in the furnace, test them, and like sacrificial fruitfulness, I am pleasant. And during the visit they will shine, and like sparks will flow along the stem. They judge by the tongue and possess the people, and the Lord will reign in them forever. Hopeful Nan will understand the truth, and faithful in love will abide to Him; as grace and mercy in His saints, and visitation in His chosen ones.
Wisdom of Solomon reading
The righteous live forever, in the Lord their reward, and their care is with the Most High: for this sake they will receive the kingdom of splendor and the crown of kindness from the hand of the Lord, I will cover it with my right hand and protect them with my arm. He will take full armor - His zeal, and will arm the creature in revenge with the enemy. Put on the breastplate of righteousness and put on a helmet—judgment is not hypocritical. He will receive an invincible shield - reverend. Will sharpen vain anger into a weapon; he will fight the world with him against the fools. Right-handed arrows of lightning will go, and, as if from a well-rounded bow of the clouds, they will fly to the intention. And hailstones will fall in full from stone-throwing fury; the water of the sea will be angry with them, but the rivers will drown me insolently. The spirit of power will resist them, and, like a whirlwind, it will scatter them, and lawlessness will devastate the whole earth, and villainy will turn the thrones of the strong. Hear therefore, O king, and understand; get used to it, judges of the ends of the earth. Inspire, holding multitudes and proud of the peoples of tongues: as if power has been given to you from the Lord, and strength from the Most High.
On the lithium of the stichera of the temple, the same stichera, tone 8:
God-chosen martyr Elisaveto, / when a storm of godlessness is found on the Russian land, thou hast said: / as if in a storm, some people flee, others are amazed, / otherwise the eyes of the soul open, so that they see the greatness of God, / such things happen in the whirlwind of life. / Your heart has known in sorrow the right hand of God: / the fierce murder of your husband, teach you to serve God and your neighbor, / the weak, crippled and forsaken, / with humility and love; / you still accepted a monastic life, / and you didn’t want to run away from the theomachists / without fear you were martyred for Christ. / We, honoring your fragrant relics, earnestly ask: / pray for those who honor your deeds and suffering.
Live-buried sacrifices to God, / cast down into a pit-like ditch: / above all, Elisabeth the Passion-bearer, / a merciful princess aspiring to the heavenly ones, / having found the beads of Orthodoxy in her new homeland, / forgiving her husband’s murderer in the gospel, / pleasing Bot with prayer and goodness, / not spared by the godless . / Pray for us, holy prince, / pray for all, reverend passion-bearer, / Elisabeth with faithful Barbara. / Hear us, buried in Gethsemane, / hear us and these, whose burial is unknown, / hear us packs, taken together in the abode of heaven: / holy army, pray to God for us.
Glory, tone 6:
In the Church of Russia, the former, Elisaveto, was glorified, / pandering to the division of our Church to die with love: / they say to each other: / we are a good seed, but you are weeds. / If we remain so, how will people recognize us? / How will they believe that we are the Lord's disciples? / Come today, united in one person, let us commemorate the venerable martyr Elisabeth, / from the outside, and all the new martyrs of Russia, / may the Lord establish the Russian Church with their prayers, / may it save from schisms and heresies; / let her priests be clothed in righteousness, / let her bishops remain right, ruling the word of Christ's truth, / as there is one body of the Church Head and Lord.
And now, the Theotokos.
On the verse stichera, tone 3:
Illuminated with royal glory on the earth, / You had the Kingdom of God within yourself, Grand Duchess Elisaveto, / for this reason you were unfairly called the royal martyr / and received a crown of great value from the King of Glory, Christ, / You co-reign with Him now.
Verse: Wonderful is God in His saints, / God of Israel.
The Kingdom of Heaven is near us: / for the Lord reigns in His saints; / Pray for him, Elizabeth, royal martyr, / may he deliver us with repentance of the demonic torment / and reign in our souls forever.
Verse: In the churches, bless God, / the Lord from the spring of Israel.
Lord, receive glory from the Angels and the testimony of the saints, / may he now receive our repentance, / pray, royal martyr Elizabeth, / and turn away His righteous wrath from our fatherland / and be merciful to those who glorify you.
Glory, tone 7:
Look, Elisaveto, on those who are coming and praying to you / from the bright chamber, where you rest with the saints: / see, if many in us are good and great, / or wise, or strong, or righteous? / From four bos, gather the wind with a boh, / like boats, in the storms of the sea of \u200b\u200blife to the green, dilapidated; / with passionate anxieties our fed, / the sails were torn apart by the violence of the opposing ones, / from the stones of the underwater - demonic pretexts - liberate Esma, / in the least not dead in the abyss, aggravated by our iniquities. / We are indecent, but with your prayers have mercy before, / bringing repentance from the heart of the Lord, / we pray to you: guide us on the path of righteousness, / holding on to it, we will reach a quiet and longed-for haven, / hedgehog is the Kingdom of Christ in Heaven.
And now, the Theotokos is risen.
Now you let go: and the Trisagion
troparion of the venerable martyr twice and
Virgin Mary: once.
Troparion, tone 1:
Having hidden the princely dignity with humility, / God-wise Elisabeth, / honored you with the pure service of Martha and Mary Christ, / having cleansed yourself with mercy, patience and love, / like a righteous sacrifice to God, you brought / We, honoring your virtuous life and suffering, / like a true mentor We earnestly ask you: / holy martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveto, / pray to Christ God / save and enlighten our souls.
On God the Lord: the troparion of the venerable martyr twice.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos is resurrected.
According to the first verse sedal, tone 2:
Thou enlightened with Orthodox dogmas, Elisaveto, / the seeker and champion of truth, / and learned to faithfully honor the saints of God, / having wisely jealous of their feat, / you were counted among the host of this Divine: / deposed the powerless demonic insolence / and the vain rage of insane tormentors yours, / you have gained good boldness to the Most Holy Trinity, / and now pray with all the saints for our salvation.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos:
Theotokos, faithful to the Representative and Governor of the good, / enlightened the soul of Your servant Elizabeth, in a hedgehog Orthodoxy honor You / and follow Your love of Christ and humanity. / And enlighten us with the light of the glory of Your Son.
According to the second verse sedal, tone 6:
From the meager earthly glory and fleeting kindness / you have taken away the wealth of eternal glory, / Elisabeth, the Orthodox zealous faith, / and the title of God a novice, / and His mercy imitator, / and glorious martyr in the saints.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos:
In Gethsemane, you wished to be buried, Blessed Virgin; / there and your faithful disciple Elizabeth was buried, as if in a dream, / and her relics rest there, awaiting the general resurrection.
According to polyelea, greatness:
We magnify you, / holy martyr Elisabeth, / and we honor your honest suffering, / even for Christ / you endured.
Chosen psalm:
God is our refuge and strength, a helper in sorrows that have found us green:
Sedalen, tone 7:
Behold, the Lord and Teacher is calling you, / get up, why are you sleeping madly, my soul? / And, do not hesitate, hasten to Him, / see, as if your mercy is now demanding: / it thirsts and hungers, and does not have where to bend its head; / accept Him like a stranger and serve Him, / the twofold feat of St. Elizabeth following; / like Martha, warming the needy with earthly deeds, / like Mary, learning the teachings of the Divine, / let not you thirst for anything else / and don’t be afraid of the coming temptations and misfortunes, / the Lord is with you and satisfies you.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos:
May the Lord open the mouths of Thy hymn-singers, O God-maiden, / in the hedgehog to sing Thee unceasingly, / like the sovereign Lady of the Russian land / and to all our family the Representative.
Degree, 1st antiphon of the 4th tone.
Every breath: Matthew, conception 62.
According to Psalm 50, stichera, tone 6:
Come, people of Russia, / let us strive to begin the feat of repentance, / hired servants of the eleventh hour, / let us not remain idle, / stagnant and lying, as if no one has hired us, / but let us serve the Lord, although for a short time, / like a worker of good His grapes ; / if we do not serve, every evening is near, / we will be more tempted about our deeds / and we will receive retribution.
Canon of the Theotokos with irmos at 6, tone 8.
And the canon of the venerable martyr Elizabeth at 8, tone 8.
Irmos: Let us sing to the Lord, / who has led His people through the Red Sea, / as One gloriously glorified.
Grant, O Lord, enlightenment to my soul / and open my unworthy mouth, / let me sing to Thy saint, the venerable martyr Elizabeth, / gloriously be glorified in her holy name.
Beloved child of the Lord, wonderful Elisaveto, / together with bodily beauty and princely majesty / spiritual kindness, you have adorned yourself by multiplying the talent given to you from God / and bringing yourself as a gift to Tom.
You left your fatherland and relatives / and in the new fatherland, enlightened by the light of the Orthodox faith, / you served God and people with love and mercy / and you suffered torment from the godless. / For this sake, glorify the Lord and the Heavenly Fatherland, the heiress of the show.
Theotokion: Let us sing the glory of the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, / having come to the King Christ after Her virgin and wife, / with them the holy venerable martyr Elizabeth, / a resident of the heavenly chamber / and the Lord's bridal meal partaking.
Irmos: You are the affirmation / of those who flow to You, O Lord, / You are the light of the darkened, / and my spirit sings to You.
Thou hast placed all thy hope in the Lord, / and that affirmation was to you, / Elizabeth the long-suffering, / when the honest remains of your husband are gathered by your hands, / you did not harden your heart, / you surrendered to despair below, / but you mercifully forgave the godless murderer, / offering a warm prayer to the Lord.
Having despised the beauty of this world and the sweetness of this world, O God-wise one, / you desired a fasting life, / and you founded the monastery, / hiding it from the comforts of the world, / by your mercy you did not leave the world / and you served the suffering good.
Christ the Ascetic / always having in your mind’s eye, martyr, / you followed him without repentance / and you carried your cross, / rejecting yourself, serving your neighbors, / and in obedience to the will of the Lord you remained even to death, / having courageously accepted, / Strengthened by the Lord, / you prayed for the tormentors.
Bogorodichen: O Blessed Mother Devo! / With the light of Your Divine Son / graciously enlighten my soul darkened by sin / and with the warmth of Your prayers melt the ice of my hardness of heart / and strengthen me, / that I may follow the narrow path to salvation, / having a mentor, the venerable martyr Elizabeth.
Sedalen, tone 5:
Having loved the Lord from the youth, / Thou didst work for him, blessed Elisaveto, / and thou appeared like fertile soil, / on the south the good seed of Orthodoxy was sown, bring a hundredfold fruit. / For this sake, be an intercessor for us / and beg the Creator to resolve the barrenness of our hearts, / let us serve Him with labor and prayer, / most of all with love and humility. / But if the Lord calls us to the feat of confession / and suffering for the faith, / pray for us, in a hedgehog do not reject this cup for us, / but endure everything to the end, / and reach the Kingdom of Heaven with such a short path.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos:
Do not delay, Most Holy Theotokos, / bring your prayer to God for the Russian land and for its people. / We perish from a multitude of sins and cry to Thee: / You are the steward and guarantor / of all who put their trust in Thee.
Irmos: Hear, O Lord, / seeing Thy mystery, / understand Thy deeds / and glorify Thy Divinity.
Like Martha, you served the Lord, / the venerable martyr Elisaveto, / in these little ones and the poor, and the sick, and the fallen ones, having seen His image. / Teach me to honor the Lord Christ in my neighbor / and serve Him.
Thou hast chosen the good part, O Elisaveto, / having become like Mary, / and thou hast stretched out all thy thoughts to the Lord, / praying unceasingly and learning in His words, / and by His will, that is to say, good providence, thou hast betrayed to thyself.
Pray to the Lord for us, / holy wives Martha and Mary / with the venerable martyr Elizabeth, / even, like a good mentor, / not only she herself will go through the path of the feat of a special path / and reach the meek land, / but also attract others to this saving path. / O Saint Elizabeth, / accept us as your disciples / and guide us on the path of salvation.
Theotokion: Blessed is Thy womb, O Immaculate One, / bearing the Creator of all, / Who descended to us through Thee, / and blessed are the people, Who flowed to Him through Thee. / Create us, partakers of this blessedness, / Who ever glorify you.
Irmos: Morning cry to Thee, / Lord, save us: / Thou art our God, / unless we know otherwise.
By the inexpressible look of the Lord / having partaken of the bitter water of suffering, / you have found the sweetness of the Divine Spirit in your heart, / may you not thirst forever / and give us the weak water of living love and mercy to drink, / even flow from your heart.
The will of the Lord is done in His saints: for they walk relentlessly in the footsteps of His commandments. / So you too, O reverend martyr, / having betrayed the Lord to yourself, / joy, together with sorrow from Him with thanksgiving, you accepted / and served Him, striving piously. / Teach me to serve the Lord worthily / and abide in obedience to His will, / let not His good yoke be to me in sorrow / and His light burden to burden, / but may my heart be established and rest in Him.
Pray for me, reverend martyr, / may your prayers be a cure for my much-pained soul, / ailing with sins. / No one who asks to leave you without help and consolation.
Bogorodichen: Do not imam boldness / ask the Lord for the remission of my sins; / for this sake, to You, the Lady, I fall down, / bending the knee of the soul and body. / I entrust my weak prayer to you, / bring it to the throne of the Most High / and may I receive salvation, joy and peace from Him.
Irmos: Give me a robe of light, / clothe yourself with light like a robe, / many-merciful Christ our God.
To whom shall I resort in my poverty, / if not to you, holy venerable martyr Elisabeth? / Bare my soul from every virtue, / sting from the attacks of the enemy. / But we know your poverty, / as if you did not reject the one who asked: / if he is poor, and if he is a sinner, if he has an evil heart. / Taco and me, unworthy and humiliated, do not reject me, / but pray to the Lord for the correction of my life.
May this prayer be not condemned to me, / lifted up from the depths of my evils: / the waves of the sea of \u200b\u200blife want to close over me, / and there is no good path. / But you pray for me, Saint Elizabeth, / if you want to save me and guide me on the right path. / You are more than before, disdaining no one and condescending to the infirmities of sinners, / many show the way to salvation.
Accept me with love, merciful Elisaveto, / as if you always accepted the sick and orphans like me, / and those who were impoverished in strength. / Quench my hunger and thirst, / heal the illnesses of my soul and, praying to Christ incessantly, / ask me from Him what is needed for salvation.
Theotokion: Virgin Mother of God, / giving birth to the joys of the Guilty One, / enlighten my heart with Your joy, / darkened by many passions, / captivated by the darkness of despondency, / sickened by fierce relaxation. / Wash the filth of my soul and give me bright clothes, / in which I have presented myself to the Lord, I will not be expelled from the bridal chamber.
Kontakion, tone 2:
The greatness of the feat of faith who is the story: / in the depths of the earth, as if in heaven of lordship, / the passion-bearer Grand Duchess Elizabeth / rejoiced with the Angels in psalms and singing / and, suffering a murder, / crying out for godless tormentors: / Lord, forgive them this sin, / they don't know what they're doing. / Through prayers, O Christ God, / have mercy and save our souls.
Before death, you suffered a murder, Elisaveto the martyr, when the murderer of your husband strikes your soul with an incurable wound, and so for the joys of this world, having died, you rose again, as if anciently Tabitha, in a hedgehog to serve the weak. Having taken part in this feat of endless joy, you nourished your soul with the light of Divine love; for this reason, you were not afraid of the tormentors who killed the body, having resolved it, you ascended with your soul to the Lord, pray to Him to have mercy and save our souls.
Irmos: The youths of the Jews are in the cave / boldly asking for the flame, / and laying fire on the dew, crying out: / blessed be Thou, Lord God, forever.
A sinner, a lawless one, / - the people of Russia cry out to the Lord, / - departed from You, like Israel of old. / For this sake, let us walk in our will and now we endure punishment. / But through the prayers of the holy martyr Elizabeth / and all Your new martyrs, / have mercy, Lord, / have mercy on us and enlighten us, / let us turn and repent from our evil deeds, / and sing Your praise forever.
Behold the judgment of God over our fatherland: / thorns for hatred and thistles of unbelief / brought to us by the Russian land; / even the tares of heresies were sown from the enemy. / Save, Lord, with the prayers of the all-praise Elizabeth and all the new martyrs / piety good cereals, / may they not be crushed from thorns, / below they will mix with the weeds, / but may they grow and multiply, / and may the people of Russia cry out: / blessed be Thou, Lord God , forever.
Do the Imams hope for salvation, / tell us, about the venerable martyr Elisaveto? / Is not our prayer in vain? / Are we not the sons of those who beat the prophets? / Neither, but your children are in the spirit of Esma. / You are our mother and mentor, / we hope for your prayers and with you we sing to the Lord forever.
Theotokion: Rejoice, long-suffering Russian land: / the Mother of God spread His holy cover over you / and prays for you vigilantly / with all the new martyrs of Russia, / in a hedgehog to be saved by all who honor Yu / and glorify forever.
Irmos: Seven cave / Chaldean tormentor / pious passionately inflamed; / seeing this by better power, / crying out to the Creator and Redeemer: / youths, bless, / priests, sing, / people, exalt for all ages.
Whenever thou wast slain, / O reverend martyr, / thy faith did not waver, and mercy was not scant. / In the hour of your dying struggle / you did not leave serving the suffering / and you cried out to God, crying out: / bless the Lord, people, / and exalt Him forever.
As of old, Lord, Thy martyrs / witness of faith in the godless world, / so the holy venerable martyr Elizabeth / showed her faith from her deeds and sealed it by death, / and many Russian people taught You to sing to the ages.
Show me your faith and love from your deeds, / the Lord calls to me, / - and I don’t know what to answer, / I am like a barren tree, and there is no excuse for me. / But humble myself before the Lord, my soul, and do His will as you please. / Strengthen me, Elisaveto, for this feat, / let this good will not depart from me. / and let me cry incessantly: / children, bless, / priests, sing, / people, exalt forever.
Theotokion: If not an imam of love, / I am, as the Apostle said, ringing copper and ringing cymbal. / My heart is troubled by these words, / the essence of the speech is not about me. / Still a little, and I will perish in my impoverishment. / But, O All-Rich Mother of God, cover my poverty with Your mercy, / and save me, who exalts the Lord forever.
Irmos: The sky was horrified about this, / and the ends of the earth were surprised, / as if God appeared as a man of the flesh, / and Your womb is faster than the most spacious of Heaven: / thee, the Mother of God, / angels and the man of office magnify.
My soul wept, / as if I saw the Russian land stained with the blood of the saints of God. / My Lord is good: how can you allow this? / Do not weep, O soul, / pray to the holy venerable martyr Elizabeth / and understand God's consideration: / Thy martyrs zealously love / and boldness is given to them / pray for us sinners.
We are not aware of Your fate, O God: / what else will happen to us in this life, / in what ways do you want to lead us to salvation? / But give us Your will without embarrassment and murmuring / and strive for a good feat, / and achieve the Kingdom of Heaven, / where Thy saints are gathered, / with them and the venerable martyr Elizabeth, / today we glorify.
Your holy relics / rest in the Holy Land, Elisabeth, / with your soul stand before the Lord in His Heavenly Kingdom / and pray boldly for all people, / especially for those who glorify you and imitate your feat, / the Lord will vouchsafe to bring us unworthy .
Bogorodichen: Behold the court is near; / do not let, O Lord, the encroachments of our feet, / do not let us deviate into evil, lower into laziness, / banish confusion and doubt from our souls, / let us not perish like iniquity, / but let us be saved with the saints, / by the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother / and your holy saint Princess Elizabeth.
Svetilen:
What is this? / Is it fierce death or Orthodox triumph of faith? / Even though the cherubim form secretly, / the Lord in their hearts they carried naturally, / the holy martyrs of Alapaevstia, / to Nemuzhe and reposed naturally, / having the Cherubic Hymn on their lips. / How can I forget to sing of your sufferings? / In generation and generation your memory, God-bearing, / and forever our thanksgiving to the Lord, / Who is wonderful in His saints.
Glory, and now, the Theotokos:
Hypostatic Wisdom / and the Word of Presence, / and the doctor of souls and bodies gave birth, / heal the festering and wounds of my soul, fierce and temporary, / and sicken my heart, Virgo.
In praise of the stichera, tone 8.
Like: Oh, glorious miracle:
Oh, your wondrous words, / God-wise Elisaveto, / about your great sorrow, / even across the Russian land! / Thou hast likened our people to an ailing baby, / you love him more than when you are healthy and cheerful. / For this reason, you wished to bear his suffering / and you valiantly walked the path of torment, / may you have the courage to pray for his salvation.
Oh, your not false insight! / Having seen the inglorious destruction of Great Russia, / you were not afraid of the terrible time, / but you knew the greatness of God's gaze. / Holy Russia, thou hast said, cannot perish, / below the gates of hell the Orthodox Church will be able to overcome, / but light will shine in the souls of the faithful like the sun, / which will enlighten the darkness.
Oh, glorious miracle! / In troubles and sufferings / the mercy of God is realized / and spiritual joy clearly appears, / the princess says: The Lord, He punishes, He is the same, He also loves; / for this sake, again, I said to the Lord: / Thy will be done.
Oh, Divine desire, / oh firm hope in the Lord! / You betrayed all the love of God to yourself, / glorious Elisabeth. / There is no way to destroy this souza / neither sorrow, nor oppression, nor persecution, lower than death. / But leave the Lord His servant to eternal life / and to joy inexpressible, / which is prepared for those who love Him.
Glory, the same voice:
People of Russia are unreasonable! / Cheso for the sake of nature rejected those who love you? / Cheso for the sake of the words of God did not listen to nature? / Do not touch, speech, my anointed. / The yoke of God was lightly rejected by nature, / as if it was inconvenient to wear, / you were enslaved by your enemy, / even dragging you into the darkness of iniquities and troubles. / Did you desire that, folks? / But do not weep now, as if you had no hope: / behold, these, they themselves have been rejected, / not rejecting you, / but they pray to the Lord to intercede for you salvation.
And now, the Theotokos:
Mistress, accept the prayers of Thy servant / and deliver us / from all need and sorrow.
Blessed from the canon, songs 3 and 6.
Prokimen, tone 4: God is wondrous in His saints, / the God of Israel.
Verse: In the churches, bless God, the Lord from the fountains of Israel.
Apostle to the Corinthians, conceived 181.
Alleluia, tone 1: Enduring the suffering of the Lord, and listen to me, and hear my prayer.
Verse: And set my feet on the stone, and straighten my steps.
Gospel of Mark, beginning 21.
Involved: In eternal memory there will be a righteous man, from the hearing of evil he will not be afraid.
Huming the dignity of the princely sippings, / Bogomdria Elisaveno, / Sugubable ministry of Martha and Mary / Christ, Essays. / Mercy, patience and love of themselves. We earnestly ask you a true mentor: / Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveto, / / pray to Christ God to save and enlighten our souls.
Translation: In hiding your princely dignity, God-wise Elizabeth, you honored Christ with a special service to Martha and Mary. Having cleansed yourself with mercy, patience and love, as a righteous you offered yourself to God. We, honoring your virtuous life and your torment, as a true mentor, earnestly ask you: “Holy martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth, pray to Christ God for the salvation and enlightenment of our souls.”
In the beauty of the earth, thou didst show the beauty of heaven, O holy reverend martyr Elisabeth, and thou imitated the myrrh-bearing women Mary and Martha, in serving God and suffering people. The same glorify you, Christ God, as one from the holy women of Russia, who give us peace and great mercy.
Translation: In the beauty of the earth, you revealed the beauty of Heaven, holy martyr Elizabeth, and you imitated Mary and Martha, in serving God and suffering people. Therefore, Christ God glorified you as one of the holy wives of Russia, who grant us peace and great mercy.
Who can tell the greatness of the feat of faith? / In the depths of the earth, as if in paradise of lightness, / the passion-bearer Grand Duchess Elizabeth / rejoicing from the Angels in psalms and singing them / and, suffering a slaughter, / crying out for the godless tormentors: / Lord, forgive me this sin They don’t know what they are doing. / With prayers, O Christ God, / / have mercy and save our souls.
Translation: Who will proclaim the greatness of the feat of faith? In the depths of the earth, as in the light of paradise, Grand Duchess Elizabeth with angels rejoiced in psalms and spiritual hymns and, suffering murder, cried out about the godless tormentors: “Lord, forgive them this sin, for they do not know what they are doing” (). Through her prayers, Christ God, have mercy and save our souls.
From the glory of the kingdom, taking up the Cross of Christ, you passed to the glory of Heaven, praying for your enemies, and you found eternal joy, holy martyr Princess Elisaveto, with Barbara the martyr. We implore you the same: pray for our souls.
Translation: From the royal glory (earthly), having raised the Cross of Christ, you passed to the glory of Heaven, praying for enemies, and you found eternal joy, holy martyr Princess Elizabeth, with the martyr Barbara. Therefore, we implore you: "Pray for our souls."
Oh, Holy Nippers Russian, Great Princess Elisaveto and Sestro Svetro Krestovna Interior Inokine Varvaro, Knowing his way into monster flour, gospel, the commandment to the abyss of mercy committing, faith for the Orthodox launch to death in the last time of this, and good fruit in patience of passion brought to Christ! Pray to Him, as the conqueror of death, may he establish the Russian Orthodox Church and our fatherland, redeemed by the blood and suffering of the new martyrs, and will not let the enemy of Russia plunder our property. Behold, the crafty enemy, arm yourself against us, although destroy us in internecine wars, sorrows, unbearable sorrows, illnesses, needs and fierce misfortunes. Beg the Lord to put down all their feeble audacity; Strengthen faith in the hearts of the Russian people, so that when the time comes for us to test, we will accept the gift of courage through your prayers, denying ourselves and taking up our cross, let us follow Christ, crucifying our flesh with passions and lusts. Save us from all the evil, sanctifying our life, give repentance of non-estate, silence and peace to our souls, ask the Lord with all the bitter and eternal flour to get rid of and the Heaven to the kingdom of the heirs with all the saints, from the century to God, yes, reraded with praise , honor and worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Chosen from the family of the sovereign daughter of Russia, having served God and neighbor well with abundant love and mercy, she laid down her soul for faith in Christ our Lord and was adorned with the crown of Christ's glory, we praise; your deeds and sufferings, with love singing to you: Rejoice, holy venerable martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
With the angelic love of Christ, who loved and served the One, desiring to be taught from childhood by your matter, in labors, prayers and alms, you showed the image of the virtues. After the death of your mother and close relatives, the way of the cross, commanded by the Lord, thou didst understand. The same marveling at your choice from youth, we cry out to you with tenderness: Rejoice, thou who didst love Christ from youth; Rejoice, chosen lamb of Christ. Rejoice, having received the seeds of faith from your parents; Rejoice, brought up in the fear of God by them. Rejoice, thou who didst inherit the virtues of thy mother; Rejoice, you taught diligence and mercy by her. Rejoice, approved by the heart in God; Rejoice, having carried your cross with faith and hope and followed Christ. Rejoice, fragrant flower of the land of your fatherland; Rejoice, thou who gladdened Heaven with the purity of thy life. Rejoice, chosen by God to serve the suffering; Rejoice, our prayer book before God. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
The Lord saw the good heart of your desire, as if from youth you desired to spend your life in piety and purity, the eyes of your heart are directed to the heavenly beauty and the fire of love for God ignites in yourself. Enlighten with your prayers and our hearts with love for God, let us sing to Him with you: Alleluia.
Enlightened by reason from above, Saint Elisaveto, you were not afraid to leave the fatherland, your father’s clan and house and move into the new fatherland, when you were married to the Russian: Grand Duke Sergius, yes, serve God with him, and together with your spouse you lived in chastity , showing true love for the Russian people. We call out to you with love: Rejoice, glorious stranger from the land of the West; Rejoice, new homeland - found the Russian land. Rejoice, noble princess, who faithfully served our country; Rejoice, our mentor in good deeds. Rejoice, having lived in marriage in love and chastity; Rejoice, as if you were a wise helper to your spouse in good deeds. Rejoice, husband of the pious patroness; Rejoice, warming us with maternal love. Rejoice, desiring to fulfill the commandments of the Lord; Rejoice, inflaming jealousy for Bose in our hearts. Rejoice, having rejoiced everyone with the beauty of soul and body; Rejoice, adornment of the whole Christian world. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
Wise by the power of Divine grace for salvation, thou hast known the true faith with thy mind, merciful princess Elisaveto, and dwelling in the Holy Land, thou hast established herself in the desire to accept Orthodoxy, singing to God who enlightened you: Alleluia.
If you have a heart that is kinder to the earth, you have accepted the Orthodox faith, you were also honored with holy chrismation and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ on the feast of the Resurrection of the righteous Lazarus. We, glorifying your enlightenment by the grace of the Holy Spirit, magnify you: Rejoice, on the day of the Resurrection of the righteous Lazarus, you accepted the Orthodox faith; Rejoice, fruit of the blessed Russian land. Rejoice, sealed by the chrismation of the Holy Spirit; Rejoice, in Orthodoxy you have preserved the name given to you from birth. Rejoice, holy righteous Elizabeth of the same name; rejoice, for thou hast diligently imitated that life in labors. Rejoice, son of the West showing the way to the true faith; Rejoice, for the pious people of the Russian land honor your memory with love. Rejoice, merciful mother, who has found mercy from the Lord and the Lord; Rejoice, and earnestly praying for our mercy. Rejoice, thou who carried the Divine light in thy heart; Rejoice, illuminating the darkness of our life with the light of Christ's commandments. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
The storm of malice of the enemy of the human race is unshakable, holy, when your faithful husband suffered a martyr's death, you were compassionate, great courage and Christian love showed you. Angeli, exalting the soul of your husband, I will sing: Alleluia.
Hearing the Russian people about the murder of the faithful Prince Sergius, I pray to God that Saint Elisabeth strengthen you in bearing this sorrow. But you, strengthened by sacrificial love, visited the murderer of your spouse in prison, urging him to repentance and offering prayers to the Lord for his forgiveness. For this sake, accept from us, unworthy, this praise: Rejoice, thou who didst fulfill the commandment of Christ about love for the enemy; Rejoice, thou who evangelically forgave the murderer of thy husband. Rejoice, having endured many sorrows and misfortunes; Rejoice, helping us bear the burden of sorrows and sorrows. Rejoice, instructing those who have gone astray on the path of truth and repentance; Rejoice, warm intercessor for the salvation of sinners. Rejoice, in the darkness of sorrows illuminating us with the light of hope; Rejoice, guiding star to all who hope for salvation. Rejoice, bringing our petrified hearts to tenderness; Rejoice, in all our sorrow to Christ for us, a warm prayer book. Rejoice, conqueror of the wickedness of the world with goodness; Rejoice, you who showed true love to the Russian people. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
Thou hast shone with a divine star into the lands of Russia, Saint Elisaveto, when she has changed wealth and glory like dust, in the hands of God she betrayed her life, but serve Him with fasting and prayer, and to the suffering showed great love and mercy. Thus, illuminate the path of our life with the light of your virtues, let us joyfully cry out to God: Alleluia.
Seeing the people of the God-saved city of Moscow, the wondrous organizer of the Abode of Mercy, they rejoiced, as if many Russian wives and virgins had found a quiet and soul-saving refuge here, imitating the holy myrrh-bearing women Mary and Martha in serving God and neighbors. For this sake, glorifying thee, we say to this: Rejoice, in the glory of the earth you comprehended the vanity of worldly life; Rejoice, having distributed your property and loving the poverty of Christ. Rejoice, having adorned the city of Moscow with a wondrous cloister; Rejoice, having accepted the good yoke of Christ on yourself. Rejoice, bringing many wives and virgins to the Abode of Mercy; Rejoice, wise steward for the salvation of your sisters. Rejoice, you imitated the ministry of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary; Rejoice, vigilant guardian of your Abode. Rejoice, in the ascetic labor of spiritual life affirming us; Rejoice, showing us the way from earth to Heaven. Rejoice, luminary of mercy, ascended over the city of Moscow; Rejoice, patroness of all those who gave their lives in the service of their neighbors. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
You were a preacher of Divine love and His mercy and a zealot of piety in our land, Saint Elisaveto, in the hearts of Russian people, love for the Lord and mercy for our brothers and sisters, warming us in troubles, and we, with your covenant, will later sing to God: Alleluia .
You shone with the light of a virtuous life in the country of Russia, our reverend mother Elisaveto, in the form of monasticism in fasting and abstinence, in nightly vigils and singing prayers, you lived, teaching the piety and humility of the sister of your monastery, and we, by you, guide you on the path of a close spiritual feat We bless you: Rejoice, thou who didst choose the path of a monastic life equal to the angels; Rejoice, having revealed the purity of your heart with a vow of chastity. Rejoice, having shown the height of your spirit with a vow of non-possession; Rejoice, having served your neighbors with a vow of obedience to God. Rejoice, wise venerable princess and nun; Rejoice, destined in the image of Christian wives from above. Rejoice, having pleased God with fasting, vigil and unceasing prayers; Rejoice, awakening us from the sleep of our sinful souls. Rejoice, instructing everyone to fulfill the commandment of love for God and neighbors; Rejoice, teaching us prayer from the heart. Rejoice, teacher of the nuns and interlocutor of the Angel; Rejoice, glorified in the host of reverend wives in Heaven. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
If you want to understand the will of the Lord, Saint Elisabeth, you completely betrayed yourself into obedience to the elder Gabriel of the Spaso-Eleazarovsky, Alexy Zossimovsky, so also other God-wise elders asked you, doing nothing without their blessing, cutting off your will, the same and living in the Abode of Mercy for the good thou hast arranged, incessantly crying out to God: Alleluia.
The Lord showed a new miracle, always granting you, Saint Elizabeth, the grace and strength of the disease to heal, strengthen the weakened, help the needy, intercede the offended. But you, relief and joy to those who are suffering, the weak, the abandoned and the crippled, have served with humility and love. Also, heal us sinners with your prayer and be our steward for salvation, let us thankfully sing to you: Rejoice, having lived in obedience as a spiritual father and a great elder; Rejoice, named Great Mother by Russian people. Rejoice, having acquired the gift of the weak soul to heal from God; Rejoice, ailing and hopeless from the bed of sickness. Rejoice, compassionate guardian of widows and orphans; Rejoice, quick intercessor for those who are hungry and those in trouble. Rejoice, for you do not leave the contemptible and outcast; Rejoice, having saved many souls from the darkness of sin and death. Rejoice, wise comforter who is despondent in sorrows and circumstances; Rejoice, and strengthens us, afflicted by illnesses and sorrows. Rejoice, intercessor of a repentant sinner before God; Rejoice, merciful God-given helper of the Russian people. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
The Lord showed a strange and terrible vision to the confessor of the Abode of Mercy, Father Mitrofiy. But you, oh holy mother, explaining this vision, you prophesied, as if a great and formidable test is coming to the Russian Church and our state: desecration of the shrines, fratricidal warfare, great turmoil, martyrdom of the royal family; but God will have mercy on Russia through the prayers of her saints, with whom you now sing to God: Alleluia.
All the grace of God is enlightened, Saint Elisaveto, with the mental eyes of the angry visit of God to our country, you matured and prophetically prophesied you, as if many martyrs and confessors will shine in the lands of Russia. At the same time, the Russian people called on all the hope in the Mother of God, believers, that our land will be settled and blessed by Her prayers. But we, leading your prophecies about the fate of our homeland, our existence, bless thee: Rejoice, thou who didst erect the temple of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Abode of Mercy; Rejoice, you betrayed your abode in the hands of the Most Pure Mother of the Lord. Rejoice, organizer of the temples of God; Rejoice, our vigilant prayer book to the Theotokos. Rejoice, good for the churches of God; Rejoice, for the sake of eternal life, you have worked tirelessly. Rejoice, having faithfully served God and the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos with your life; Rejoice, thou who teaches us to place all hope in God. Rejoice, giving meekness, silence and peace to our hearts; Rejoice, adorned with the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. Rejoice, for thou hast foretold the great sorrows of our land; rejoice, for the Lord has mercy on me. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
All flaming with love for God, Saint Elisaveto, you were not afraid when you came to the monastery you created, crazy people who want to execute an unjust judgment on you. You, saved by the Lord, then escaped death, praying for the admonition and enlightenment of the unreasonable and the erring, singing to God in thanksgiving: Alleluia.
Vetius human lips cannot adequately praise the fortress of your love in the days of troubles and great misfortunes that have bypassed our fatherland, when you did not want to leave Russia and the monastery you created, sisters for the Orthodox faith even to death stand encouraging. We praise thee with love: Rejoice, thou who didst love our land, rejoice, glorified by the people of Russia with love. Rejoice, teaching us to protect ourselves with the shield of faith in the battle with the enemy; Rejoice, strengthening the determination of the Lord to follow the way of the cross in us. Rejoice, sisters of the Abode of Mercy who have established in faith and hope; Rejoice, thou who instructed them to the feat of martyrdom for Christ. Rejoice, you who have been worthy to partake of the passion of Christ; Rejoice, in the ascetic labor of confession, the people of Russia affirm. Rejoice, thou who didst save me from the pit of perdition; Rejoice, helper, protector and protector of your abode and the city of Moscow. Rejoice, sacrificial love, teaching us eternally; Rejoice, thou who entered into the joy of thy Lord. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
Seeking a saving feat, Saint Elizabeth, with joy thanked God, as if you were worthy to bear His cross. Even so, your faith asks for victory, when, ascending to Golgotha, you incessantly proclaimed: “Glory to God for everything!” Beg, O our mother, that the Lord grant us to acquire wisdom and strength for the right faith, even to death, stand and sing to Him with one mouth and one heart: Alleluia.
The invincible wall and the intercession of the country of Russia was granted the holy icon of God to Mother Sovereign, Yuzhe received Saint Elisaveto in the Abode of Mercy, as a sign of victory over the world-rulers of the darkness of this age. For this reason, we, having placed all our hope in the Sovereign Lady of our homeland, praise you as a true servant and obedient of the Most Pure Mother of the Lord: Rejoice, filled with the grace and power of God; Rejoice, thou who didst choose the good part, for it shall not be taken away from thee. Rejoice, imitating the Mother of God in meekness and humility; Rejoice, wise gospel virgin, who gathered the oil of grace. Rejoice, reverent worshiper of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Rejoice, at Her Throne unceasingly praying for us. Rejoice, having shown us the image of self-sacrifice; Rejoice, teaching us to bear each other's burdens. Rejoice, having entered the Kingdom of Heaven through earthly sorrows and sufferings; Rejoice, thou who teaches all love and patience in suffering for the sake of the Lord. Rejoice, having lived like an angel on earth; Rejoice, having inherited the crown of glory in Heaven. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
Thou, holy Elisaveto, offered up the prayerful singing of the Mother of God on the day of the feast of the Iberian icon of Her, when she took the wicked and cast her into prison. You gave thanks to Christ our God, who gave you not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, in the bonds of prison singing to Him: Alleluia.
The light of the Divine Hosya thee, the passion-bearer of the holy princess Elisaveto, is coupled with the venerable martyr Barbara, your sister in Christ, and with other eminent martyrs, always thrown into a deep ditch being, you obligated the wounds of the great prince John, you eased the suffering of the dying, singing sacred hymns, Thou didst pray for those who killed thee: “Father, let them go, for they do not know what they are doing.” Heal the wounds of our souls, O our mother, and with love let us sing to you: Rejoice, foretelling your martyrdom; Rejoice, royal passion-bearer. Rejoice, on the day of the remembrance of St. Sergius, let us grow into Christ, having communed; Rejoice, strengthened by the power of God in their suffering. Rejoice, for your tormentors, imitating Christ, praying; Rejoice, until your very death, your song sang to God. Rejoice, having watered our land with your blood; Rejoice, numbered among the host of the New Martyrs of Russia. Rejoice, for thou hast communed with the face of reverend and righteous women; Rejoice, worthy co-heir of the holy noble princesses of the Russian land. Rejoice, undefiled, favorable sacrifice offered to God; Rejoice, with all the saints of our land, our triumphant. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
Vessels full of grace, your honorable relics appear, the holy martyrs Elisabeth and Barbara, who want to save them from desecration and dishonor, pious people from Russia brought to the holy city of Jerusalem and buried Gethsemane on Mount Eleon, who come to them bless you, singing to God, wondrous in His saints: Alleluia.
The church of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem is filled with heavenly light and a wonderful fragrance when the coffin with the body of Grand Duchess Elizabeth is opened. At the same time, now the Church of the Orthodox children all rejoice and rejoice in the Lord, flowing to the race of your relics, the venerable martyr Elisaveto, sharpening miracles to all believers, and thanking the Lord who glorified you, they sing: Rejoice, for your relics, brought to the holy city of Jerusalem, prospered with incorruption; Rejoice, having spiritually united the Holy Land with the Russian land with your relics. Rejoice, having gladdened the Russian Church with the manifestation of your relics; Rejoice, for you spiritually strengthened the Russian people who are in dispersion. Rejoice, buried at the tomb of the Lord; Rejoice, in the church of the holy myrrh-bearing wife Mary Magdalene, reposed. Rejoice, for your relics heal all kinds of sorrows and illnesses; Rejoice, witness of eternity in temporary life. Rejoice, having united the crown of virtues in yourself; Rejoice, glorified by the inscrutable destinies of God. Rejoice, blessed inhabitant of Jerusalem on high; Rejoice, guide to the Heavenly Jerusalem for all of us. Rejoice, holy martyr Elisaveto, beautifully the Russian Church, worthy of being the bride of Christ.
O great martyr, our adornment and joy to Russian wives, gracious Princess Elisaveto, accept the sigh of our hearts, brought to you with love, and with your intercession to the Lord, strengthen the spirit of right faith and piety in us, strengthen us in virtue and mercy, help the cross of sorrows with bear with patience and hope, save our people in love and harmony, may we be honored to enter into the joy of the Lord, with the Angels and all the saints singing to Him: Alleluia.
(This kontakion is read three times, then ikos 1 and kontakion 1)
O Holy New Martyrs of Russia, Grand Duchess Elisaveto and her sister, the most honorable nun Varvaro, who have passed away in many torments in many torments, having fulfilled the gospel commandments by deed in the Abode of Mercy, for the sake of the Orthodox faith, striving to death in these last times, and good fruit in the patience of the passions of Christ brought! Pray to Him, as the conqueror of death, may he establish the Russian Orthodox Church and our fatherland, redeemed by the blood and suffering of the new martyrs, and not give our property to the enemy of Russia to plunder. Arm yourself against us, this crafty enemy, although destroy us in internecine wars, sorrows, unbearable sorrows, illnesses, needs and fierce troubles. Beg the Lord to put down all their feeble audacity; Strengthen faith in the hearts of Russian people, and when the time comes for us to test, we will accept the gift of courage with your prayers, rejecting ourselves and taking up our cross, we will follow Christ, crucifying our flesh with passions and lusts. Save us from all evil, sanctify the paths of our life, grant unfeigned repentance, silence and peace to our souls, ask the Lord for all of us bitter ordeals and eternal torment to be delivered and the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven to be with all the saints who have pleased God from the ages, but rejoicingly give praise , honor and worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
The new edition was approved by the Holy Synod
Russian Orthodox Church
July 29, 2017 (Journal No. 65)
Chosen from the royal family, the daughter of the Russian Church, with abundant love and mercy to God and good service to your neighbors, for faith in Christ our Lord, laying down your soul and adorned with the crown of Christ's glory, praising your deeds and suffering with love
Protected by angelic care and taught by your piety, in labors, prayers and alms from childhood, you showed the image of a virtuous life. At the end of your mother and close relatives, the way of the cross, commanded by the Lord, thou didst understand. The same, marveling at your choice from your youth, with tenderness we cry out to you:
Rejoice, thou who didst love Christ from youth;
Rejoice, in your youth you received the beginnings of piety.
Rejoice, chosen lamb of Christ;
Rejoice, having perceived the fear of God in your soul.
Rejoice, thou who inherited thy mother's virtues;
Rejoice, thou who taught diligence and mercy to her.
Rejoice, affirmed by the heart in God;
Rejoice, having carried your cross with faith and hope.
Rejoice, fragrant flowers of the lands of your fatherland;
Rejoice, thou who gladdened Heaven with the purity of thy life.
Rejoice, chosen to serve the suffering God;
Rejoice, warm prayer book for us before the Lord.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
The Lord has seen the good heart of your desire, as if you desired to lead your life in piety and purity, the eyes of your heart are directed to the heavenly beauty and the love of God is warmed in yourself. With your prayers, enlighten our hearts with the same love, so that with you we will sing to God: Alleluia.
The mind is enlightened by the possessions and having placed all the hope in God, you were not afraid, holy Elisaveto, to leave your father’s house and settle in the new Fatherland, when you were married to the Russian Grand Duke Sergius. We call out to you with love:
Rejoice, having come from the West to the East;
Rejoice, having found unity with the Church in the new Fatherland.
Rejoice, thou who desired to fulfill the commandments of the Lord;
Rejoice, inflaming jealousy in our hearts according to God.
Rejoice, thou who hast lived chastely in marriage;
Rejoice, instructing us in good deeds.
Rejoice, noble princess, who faithfully served our country;
Rejoice, wise helper to your spouse in good deeds.
Rejoice, protector of pious families;
Rejoice, warming us with maternal love.
Rejoice, surprising everyone with the beauty of your soul and body;
Rejoice, adornment of the whole Christian world.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Wise by the power of Divine grace unto salvation, thou hast known the true faith, merciful princess Elisaveto. Meanwhile, staying in the Holy Land and in the desire of your heart to accept Orthodoxy, having strengthened, you sang to the God who enlightened you: Alleluia.
If you have a heart that is kinder to the earth, you have accepted the Orthodox faith comfortably, and you have been blessed with Holy Chrismation and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ on the feast of the Resurrection of the righteous Lazarus. We, glorifying your enlightenment by the grace of the Holy Spirit, magnify you:
Rejoice, having renounced delusions;
Rejoice, you who accepted the Orthodox faith.
Rejoice, sealed by the anointing of the Holy Spirit;
Rejoice, reunited with the true Church.
Rejoice, holy righteous Elizabeth of the same name;
Rejoice, thou who diligently imitated her in labors.
Rejoice, showing the way to the true faith to the sons of the West;
Rejoice, revered by the pious people of Russia with love.
Rejoice, merciful mother, having found mercy from the Master and the Lord;
Rejoice, and earnestly praying for our mercy.
Rejoice, thou who didst bear the Divine light in thy heart;
Rejoice, thou who illumines the darkness of our life with the light of Christ's commandments.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
The storm of an enemy's enemy of the genus Humanchkago does not smash your saint, becoming a boring spouse of your sudden death from murderers of grieving perception, Jedsefully compassioned, the courage and Christian love appeared, about repentance of the killers praying, did the Song: Aliluia.
Hearing Russian people about the murder of your husband, I pray to God, may He strengthen you, Saint Elisabeth, in bearing sowing sorrow. But you, moved by gospel love, visited the murderer in prison, urging him to repentance and offering prayers to the Lord for his forgiveness. For this sake, accept from us, unworthy, this praise:
Rejoice, thou who didst fulfill the commandment of Christ about love for the enemy;
Rejoice, thou who evangelically forgave the murderer of thy husband.
Rejoice, having endured many sorrows and troubles;
Rejoice, helping us in sorrows and sorrows.
Rejoice, instructing those who have gone astray on the path of truth and repentance;
Rejoice, interceding warmly for the pardon of sinners.
Rejoice, in the darkness of sorrows with the light of hope illuminating us;
Rejoice, guiding star of salvation to all who hope.
Rejoice, bringing our petrified hearts to tenderness;
Rejoice, thou who implores Christ for all our affliction.
Rejoice, thou who overcame the wickedness of the world with goodness;
Rejoice, having shown true love to the people of Russia.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
The divine star appeared to you in the lands of Russia, Saint Elisaveto, when you changed wealth and glory as dust, in the hand of God you betrayed your life, the Cross of the Lord I take out before the eyes of the property. Meanwhile, having pleased God with prayer and deeds of mercy, today in joy to Him sing: Alleluia.
Vidovevsa Mai People of the BogospasaMago Grada Moscow Warrant Organizer Residents of Mercy, referring to Yako Monszy's wife, the Virgin and the old people of the Russian Ocharity Zede is a quiet and disbelieving refuge, imitatively Holy Wam Mironas Marfa and Mary in serving God and Middle. For this sake, glorifying you, we say:
Rejoice, in the midst of the glory of the earth, you comprehended the vanity of worldly life;
Rejoice, thou who didst distribute thy property, and loved the poverty of Christ.
Rejoice, having adorned the city of Moscow with a wondrous abode;
Rejoice, having received the good yoke of Christ on the frame.
Rejoice, you who imitated the service of the holy myrrh-bearing women;
Rejoice, having brought many women to the abode of mercy.
Rejoice, wise steward for the salvation of your sisters;
Rejoice, vigilant guardian of your abode.
Rejoice, strengthening us in bodily and spiritual labors;
Rejoice, showing us the way from earth to Heaven.
Rejoice, luminary of mercy, ascended over the city of Moscow;
Rejoice, patroness of all who serve your neighbor.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
You were a preacher of Divine love and inexhaustible mercy in our land, Saint Elisaveto, piety zealot, in the hearts of the Russian people, love for the Lord and mercy for the brethren in need warming. In the same way, we, following your covenant, together with the orphans and the poor, will sing to God: Alleluia.
You shone with the light of monastic life in the country of Russia, our reverend mother Elisaveto, in fasting and prayer, in night vigils and strict abstinence, you taught the piety and humility of the sister of your monastery. We, by you, instruct you on the path of a narrow spiritual feat, we bless you:
Rejoice, thou who didst choose the path of an equal-angelic life;
Rejoice, keeping the purity of your heart in chastity.
Rejoice, in non-acquisitiveness you showed the height of your spirit;
Rejoice, having served your neighbors in obedience to God.
Rejoice, wise princess and nun, most honored;
Rejoice, image of Christian wives.
Rejoice, having pleased God with fasting, vigil and unceasing prayers;
Rejoice, awakening us from the sleep of our sinful soul.
Rejoice, for the fulfillment of the commandment about love for God and neighbors, instructing everyone;
Rejoice, teaching us warm prayer.
Rejoice, teacher of nuns and companion of an angel;
Rejoice, glorified in the host of holy women in Heaven.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
By the will of the Lord, the Holy Elisaveto, the holy Elisaveto, for every hour, had taken squeeze his will, to the advice of the deserted elders of Gabriel and Alexy flowering and the guys of a chronicle in the abundant, with the wise instructions of the presence of a good one to the abode of mercy of mercy.
The Lord showed a new miracle, always grant you, Saint Elisabeth, grace and strength to heal the weak, console the hopeless, admonish the erring. But you, giving relief and joy with love, humbly served the orphans, the forgotten and the weak. In the same way, heal us, the poor, with your prayer from the passions of sin, and be our steward for salvation, let us thankfully sing to you:
Rejoice, having lived in obedience as a spiritual father and a great elder;
Rejoice, Great Mother named by Russian people.
Rejoice, having acquired the gift of a weak soul to heal from God;
Rejoice, healer of those who are sick from the bed of sickness.
Rejoice, kindly guardian of widows and orphans;
Rejoice, fast intercessor for those who are hungry and those in trouble.
Rejoice, leaving not all the contemptible and outcast;
Rejoice, saving many souls from the darkness of sin and perdition.
Rejoice, wise comforter who desponds in sorrow and circumstances;
Rejoice, strengthening us, afflicted by illnesses and infirmities.
Rejoice, intercessor of the repentant sinner before the Lord;
Rejoice, God-given helper of the people of Russia.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Strange and terrible vision of Javi Lord by the monastery of Mercy Mercy and Mitrofan, you, about Holy Mati, this vision of expressing, proceeded by the Esi, Yako, and the Terrible Test is coming to the Church of the Russian and Power: Shrine Mounting, Brand Marties, Troubles, Martyr royal families; but God will have mercy on Russia through the prayers of her saints, now with them you sing to God: Alleluia.
We are enlightened by all the grace of God, Saint Elisaveto, with our mental eyes the angry visitation of God to our country is ripe and prophesied thou, as if many martyrs and confessors will shine in the lands of Russia. In the same way, all the hope in the Mother of God to put the people of Russia called upon you, believers, as if by Her prayers our land will be arranged and blessed. But we, the leader of your prophecy about the fate of our fatherland, our existence, appease you:
Rejoice, thou who didst raise the temple of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in the monastery;
Rejoice, thou who betrayed thy abode in the hands of the Most Pure Mother.
Rejoice, organizer of holy and splendid temples;
Rejoice, unsleeping prayer to the Theotokos.
Rejoice, thou who adorned the temples of God with vessels and robes;
Rejoice, for your heart has become the abode of the Holy Spirit.
Rejoice, having faithfully served the Lord and His Mother with your life;
Rejoice, thou who teachest us to place all hope in God.
Rejoice, meekness, silence and peace to our hearts;
Rejoice, brightly adorned with grace-filled gifts.
Rejoice, courageously endured sorrow and slander;
Rejoice, having prepared for yourself a sacrifice to God.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
All the love for God is flaming, holy Elisaveto, you were not afraid when the godless people came to your monastery, wanting to execute an unjust judgment on you. But you, saved by the Lord, then escaped death, praying for the admonition and enlightenment of the unreasonable and the erring, singing to God in thanksgiving: Alleluia.
Vetiy of human lips will not be able to worthily praise the fortress of your love in the days of troubles and great misfortunes that befell our Fatherland, when you did not want to leave Russia and the monastery you created, the sisters stood for the Orthodox faith. We praise you with love:
Rejoice, thou who didst love our land;
Rejoice, glorified with love from Orthodox people.
Rejoice, teaching us to protect ourselves with the shield of faith;
Rejoice, strengthening the desire to follow the way of the Cross in us.
Rejoice, thou who didst save many from the pit of perdition;
Rejoice, protector and protector of your abode and city of Moscow.
Rejoice, sisters of the monastery of mercy in faith and hopes established;
Rejoice, thou who instructed them in the feat of martyrdom for Christ.
Rejoice, you who have been worthy to partake of the passion of Christ;
Rejoice, thou who affirmest the faithful in the ascetic labor of confession.
Rejoice, sacrificial love, teaching us eternally;
Rejoice, thou who didst enter into the joy of thy Lord.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Seeking a saving feat, Saint Elizabeth, with joy you thanked God, as if you were able to bear His cross. Even so, your faith prayed for victory, when, ascending to your Golgotha, you unceasingly proclaimed: Glory to God for all! Pray, O our mother, that the Lord grant us to acquire wisdom and strength for the right faith, even to death stand and sing to Him with one mouth and one heart: Alleluia.
An invincible wall and an intercession for our country was granted the holy icon of God to the Sovereign Mother, now you received it in the Abode of Mercy, Saint Elisabeth, as a sign of victory over the rulers of the darkness of this world. For this reason, we, having placed all our hope in the Sovereign Lady, we praise you as a true servant and novice of the Most Pure Mother of the Lord:
Rejoice, full of the grace and power of God;
Rejoice, you who have chosen the good part, I will not be taken away from you.
Rejoice, imitating the Mother of God in meekness and humility;
Rejoice, for you are a wise gospel virgin who gathered the oil of grace.
Rejoice, reverent servant of the Most Holy Theotokos;
Rejoice, at the Throne of Her Son there is an unceasing prayer book.
Rejoice, having shown us the image of selflessness;
Rejoice, thou who teachest to bear each other's burdens.
Rejoice, having ascended with sorrow and tears into the Kingdom of Heaven;
Rejoice, thou who teachest love and patience in the suffering of those who exist.
Rejoice, you who lived like an angel on earth;
Rejoice, thou who didst improve the crown of glory in Heaven.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Thou, holy Elisaveto, lifted up the singing of prayer to the Mother of God on the day of the feast of the Iberian icon of Her, when you took the wicked and threw you into prison. But you gave thanks to Christ our God, who gave you not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, in prison chains singing to Him: Alleluia.
The light of God's light to thee, the passion-bearer of the holy princess Elisaveto, is coupled with the venerable martyr Barbara, your sister in Christ, and with other eminent martyrs, always casting you into a deep pit of wickedness. But you, the wounds of the Grand Duke John, are obligatory and the suffering of your neighbors alleviate, you sang the holy hymns, praying for the killers: Father, let them go, they don’t know what they are doing. Heal the wounds of our souls, reverend mother, and with love we sing to you:
Rejoice, foretelling your martyr's death;
Rejoice, great-named passion-bearer.
Rejoice, partaker of the Passion of Christ;
Rejoice, strengthened by the power of God in their sufferings.
Rejoice, for your tormentors, imitating Christ, praying;
Rejoice, until your very death you sang a song to God.
Rejoice, having watered the Russian land with your blood;
Rejoice, counted among the host of new martyrs.
Rejoice, for you have shared the face of holy and righteous women;
Rejoice, worthy co-heir of the holy noble princesses of the Russian land.
Rejoice, undefiled and acceptable sacrifice offered to God;
Rejoice, our triumphant land with all the saints.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Grace exude assessed by the power of your own, the sodes of the Presovka Martyr Elisaveto and Varvaro, by the rules and hackishness of saving, piety from Russia in Holy Grad Jerusalem brought and in the weight of Grevyimaniyshi Pogrebosh, the idea of insonyus : Alleluia.
The church of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem was filled with heavenly light and a wonderful fragrance, when the coffin with your body was opened. In the same place, now in the Church, the Orthodox children all rejoice and rejoice in the Lord, flowing to the miraculous race of your relics, the venerable martyr Elisabeth, and thanking the Lord who glorified you, they sing:
Rejoice, for your relics flourished with imperishability;
Rejoice, you brought to the Holy Land with a body.
Rejoice, buried in the garden of the Lord's supplication;
Rejoice, repose in the temple of the holy myrrh-bearing.
Rejoice, having gladdened the Russian Church with the manifestation of your relics;
Rejoice, having spiritually strengthened the Russian people who are in the dispersion.
Rejoice, for the Lord, through your might, heals all sorrows and illnesses;
Rejoice, quiet haven floating on the sea of life.
Rejoice, having gathered the crown of virtues;
Rejoice, crowned with glory and honor from God.
Rejoice, blessed inhabitant of Jerusalem on high;
Rejoice, guide to the Heavenly Jerusalem for all of us.
Rejoice, blessed Princess Elisaveto, reverend martyr.
Oh, the great passionerpice, wives of the Russian decoration and joy, the princess is blinding Elisaveto, and with the heart of the sinking of our heart, with the love of you, and your concern to the Lord, the right of the right of faith and piety in us strengthened, in virtues and mercy. Approve bear with patience and hope, save our people in love and harmony, may we be honored to enter into the joy of the Lord, with the angels and all the saints singing to Him: Alleluia.
Oh, Grand Duchess, Holy Martyr Elisaveto, Russian praise, glorious decoration of the city of Moscow and sacred property of the Holy Land!
You, in the days of your life, have acquired faith, hope, love without falsehood, with mercy to those who suffer, you shone brightly. Having shown the image of humility to your neighbors with patience of sorrows and temptations, you have crowned your life with exile and suffering, and now you are in the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is for the sake of Molim, the saint passerpice, your prayers give us a humble and rechargeable, mercy of the unquidental, the ministry of the sacrificial, patience is unshakable, the courage to the grief and the circumstances are unrelaxing, in the terrible hour, the deadly hope for the Lord of Our Jesus Christ, glory, honor and worship with His Beginningless Father, and His Most Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.
Oh, holy new martyrs of the Russian Church, Grand Duchess Elisaveto and the most honorable nun Varvaro, who did the Gospel commandments by deed in the monastery of mercy, labored to death for the sake of the Orthodox faith and brought good fruit in the patience of Christ's passion! Pray to Him, as the conqueror of death, may He establish the Russian Orthodox Church and our Fatherland. Behold, the crafty enemy is arming himself against us, although he will destroy us in internecine wars, sorrows, sorrows, illnesses, needs and fierce troubles. Beg the Lord to put down all his feeble insolence; Strengthen faith in the hearts of Orthodox people, but give us the gift of courage, yes, denying ourselves and taking up our cross, let us follow Christ, crucifying our flesh with passions and lusts. Save us from all sland of evil, sanctifying our life, give repentance of non-estate, silence and peace with our souls, ask the Lord to all of the bitter and eternal flour to get rid of the heaven to the heir to life with all the saints, from the century to God, yes, reraded with praise , honor and worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
The memory of the Monk Martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Nun Varvara is celebrated on July 5 (18) and on the day of their martyrdom and the Synod of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
The father did not bless his daughter to change her faith, but she could no longer change her mind and through the sacrament of Confirmation she became Orthodox. On June 3 (15), 1884, in the Court Cathedral of the Winter Palace, she married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of the Russian Emperor Alexander III, as announced by the Supreme Manifesto. The Orthodox marriage was performed by the court protopresbyter John Yanyshev; crowns were held by Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, Grand Dukes Alexei and Pavel Alexandrovich, Dmitry Konstantinovich, Peter Nikolaevich, Mikhail and Georgy Mikhailovich; then, in the Alexander Hall, the pastor of the church of St. Anna also performed a service according to the Lutheran rite. The husband was Elizabeth and a cousin uncle (a common ancestor - Wilhelmina of Baden), and a fourth cousin (a common great-great-grandfather - the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II). The couple settled in the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace bought by Sergei Alexandrovich (the palace became known as Sergievsky), spending their honeymoon in the Ilyinsky estate near Moscow, where they also lived later. At her insistence, a hospital was set up in Ilyinsky, fairs were periodically held in favor of the peasants. Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna perfectly mastered the Russian language, spoke it almost without an accent. While still professing Protestantism, she attended Orthodox services. In 1888, together with her husband, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As the wife of the Moscow governor-general (Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed to this post in 1891), in 1892 she organized the Elizabethan Charitable Society, established in order to "see the legitimate babies of the poorest mothers, hitherto placed, although without any right, in the Moscow Educational house, under the guise of illegal. The activities of the society first took place in Moscow, and then spread to the entire Moscow province. Elisabeth committees were formed at all Moscow church parishes and in all county towns of the Moscow province. In addition, Elisaveta Feodorovna headed the Ladies' Committee of the Red Cross, and after the death of her husband, she was appointed chairman of the Moscow Department of the Red Cross. Sergei Alexandrovich and Elisaveta Feodorovna had no children of their own, but they raised the children of Sergei Alexandrovich's brother, Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, Maria and Dmitry, whose mother died in childbirth. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Elisaveta Feodorovna organized a Special Committee for Assistance to Soldiers, under which 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, and camp churches were formed. In the recently published letters of Elizabeth Feodorovna to Nicholas II, the Grand Duchess appears as a supporter of the most stringent and decisive measures against any freethinking in general and revolutionary terrorism in particular. “Is it really impossible to judge these animals by a field court?” - she asked the emperor in a letter written in 1902 shortly after the assassination of Sipyagin (D.S. Sipyagin - The Minister of the Interior was killed in 1902 by a member of the AKP BO Stepan Balmashev. Balmashev (involved in the terror of Gershuni), acquired a military uniform and, introducing himself adjutant of one of the Grand Dukes, while handing over the package, he shot at the minister. Sipyagin was mortally wounded in the stomach and neck. Balmashev was executed), and she herself answered the question: - “Everything must be done to prevent them from turning into heroes ... to kill them in their desire to risk their lives and commit such crimes (I believe 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 do not pity anyone ”On February 4, 1905, her husband was killed by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev, who threw a hand bomb at him. Elisaveta Feodorovna was the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy and with her own hands collected parts of the body of her beloved husband, scattered by the explosion. I took this tragedy hard. The Greek Queen Olga Konstantinovna, cousin of the murdered Sergei Alexandrovich, wrote: “This is a wonderful, holy woman - she is apparently worthy of a heavy cross that lifts her higher and higher!” On the third day after the death of the Grand Duke, she went to prison to the killer in the hope that he would repent, she conveyed forgiveness to him on behalf of Sergei Alexandrovich, left him the Gospel. To the words of Kalyaev: “I didn’t 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 didn’t dare touch him,” Elisaveta Feodorovna replied: “And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him?". Despite the fact that the killer did not repent, the Grand Duchess filed a petition for pardon to Nicholas II, which he rejected. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna replaced him as Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society and served in this position from 1905 to 1917. Elisaveta Feodorovna decided to devote all her strength to serving Christ and her neighbors. She bought a plot of land on Bolshaya Ordynka and in 1909 opened the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent there, naming it in honor of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. There are two temples, a hospital, a pharmacy with free medicines for the poor, an orphanage and a school on the site. A year later, the nuns of the monastery were consecrated to the title of cross sisters of love and mercy, and Elisaveta Feodorovna was elevated to the rank of abbess. She said goodbye to secular life without regret, saying to the sisters of the convent: "I leave the brilliant world, but together with all of you I ascend to a greater world - to the world of the poor and suffering." During the First World War, the Grand Duchess actively supported the front: she helped form ambulance trains, sent medicines and field churches to the soldiers. After the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, she wrote: “I felt deep pity for Russia and its children, who currently do not know what they are doing. Isn't this a sick child whom we love a hundred times more during his illness, and not when he is cheerful and healthy? I would like to bear his suffering, to help him. Holy Russia cannot perish. But Great Russia, alas, is no more. We must direct our thoughts to the Kingdom of Heaven and say with humility: “Thy will be done.”
Novo-Tikhvinsky Monastery, where Elizaveta Feodorovna was kept on the eve of her death
Most often, icon painters depict the holy venerable martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna standing; her right hand is turned to us, in the left is a miniature copy of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Sometimes, in the right hand of St. Elizabeth, a cross is depicted (a symbol of martyrdom for the faith since the time of the first Christians); in the left - a rosary. Also, traditionally, the Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna is written on icons together with the nun Varvara - “Reverend Martyrs Barbara and Elisaveta Alapaevsky”. Behind the shoulders of the martyrs is the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery; at their feet is the shaft of the mine into which they were thrown by the executioners. Another icon-painting plot is "The Murder of the Martyr Elizabeth and others like her." The Red Army soldiers are under escort the Grand Duchess Elisaveta, the nun Varvara and other Alapaevsky prisoners in order to throw them into the mine. In the mine, the icon depicts the face of St. Sergius of Radonezh: the execution took place on the day of finding his relics on July 18. 
According to the plan of Elisaveta Feodorovna, the monastery was supposed to provide comprehensive, spiritual, educational and medical assistance to those in need, who were often not only given food and clothing, but were helped in finding employment, 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. A hospital, an excellent outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, where part of the medicines were given free of charge, a shelter, a free canteen, and many other institutions were created in the monastery. Educational lectures and talks, meetings of the Palestinian Society, the Geographical Society, spiritual readings and other events were held in the Intercession Church of the monastery. Having settled in the monastery, Elisaveta Feodorovna led an ascetic life: 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. Together with her cell-attendant Varvara Yakovleva, Elisaveta Feodorovna often visited Khitrov Market, a place of attraction for the Moscow poor. Here, mother found homeless children and gave them to city shelters. All Khitrovka respectfully called the Grand Duchess "Sister Elizabeth" or "Mother". She maintained relations with a number of well-known elders of that time: Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov) (Eleazar Hermitage), Schemagumen German (Gomzin) and Hieroschemamonk Alexy (Soloviev) (Elders of the Zosima Hermitage). Elisaveta Feodorovna did not accept monastic vows. During the First World War, she actively took care of helping the Russian army, including wounded soldiers. Then she tried to help the prisoners of war, with whom hospitals were overcrowded and, as a result, she was accused of aiding the Germans. With her participation, at the beginning of 1915, a workshop was organized to assemble prostheses from ready-made parts, obtained in most of the St. Petersburg military medical manufacturing plant, where there was a special prosthetic workshop. Until 1914, this branch of industry did not develop in Russia. Funds for the equipment of the workshop, located in private ownership on Trubnikovsky Lane in house No. 9, were collected from donations. As hostilities developed, the need to increase the production of artificial limbs increased and the Committee of the Grand Duchess moved production along Maronovsky Lane, 9. Realizing the social significance of this area, with the personal participation of Elisaveta Feodorovna, in 1916, work began on the design and construction of the first in Moscow in Russian prosthetic plant, which is still engaged in the production of components for prostheses.
Elisaveta Feodorovna wanted to open branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia, but her plans were not destined to come true. The First World War began, with the blessing of the mother, the sisters of the monastery worked in field hospitals. The revolutionary events affected all members of the Romanov dynasty, even the Grand Duchess Elisabeth, whom all of Moscow loved. Shortly after the February Revolution, an armed crowd with red flags came to arrest the abbess of the monastery - "a German spy who keeps weapons in the monastery." The monastery was searched; after the crowd left, Elisaveta Feodorovna said to the sisters: "Obviously, we are still unworthy of the martyr's crown." After the October Revolution of 1917, at first the convent was not disturbed, and food and medicine were even brought to the sisters. Arrests began later. In 1918, Elisaveta Feodorovna was taken into custody. The Marfo-Mariinsky Convent existed until 1926. Some sisters were sent into exile, others united in a community and created a small vegetable garden in the Tver region. Two years later, a cinema was opened in the Intercession Church, and then a house of health education was located there. A statue of Stalin was placed in the altar. After the Great Patriotic War, the State Art Restoration Workshops settled in the cathedral of the monastery, the rest of the premises were occupied by a polyclinic and laboratories of the All-Union Institute of Mineral Raw Materials. In 1992, the territory of the monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now the monastery lives according to the charter created by Elisaveta Feodorovna. The residents are trained at the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy, help those in need, work in the newly opened orphanage on Bolshaya Ordynka, a charity canteen, a patronage service, a gymnasium and a cultural and educational center.
Statues of 20th-century martyrs on the west façade of Westminster Abbey: Maximilian Kolbe, Manche Macemola, Gianani Luvum, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi and Wang Zhiming
In 2004-2005, the relics of the New Martyrs were in Russia, the CIS countries and the Baltic States, where more than 7 million people bowed to them. According to Patriarch Alexy II, "long queues of believers to the relics of the holy new martyrs are another symbol of Russia's repentance for the sins of hard times, the country's return to its original historical path." Then the relics were returned to Jerusalem.
Elizabeth Feodorovna had been thinking about accepting Orthodoxy ever since she became the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. But the German princess was worried that this step would be a blow to her family, faithful to Protestantism. Especially for his father, the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV. Only in 1891 did the princess write a letter to her father:
“… Dear Papa, I want to say something to you and I beg you to give your blessing. You must have noticed the deep reverence I have for the religion here since you were last here over a year and a half ago. 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 can I find all the real and strong faith in God that a person must have in order to be a good Christian. It would be a sin to remain the way I am now - to belong to the same church in form and for the outside world, but within myself to pray and believe the way my husband does. You cannot imagine how kind he was that he never tried to force me by any means, leaving it all entirely to my conscience. He knows what a serious step this is, and that one must be absolutely sure before deciding on it. I would have done it even before, it only tormented me that by doing this I bring you pain. But you, don't you understand, my dear Papa? You know me so well, you must see that I decided to take this step only out of deep faith and that I feel that I must appear before God with a pure and believing heart. How simple it would be to remain as it is now, but then how hypocritical, how false that 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". I so much wish to partake of the Holy Mysteries on Easter with my husband. It may seem sudden to you, but I've been thinking about it for so long, and now, finally, I can't put it off. My conscience won't let me. Please, please, upon receipt of these lines, forgive your daughter if she causes you pain. But isn't faith in God and religion one of the main comforts of this world? Please wire me just one line when you receive this letter. God bless you. It will be such a comfort to me because I know there will be many awkward moments as no one will understand this step. I only ask for a small affectionate letter.
The father did not bless his daughter to change her faith, but she could no longer change her mind and through the sacrament of Confirmation she became Orthodox. On June 3 (15), 1884, in the Court Cathedral of the Winter Palace, she married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of the Russian Emperor Alexander III, as announced by the Supreme Manifesto. The Orthodox marriage was performed by the court protopresbyter John Yanyshev; crowns were held by Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, Grand Dukes Alexei and Pavel Alexandrovich, Dmitry Konstantinovich, Peter Nikolaevich, Mikhail and Georgy Mikhailovich; then, in the Alexander Hall, the pastor of the church of St. Anna also performed a service according to the Lutheran rite. The husband was Elizabeth and a cousin uncle (a common ancestor - Wilhelmina of Baden), and a fourth cousin (a common great-great-grandfather - the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II). The couple settled in the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace bought by Sergei Alexandrovich (the palace became known as Sergievsky), spending their honeymoon in the Ilyinsky estate near Moscow, where they also lived later. At her insistence, a hospital was set up in Ilyinsky, fairs were periodically held in favor of the peasants. Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna perfectly mastered the Russian language, spoke it almost without an accent. While still professing Protestantism, she attended Orthodox services. In 1888, together with her husband, she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As the wife of the Moscow governor-general (Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was appointed to this post in 1891), in 1892 she organized the Elizabethan Charitable Society, established in order to "see the legitimate babies of the poorest mothers, hitherto placed, although without any right, in the Moscow Educational house, under the guise of illegal. The activities of the society first took place in Moscow, and then spread to the entire Moscow province. Elisabeth committees were formed at all Moscow church parishes and in all county towns of the Moscow province. In addition, Elisaveta Feodorovna headed the Ladies' Committee of the Red Cross, and after the death of her husband, she was appointed chairman of the Moscow Department of the Red Cross. Sergei Alexandrovich and Elisaveta Feodorovna had no children of their own, but they raised the children of Sergei Alexandrovich's brother, Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, Maria and Dmitry, whose mother died in childbirth. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Elisaveta Feodorovna organized a Special Committee for Assistance to Soldiers, under which 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, and camp churches were formed. In the recently published letters of Elizabeth Feodorovna to Nicholas II, the Grand Duchess appears as a supporter of the most stringent and decisive measures against any freethinking in general and revolutionary terrorism in particular. “Is it really impossible to judge these animals by a field court?” - she asked the emperor in a letter written in 1902 shortly after the assassination of Sipyagin (D.S. Sipyagin - The Minister of the Interior was killed in 1902 by a member of the AKP BO Stepan Balmashev. Balmashev (involved in the terror of Gershuni), acquired a military uniform and, introducing himself adjutant of one of the Grand Dukes, while handing over the package, he shot at the minister. Sipyagin was mortally wounded in the stomach and neck. Balmashev was executed), and she herself answered the question: - “Everything must be done to prevent them from turning into heroes ... to kill them in their desire to risk their lives and commit such crimes (I believe 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 do not pity anyone ”On February 4, 1905, her husband was killed by terrorist Ivan Kalyaev, who threw a hand bomb at him. Elisaveta Feodorovna was the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy and with her own hands collected parts of the body of her beloved husband, scattered by the explosion. I took this tragedy hard. The Greek Queen Olga Konstantinovna, cousin of the murdered Sergei Alexandrovich, wrote: “This is a wonderful, holy woman - she is apparently worthy of a heavy cross that lifts her higher and higher!” On the third day after the death of the Grand Duke, she went to prison to the killer in the hope that he would repent, she conveyed forgiveness to him on behalf of Sergei Alexandrovich, left him the Gospel. To the words of Kalyaev: “I didn’t 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 didn’t dare touch him,” Elisaveta Feodorovna replied: “And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him?". Despite the fact that the killer did not repent, the Grand Duchess filed a petition for pardon to Nicholas II, which he rejected. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Feodorovna replaced him as Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society and served in this position from 1905 to 1917. Elisaveta Feodorovna decided to devote all her strength to serving Christ and her neighbors. She bought a plot of land on Bolshaya Ordynka and in 1909 opened the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent there, naming it in honor of the holy myrrh-bearing women Martha and Mary. There are two temples, a hospital, a pharmacy with free medicines for the poor, an orphanage and a school on the site. A year later, the nuns of the monastery were consecrated to the title of cross sisters of love and mercy, and Elisaveta Feodorovna was elevated to the rank of abbess. She said goodbye to secular life without regret, saying to the sisters of the convent: "I leave the brilliant world, but together with all of you I ascend to a greater world - to the world of the poor and suffering." During the First World War, the Grand Duchess actively supported the front: she helped form ambulance trains, sent medicines and field churches to the soldiers. After the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, she wrote: “I felt deep pity for Russia and its children, who currently do not know what they are doing. Isn't this a sick child whom we love a hundred times more during his illness, and not when he is cheerful and healthy? I would like to bear his suffering, to help him. Holy Russia cannot perish. But Great Russia, alas, is no more. We must direct our thoughts to the Kingdom of Heaven and say with humility: “Thy will be done.”
Novo-Tikhvinsky Monastery, where Elizaveta Feodorovna was kept on the eve of her death
Most often, icon painters depict the holy venerable martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna standing; her right hand is turned to us, in the left is a miniature copy of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. Sometimes, in the right hand of St. Elizabeth, a cross is depicted (a symbol of martyrdom for the faith since the time of the first Christians); in the left - a rosary. Also, traditionally, the Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna is written on icons together with the nun Varvara - “Reverend Martyrs Barbara and Elisaveta Alapaevsky”. Behind the shoulders of the martyrs is the Marfo-Mariinsky monastery; at their feet is the shaft of the mine into which they were thrown by the executioners. Another icon-painting plot is "The Murder of the Martyr Elizabeth and others like her." The Red Army soldiers are under escort the Grand Duchess Elisaveta, the nun Varvara and other Alapaevsky prisoners in order to throw them into the mine. In the mine, the icon depicts the face of St. Sergius of Radonezh: the execution took place on the day of finding his relics on July 18.
According to the plan of Elisaveta Feodorovna, the monastery was supposed to provide comprehensive, spiritual, educational and medical assistance to those in need, who were often not only given food and clothing, but were helped in finding employment, 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. A hospital, an excellent outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, where part of the medicines were given free of charge, a shelter, a free canteen, and many other institutions were created in the monastery. Educational lectures and talks, meetings of the Palestinian Society, the Geographical Society, spiritual readings and other events were held in the Intercession Church of the monastery. Having settled in the monastery, Elisaveta Feodorovna led an ascetic life: 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. Together with her cell-attendant Varvara Yakovleva, Elisaveta Feodorovna often visited Khitrov Market, a place of attraction for the Moscow poor. Here, mother found homeless children and gave them to city shelters. All Khitrovka respectfully called the Grand Duchess "Sister Elizabeth" or "Mother". She maintained relations with a number of well-known elders of that time: Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov) (Eleazar Hermitage), Schemagumen German (Gomzin) and Hieroschemamonk Alexy (Soloviev) (Elders of the Zosima Hermitage). Elisaveta Feodorovna did not accept monastic vows. During the First World War, she actively took care of helping the Russian army, including wounded soldiers. Then she tried to help the prisoners of war, with whom hospitals were overcrowded and, as a result, she was accused of aiding the Germans. With her participation, at the beginning of 1915, a workshop was organized to assemble prostheses from ready-made parts, obtained in most of the St. Petersburg military medical manufacturing plant, where there was a special prosthetic workshop. Until 1914, this branch of industry did not develop in Russia. Funds for the equipment of the workshop, located in private ownership on Trubnikovsky Lane in house No. 9, were collected from donations. As hostilities developed, the need to increase the production of artificial limbs increased and the Committee of the Grand Duchess moved production along Maronovsky Lane, 9. Realizing the social significance of this area, with the personal participation of Elisaveta Feodorovna, in 1916, work began on the design and construction of the first in Moscow in Russian prosthetic plant, which is still engaged in the production of components for prostheses.
Elisaveta Feodorovna wanted to open branches of the monastery in other cities of Russia, but her plans were not destined to come true. The First World War began, with the blessing of the mother, the sisters of the monastery worked in field hospitals. The revolutionary events affected all members of the Romanov dynasty, even the Grand Duchess Elisabeth, whom all of Moscow loved. Shortly after the February Revolution, an armed crowd with red flags came to arrest the abbess of the monastery - "a German spy who keeps weapons in the monastery." The monastery was searched; after the crowd left, Elisaveta Feodorovna said to the sisters: "Obviously, we are still unworthy of the martyr's crown." After the October Revolution of 1917, at first the convent was not disturbed, and food and medicine were even brought to the sisters. Arrests began later. In 1918, Elisaveta Feodorovna was taken into custody. The Marfo-Mariinsky Convent existed until 1926. Some sisters were sent into exile, others united in a community and created a small vegetable garden in the Tver region. Two years later, a cinema was opened in the Intercession Church, and then a house of health education was located there. A statue of Stalin was placed in the altar. After the Great Patriotic War, the State Art Restoration Workshops settled in the cathedral of the monastery, the rest of the premises were occupied by a polyclinic and laboratories of the All-Union Institute of Mineral Raw Materials. In 1992, the territory of the monastery was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now the monastery lives according to the charter created by Elisaveta Feodorovna. The residents are trained at the St. Demetrius School of Sisters of Mercy, help those in need, work in the newly opened orphanage on Bolshaya Ordynka, a charity canteen, a patronage service, a gymnasium and a cultural and educational center.
Statues of 20th-century martyrs on the west façade of Westminster Abbey: Maximilian Kolbe, Manche Macemola, Gianani Luvum, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi and Wang Zhiming
In 2004-2005, the relics of the New Martyrs were in Russia, the CIS countries and the Baltic States, where more than 7 million people bowed to them. According to Patriarch Alexy II, "long queues of believers to the relics of the holy new martyrs are another symbol of Russia's repentance for the sins of hard times, the country's return to its original historical path." Then the relics were returned to Jerusalem.
In 1992, the number of Orthodox saints was replenished with one more name: the church canonized the sister of the last Russian Empress, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The veneration is due not only to the tragic departure of the great martyr, but also to the deeds of this woman during her lifetime. The secular beauty took up social activities during the lifetime of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was an uncle.
After the death of her husband at the hands of a terrorist, Elizabeth finally devoted herself to charity. The crowning achievement of her efforts was the creation of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, whose sisters cared for the wounded during the First World War, patronized the poorest residents of Moscow and took care of the homeless. But even this contribution did not save the princess from the wrath of the revolution.
Elizabeth was born in 1864 in Darmstadt, in the territory of the Duchy of Hesse. Until 1918, it was a separate state, now its lands are part of Germany. Her father was the ruler of the duchy, Ludwig IV, and her mother was the daughter of the Queen of Great Britain, Princess Alice. In their marriage, 4 more daughters and 2 sons were born. The eldest son, named Ernst Ludwig, subsequently took the throne of his father and remained on it until the revolutionary events of 1918.
For the first two years, the royal couple did not have a residence. The influential mother-in-law of the duke insisted that a palace be built for her daughter at the expense of the Hesse treasury, but the son-in-law resisted in every possible way, since there were no resources for this. The family moved from one rented mansion to another.
Over the years, the conflict between Elizabeth's father and her grandmother grew. Relations between spouses began to deteriorate. Life together was overshadowed by the tragedy with the youngest son Friedrich. When Ella - this is the nickname given to the girl in the family - was eight years old, her two-year-old brother died after falling out of the window. Duchess Alice increasingly spent time with her mother, taking her children to England as well.
After 4 years, the princesses of Hesse-Darmstadt and the future ruler of the duchy were orphaned, having lost their mother and younger sister Maria due to diphtheria. Since that time, both Ella and her sister Alix, the future wife of the Russian emperor, have been brought up mainly in the palace of the British crown, located in the city of East Cowes. For girls, classes are held on housekeeping, religion, and etiquette. They are attracted to participate in charity.
The influential grandmother hoped to pass off Elizabeth as one of the girl's cousins: both Friedrich of Baden and Crown Prince Wilhelm ruled the lands in Germany. But in the end, the girl’s marriage strengthened relations with the Romanov dynasty. In 1884, the 19-year-old princess married the 27-year-old Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of the ruler of the Russian Empire. Ella had known him since childhood and maintained friendly relations.
The couple had no children. This fact fueled gossip circulating in Moscow and St. Petersburg about the homosexual orientation of her husband Elizabeth. As alleged lovers, officers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment were named, the commander of which the prince was appointed at the age of 30. Nevertheless, correspondence with his wife testifies to the warm, tender relationship that the couple kept until the death of Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905.
Being a follower of the Lutheran Church, seven years after moving to Russia, Elizabeth decided to change her religion and converted to Orthodoxy. By this time, she had learned Russian so much that she spoke without an accent.
In 1891, the husband of the granddaughter of the Queen of Great Britain received the post of Governor-General of Moscow. Elizabeth supports the position of the wife of the head of the city by deed, creating the Elizabethan charitable society. The association takes care of children whose parents are unable to provide food and care due to poverty. The demand for assistance is indirectly proved by the fact that branches of the Society one after another appear in the counties of the region.
Elizabeth is worried about the growth of revolutionary sentiment and the tacit approval of acts of violence against representatives of the nobility. She writes to her husband's nephew, who ascended the throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich, so that he would take harsh measures to discourage the terrorists from fighting with such methods.
“There is nothing to pity those who themselves pity no one!”, the Grand Duchess calls in a letter of 1902.
With the beginning of the war with Japan, the wife of the Moscow governor-general creates the Committee for Assistance to Soldiers. Parcels, clothes are collected for the soldiers, bandages and medicines are prepared, donations are accepted to organize camp churches. Whether this activity, the stories of the participants in the battles, or faith change her, but a year later, when her husband dies as a result of an assassination attempt, Elizabeth finds the strength not only to visit the killer, but also to forgive him.
Unlike his wife, Sergei Alexandrovich did not win sympathy from his subjects. Outwardly, the prince gave the impression of a person indifferent to the needs and troubles of the townspeople. In addition, his name was associated with the failure of the organization of the feast at the Khodynka field and the subsequent disaster.
They added fuel to the fire and political views - he was an ardent opponent of reforms, and rumors about the vices of a representative of the imperial dynasty. The execution of a peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905 was the last straw. A month after Bloody Sunday, a terrorist from the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Ivan Kalyaev, threw a bomb into the carriage with the prince. Both the uncle of Nicholas II and his coachman died.
Elizabeth was one of the first to be at the scene of the tragedy - an explosion occurred near the governor's palace. According to eyewitnesses, she tried to collect the remains of her husband. The prince's widow spent several days in prayer, and then visited the prisoner in the cell. According to the testimony of the convoy, when Kalyaev asked who she was, the princess replied:
“I am the wife of the one you killed; Tell me, why did you kill him?
Elizabeth informed the prisoner that “knowing the good heart” of her husband, she conveys his forgiveness, and blessed the prisoner. They spoke without witnesses. The widow of Sergei Alexandrovich asked the emperor to pardon the criminal, but the tsar refused.
“The Grand Duchess is kind, but you are all evil,” Kalyaev told the guard after meeting with Elizabeth.
Nevertheless, at the trial, the terrorist stated that he believes that the investigators deliberately sent a widow to him in order to make him repent and compromise the militant organization, showing the weakness of one of its members.
The princess became the first woman to chair the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society and remained in it until 1917. Before her, the association, engaged in interaction with the lands in Israel and the development of pilgrimages, was led by Sergei Alexandrovich.
The tragedy with her husband changed her life. Secular entertainment, former acquaintances, trips - everything has faded now, and Elizabeth chose the path to which she had gone all her life. Having sold the jewelry collection partly to acquaintances, partly to the treasury, in 1909 the prince's widow bought a mansion on Bolshaya Ordynka, surrounded by several buildings. It housed the Mercy Convent founded by Princess Marfo-Mariinsky. Elizabeth became her abbess.
The institution was not a monastery in the full sense of the word. The sisters of mercy who worked here made a number of vows, but, unlike the nuns, they could leave the ministry at any moment and return to life in the world forever. All novices, along with spiritual parting words, studied medicine and chose one of three areas of work.
Active service involved helping in the hospital and pharmacy. The educational direction ensured the upbringing and education of homeless girls who lived in an orphanage open at the monastery. And the patronage direction required the sisters to visit the poorest families and patronize them.
Elizabeth actively participated in all areas, believing that only by personal example could she attract others to zealous service. Grand Duchess Romanova paid much attention to women's education. The monastery operated a Sunday school for townswomen. Girls in the orphanage received not only care, but also training as a nanny and a maid with seamstress skills. The abbess, whose portrait is still in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, bequeathed to bury herself on its territory, but it was not destined to fulfill her will.
The Chekists arrested the abbess in May 1918. She was escorted to Yekaterinburg, and in July delivered to Alapaevsk. On the night of July 18, she was shot by the Bolsheviks along with other princes of the Romanov dynasty. Execution by order took place at the mine behind Alapaevsk. The wounded were pushed to its bottom, where they died of hunger and wounds.
In autumn, the territory came under the control of the White army, the remains of the dead were taken abroad. Elizaveta Feodorovna, like the sister of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent Barbara, who was killed with her, was buried in Jerusalem. After the collapse of the USSR, she was canonized, and in 2009 she was posthumously rehabilitated by law enforcement agencies.
Elizaveta Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov
It is generally accepted that the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke were in a “white marriage” (that is, they lived like brother and sister). This is not true: they dreamed of children, especially Sergei Alexandrovich. It is generally accepted that Elizaveta Feodorovna was a meek and quiet angel. And that's not true. Her strong-willed character and business qualities made themselves felt from childhood. They said that the Grand Duke is vicious and has unconventional inclinations - again not true. Even the all-powerful British intelligence did not find anything more "reprehensible" in his behavior than excessive religiosity.
Today, the personality of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov either remains in the shadow of his great wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, or is vulgarized - as, for example, in the film "State Councilor", where the Governor General of Moscow appears as a very unpleasant type. Meanwhile, it was largely thanks to the Grand Duke that Elizaveta Feodorovna became what we know her to be: “the great Mother”, “the guardian angel of Moscow”.
Slandered during his lifetime, almost forgotten after his death, Sergei Alexandrovich deserves to be rediscovered. The man, through whose efforts Russian Palestine appeared, and Moscow became an exemplary city; a man who has carried the cross of an incurable disease and the cross of endless slander all his life; and the Christian who took communion up to three times a week - with the general practice of doing this once a year at Easter, for whom faith in Christ was the core of life. “God grant me to be worthy of the leadership of such a spouse as Sergius,” wrote Elizaveta Feodorovna after his murder ...
About the history of the great love of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich, as well as the history of lies about them - our story.
The name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov is pronounced today, as a rule, only in connection with the name of his wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna. She really was an outstanding woman with an extraordinary fate, but Prince Sergei, who remained in her shadow, it turns out, just played the first violin in this family. They tried to denigrate their marriage more than once, call it lifeless or fictitious, in the end, unhappy, or, conversely, idealized. But these attempts are unconvincing. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna burned her diaries, but the diaries and letters of Sergei Alexandrovich have survived, and they allow us to look into the life of this exceptional family, carefully guarded from prying eyes.
The decision to marry was made at a difficult time for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: in the summer of 1880, his mother, Maria Alexandrovna, whom he adored, died, and less than a year later, the bomb of the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky cut short the life of his father, Emperor Alexander II. The time has come for him to remember the words of the teacher, the maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva, who wrote to the young prince: “By your nature, you need to be married, you suffer alone.” Sergei Alexandrovich really had the unfortunate property of going deep into himself, engaging in self-criticism. He needed a close person ... And he found such a person.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. 1861
1884 Ella is one of the most beautiful brides in Europe. Sergei is one of the most enviable suitors, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II the Liberator. Judging by the diaries, they first met when the Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, Alice-Maud-Mary, wife of Ludwig IV, was in the last months of pregnancy the future wife of the Grand Duke. A photograph has been preserved where she sits together with the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who arrived in Darmstadt, and her seven-year-old son Sergei. When the Russian royal family returned to Russia from their trip to Europe, they again stopped by their relatives in Darmstadt, and the little Grand Duke was allowed to be present at the bathing of the newborn Ella, his future wife.
Why Sergei made a choice in favor of Elizabeth, escaped the attention of his relatives and educators. But the choice was made! And although Ella and Sergei both had doubts, in the end, in 1883, their engagement was announced to the world. “I gave my consent without hesitation,” Ella’s father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV, said then. - I have known Sergei since childhood; I see his sweet, pleasant manner and I am sure that he will make my daughter happy.”
The son of the Russian emperor married a provincial German duchess! Here is a familiar look at this brilliant couple - and also a myth. The duchesses of Darmstadt were not so simple. Elizabeth and Alexandra (who became the last Russian empress) are the granddaughters of the mother of Queen Victoria, from the age of 18 until her death in old age - the permanent ruler of Great Britain (Empress of India since 1876!), A man of strict morality and an iron grip, under which Britain achieved its heyday. The official title of Elizabeth Feodorovna, which passed to all Hessian princesses, is the Duchess of Great Britain and the Rhine: they belonged, no more, no less, to the family that ruled at that time the third part of the land. And this title - according to all the rules of etiquette - was inherited from her mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Thus, the Romanovs became related to the British crown thanks to Alice of Hesse - like her mother Victoria, an unusually strong woman: having married a German duke, Alice had to face the fastidiousness of the Germans, who were not very willing to accept the English princess. However, she once led parliament for nine months; launched extensive charitable activities - the almshouses founded by her operate in Germany to this day. Ella also inherited her grip, and subsequently her character will make itself felt.
In the meantime, Elizabeth of Darmstadt, although extremely noble and educated, but somewhat windy and impressionable young lady, discusses shops and beautiful trinkets. Preparations for their wedding with Sergei Alexandrovich were kept in the strictest confidence, and in the summer of 1884, the nineteen-year-old Hessian princess arrived in a train decorated with flowers in the capital of the Russian Empire.
Princess of Hesse and British Ella. Early 1870s
In public, Elizaveta Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich were, first of all, high-ranking persons, they headed societies and committees, and their human relations, their mutual love and affection were kept secret. Sergei Alexandrovich made every effort to ensure that the inner life of the family did not become public: he had many ill-wishers. From the letters we know more than the contemporaries of the Romanovs could have known.
“He told me about his wife, admired her, praised her. He thanks God every hour for his happiness,” recalls Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, his relative and close friend. The Grand Duke really adored his wife - he loved to give her unusual jewelry, to give her small gifts with or without occasion. Treating her sternly at times, in her absence he could not boast of Elizabeth. As one of his nieces (in the future - Queen Maria of Romania) recalls, “my uncle was often harsh with her, as with everyone else, but worshiped her beauty. He often treated her like a school teacher. I saw the delicious flush of shame that filled her face as he scolded her. “But, Serge ...” she exclaimed then, and her expression was like the face of a student convicted of some kind of mistake.
“I felt how Sergey longed for this moment; and I knew many times that he suffered from it. He was a true angel of kindness. How often could he, by touching my heart, lead me to change my religion in order to make myself happy; and never, never did he complain... Let people shout about me, but just never say a word against my Sergei. Take his side before them and tell them that I adore him and also my new country and that in this way I have learned to love their religion too…”
From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her brother Ernest about the change of religion
Contrary to the rumors spread then, it was a truly happy marriage. On the day of the decade of married life, which fell at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, the prince wrote in his diary: “In the morning I am in church, my wife is in the warehouse *. Lord, why am I so happy? (The donation warehouse for the benefit of the soldiers, organized with the assistance of Elizabeth Feodorovna: they sewed clothes there, prepared bandages, collected parcels, formed camp churches. - Ed.)
Their life really was a service with the maximum return of all their strengths and abilities, but we will have time to say about this.
What is she? In a letter to her brother Ernest, Ella calls her husband "a real angel of kindness."
The Grand Duke became in many ways the teacher of his wife, very soft and unobtrusive. Being 7 years older, he really takes care of her education to a large extent, teaches her Russian language and culture, introduces her to Paris, shows her Italy and takes her on a trip to the Holy Land. And, judging by the diaries, the Grand Duke did not stop praying, hoping that someday his wife would share with him the main thing in his life - his faith and the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, to which he belonged with all his soul.
“After 7 long years of our happy married life, we must start a brand new life and leave our cozy family life in the city. We will have to do so much for the people there, and in fact we will play the role of the ruling prince there, which will be very difficult for us, because instead of playing such a role, we are eager to lead a quiet private life.
From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her father, the Grand Duke of Hesse, on the appointment of her husband to the post of Governor-General of Moscow
Unusual religiosity is a feature that distinguished the Grand Duke from childhood. When seven-year-old Sergei was brought to Moscow and asked: what would you like? - he replied that his most cherished desire is to get to the bishop's service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.
Subsequently, when an adult young man he met during a trip to Italy with Pope Leo XIII, he was amazed at the Grand Duke's knowledge of church history - and even ordered to raise the archives to check the facts voiced by Sergei Alexandrovich. Entries in his diaries always began and ended with the words: "Lord, have mercy," "Lord, bless." He himself decided what church utensils should be brought to the consecration of the church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (also his brainchild) - brilliantly knowing both the service and all its paraphernalia! And, by the way, Sergei Alexandrovich was the first and only of the great princes of the Romanov dynasty who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times in his life. Moreover, he dared to do the first through Beirut, which was extremely difficult and far from safe. And on the second he took his wife with him, at that time still a Protestant ...
In their family estate Ilyinsky, where Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna spent the happiest days of their lives, starting from their honeymoon, a temple has been preserved, now it is working again. According to legend, it was here that the then Protestant Ella was present at her first Orthodox service.
According to her status, Elizabeth Feodorovna did not have to change her religion. It will be 7 years after her marriage before she writes: "My heart belongs to Orthodoxy." Evil tongues said that Elizabeth Feodorovna was actively pushed to adopt a new faith by her husband, under whose unconditional influence she was always. But, as the Grand Duchess herself wrote to her father, her husband “never tried to force me by any means, leaving all this to my conscience alone.” All he did was softly and delicately introduce her to his faith. And the princess herself approached this issue very seriously, studying Orthodoxy, looking at it very carefully.
Having finally made a decision, Ella first of all writes to her influential grandmother Queen Victoria - they have always been on good terms. The wise grandmother replies: "Being with your spouse of the same faith is right." Her father did not accept Elizabeth Feodorovna's decision so favorably, although it is difficult to come up with a more affectionate and tactful tone and more sincere words with which Ella begged "dear Pope" for a blessing on the decision to convert to Orthodoxy:
“... I kept thinking and reading and praying to God to show me the right path, and came to the conclusion that only in this religion can I find all the real and strong faith in God that a person must have in order to be a good Christian. It would be a sin to remain the way I am now - to belong to the same Church in form and for the outside world, but inside myself to pray and believe like my husband does husband…”
Duke Ludwig IV did not answer his daughter, but she could not go against her conscience, although she admitted: “I know that there will be many unpleasant moments, since no one will understand this step.” So, to the indescribable happiness of the spouse, the day came when they were able to take communion together. And the third, last in his life, trip to the Holy Land has already been made together - in every sense.
The Grand Duke was one of the initiators of the creation and until his death - the chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, without which today it is impossible to imagine the history of the Russian pilgrimage to the Holy Land! Having become the head of the Society in the 1880s, he managed to open 8 courtyards of the Russian Orthodox Church in Palestine, 100 schools where Arab children were taught the Russian language and introduced to Orthodoxy, build a church of Mary Magdalene in honor of his mother - this is an incomplete list of his deeds, and All this was carried out quite subtly and cunningly. So, sometimes the prince allocated money for construction, without waiting for the issuance of permits, one way or another bypassed many obstacles. There is even an assumption that his appointment in 1891 as the governor-general of Moscow is a cunning political intrigue invented by the intelligence services of the discontented England and France - who will like Russia's "mastery" on the territory of their colonies? - and which had as its goal the removal of the prince from affairs in the Holy Land. Be that as it may, these calculations did not come true: the prince, it seems, only redoubled his efforts!
It is hard to imagine how active people the spouses were, how much they managed to do in their, in general, short life! He headed or was a trustee of about 90 societies, committees and other organizations, and found time to take part in the life of each of them. Here are just a few: the Moscow Architectural Society, the Ladies' Guardianship of the Poor in Moscow, the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the Committee for the Arrangement of the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at Moscow University, the Moscow Archaeological Society. He was an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Society of Artists of Historical Painting, Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities, the Society of Agriculture, the Society of Natural Science Lovers, the Russian Musical Society, the Archaeological Museum in Constantinople and the Historical Museum in Moscow, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Orthodox Missionary Society, Department of distribution of spiritual and moral books.
Since 1896, Sergei Alexandrovich has been the commander of the Moscow Military District. He is also the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum. On his initiative, the Museum of Fine Arts on Volkhonka was created - the Grand Duke laid six of his own collections at the basis of its exposition.
“Why do I always feel deeply? Why am I not like everyone else, not cheerful like everyone else? I delve stupidly into everything and see it differently - I myself am ashamed that I am so old-fashioned and cannot be, like all the “golden youth”, cheerful and carefree.
From the diary of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
Becoming in 1891 the governor-general of Moscow - and this meant taking care not only of Moscow, but also of the ten provinces adjacent to it - he launched an incredible activity, setting himself the goal of making the city equal to European capitals. Under him, Moscow became exemplary: clean, neat paving stones, police officers placed within sight of each other, all utilities work perfectly, order is everywhere and in everything. Under him, electric street lighting was established - the central city power station was built, the GUM was erected, the Kremlin towers were restored, a new building of the Conservatory was built; under him, the first tram began to run along the capital, the first public theater opened, and the city center was put in perfect order.
Charity, which was engaged in Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna, was neither ostentatious nor superficial. “The ruler must be the blessing of his people,” Ella's father often repeated, and he himself and his wife, Alice of Hesse, tried to follow this principle. From childhood, their children were taught to help people, regardless of rank - for example, every week they went to the hospital, where they gave flowers to seriously ill patients, encouraged them. It entered their blood and flesh, the Romanovs raised their children in the same way.
Even while relaxing in their estate near Moscow, Ilyinsky, Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna continued to accept requests for help, for employment, for donations for the upbringing of orphans - all this was preserved in the correspondence of the Grand Duke's manager of the court with different people. Once a letter arrived from the compositors of a private printing house, who dared to ask to be allowed to sing at the Liturgy in Ilyinsky in the presence of the Grand Duke and Princess. And this request was fulfilled.
In 1893, when cholera was raging in Central Russia, a temporary first-aid post was opened in Ilyinsky, where they examined and, if necessary, urgently operated on all those in need of help, where peasants could stay in a special “hut for isolation” - like in a hospital. The infirmary operated from July to October. This is a classic example of the ministry that the couple has been engaged in all their lives.
Spouses Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. 1884 Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna in the year of their wedding. Contrary to popular belief, they did not live in the so-called. "white marriage": the Grand Duke dreamed of children. “We must not be destined to have complete happiness on earth,” he wrote to his brother Paul. “If I had children, then it seems to me that there would be paradise on our planet for me, but the Lord does not want this - His ways are inscrutable!”
“How I wish I had children! For me, there would be no greater paradise on earth if I had my own children, ”Sergey Alexandrovich writes in letters. A letter from Emperor Alexander III to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, has been preserved, where he writes: “What a pity that Ella and Sergey cannot have children.” “Of all the uncles, we were most afraid of Uncle Sergei, but despite this, he was our favorite,” the niece of Prince Maria recalls in her diaries. “He was strict, kept us in awe, but he loved children ... If he had the opportunity, he would come to watch the children bathe, cover them with a blanket and kiss them goodnight ...”
The Grand Duke was given the opportunity to raise children - but not his own, but his brother Pavel, after the tragic death during premature birth of his wife, the Greek princess Alexandra Georgievna. Direct witnesses of the six-day agony of the unfortunate woman were the owners of the estate, Sergei and Elizaveta. Heartbroken, Pavel Aleksandrovich, for several months after the tragedy, was not able to take care of his children - the young Maria and the newborn Dmitry, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich took over this care completely and completely. He canceled all plans and trips and stayed in Ilyinsky, participated in bathing a newborn - who, by the way, should not have survived, according to the unanimous opinion of doctors - he himself covered him with cotton wool, did not sleep at night, taking care of the little prince. Interestingly, Sergei Alexandrovich wrote down all the important events in the life of his ward in his diary: the first erupted tooth, the first word, the first step. And after brother Pavel, contrary to the will of the emperor, married a woman who did not belong to an aristocratic family, and was expelled from Russia, his children, Dmitry and Maria, were finally taken into care by Sergei and Elizabeth.
Why the Lord did not give the spouses their own children is His secret. Researchers suggest that the childlessness of the grand ducal couple could be the result of Sergei's serious illness, which he carefully concealed from others. This is another little-known page in the life of the prince, which completely changes the ideas about him that are familiar to many.
Coldness of character, isolation, closeness - the usual list of accusations against the Grand Duke.
To this they add: proud! - because of his overly straight posture, which gave him an arrogant look. If the accusers of the prince knew that the “culprit” of a proud posture is a corset, with which he was forced to support his spine all his life. The prince was seriously and terminally ill, like his mother, like his brother Nikolai Alexandrovich, who was supposed to become the Russian emperor, but died of a terrible illness. His diagnosis - bone tuberculosis, leading to dysfunction of all joints - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich knew how to hide from everyone. Only his wife knew what it cost him.
“Sergey suffers a lot. He is unwell again. Salts, hot baths are very necessary, he cannot do without them, ”Elizaveta writes to close relatives. “Instead of going to the reception, the Grand Duke took a bath,” the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper scoffed already in pre-revolutionary times. A hot bath is almost the only remedy that relieves pain (articular, dental) that tormented Sergei Alexandrovich. He could not ride, could not do without a corset. In Ilyinsky, during the life of his mother, a koumiss farm was set up for medicinal purposes, but the disease progressed over the years. And if it were not for the bomb of student Ivan Kalyaev, it is very possible that the Governor-General of Moscow would not have lived long anyway ...
The Grand Duke was closed, laconic and closed from childhood. And could you expect anything else from a child whose parents were in fact divorced, which nevertheless could not take place? Maria Alexandrovna lived on the second floor of the Winter Palace, no longer having marital relations with her husband and enduring the presence of the sovereign's favorite, Princess Dolgorukova (she became his wife after the death of Maria Alexandrovna, but stayed in this status for less than a year, until the death of Alexander II). The collapse of the parental family, deep attachment to the mother, who meekly endured this humiliation, are factors that largely determined the formation of the character of the little prince.
They are also reasons for slander, rumors and slander against him. “Too much religious, closed, very often in the temple, takes communion up to three times a week,” this is the most “suspicious” of what English intelligence managed to find out about the prince before he married Elizabeth, after all - granddaughter of the English queen. The reputation is almost impeccable, and yet, even during his lifetime, streams of slander and unpleasant accusations poured out on the Grand Duke ...
They talked about the dissolute lifestyle of the Governor-General of Moscow, rumors spread around the capital about his non-traditional sexual orientation, that Elizaveta Fedorovna was very unhappy in her marriage to him - all this even during the life of the prince sounded even in English newspapers. Sergei Alexandrovich was at first lost and perplexed, this can be seen from his diary entries and letters, where he poses one question: “Why? Where does all this come from?!”
“Tolerate all this lifetime slander, endure - you are on the battlefield,” Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote to him.
Attacks, accusations of arrogance and indifference could not be avoided and Elizabeth Feodorovna. Of course, there were reasons for this: despite the widest charitable activities, she always kept her distance, knowing the price of her status as a Grand Duchess - belonging to the imperial house hardly implies familiarity. And her character, manifested from childhood, gave rise to such accusations.
In our eyes, the image of the Grand Duchess, admittedly, is somewhat unctuous: a gentle, meek woman with a humble look. This image was formed, of course, not without reason. “Her purity was absolute, it was impossible to take your eyes off her, after spending the evening with her, everyone was waiting for the hour when they could see her the next day,” her niece Maria admires Aunt Ella. And at the same time, it is impossible not to notice that the Grand Duchess Elizabeth had a strong-willed character. Mother admitted that Ella was the exact opposite of her older obedient sister Victoria: very strong and by no means quiet. It is known that Elizabeth spoke very harshly about Grigory Rasputin, believing that his death would be the best way out of the catastrophic and ridiculous situation that had developed at court.
“... When he saw her, he asked: “Who are you?” “I am his widow,” she replied, “why did you kill him?” "I did not want to kill you," he said, "I saw him several times at 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 ... "
Description of the conversation between Elizabeth Feodorovna and the murderer of her husband from the book of Fr. M. Polsky "New Russian Martyrs"
As they would say today, the Grand Duchess was a first-class manager, who skillfully knew how to organize business, distribute duties and monitor their implementation. Yes, she kept a little aloof, but at the same time she did not ignore the slightest requests and needs of those who turned to her. There is a famous case during the First World War when a wounded officer, who was threatened with amputation of his leg, filed a request to reconsider this decision. The petition fell to the Grand Duchess and was granted. The officer recovered and subsequently, during the Second World War, served as Minister of Light Industry.
Of course, the life of Elizabeth Feodorovna changed dramatically after the terrible event - the murder of her beloved husband ... The photograph of the carriage torn apart by the explosion was then printed in all Moscow newspapers. The explosion was so strong that the dead man's heart was found only on the third day on the roof of the house. But the Grand Duchess collected the remains of Sergei with her own hands. Her life, her fate, her character - everything has changed, but, of course, the whole previous life, full of dedication and activity, was a preparation for this.
“It seemed,” recalled Countess Alexandra Andreevna Olsufieva, “that from that time on she peered intently at the image of another world, devoted herself to the search for perfection.”
“Lord, I would be worthy of such a death!” - Sergei Alexandrovich wrote in his diary after the death of one of the statesmen from a bomb - a month before his own death. He received threatening letters, but ignored them. The only thing the prince did was to stop taking his children - Dmitry Pavlovich and Maria Pavlovna - and his adjutant Dzhunkovsky with him on trips.
The Grand Duke foresaw not only his death, but also the tragedy that would overwhelm Russia in a decade. He wrote to Nicholas II, imploring him to be more resolute and tough, to act, to take action. And he himself took such measures: in 1905, when the uprising broke out among the students, he sent students on indefinite vacations, to their homes, preventing the fire from breaking out. "Hear me!" - he writes and writes in recent years to the sovereign emperor. But the emperor did not hear ...
February 4, 1905 Sergei Alexandrovich leaves the Kremlin through the Nikolsky Gate. For 65 meters before the Nikolskaya tower, an explosion of terrible force is heard. The coachman was mortally wounded, and Sergei Alexandrovich was torn to pieces: his head, arm and legs remained from him - so the prince was buried, having built a special “doll”, in the Chudov Monastery, in the tomb. At the site of the explosion, they found his personal belongings, which Sergei always carried with him: icons, a cross given by his mother, a small Gospel.
After the tragedy, everything that Sergey did not have time to do, everything that he put his mind and indefatigable energy into, Elizaveta Fedorovna considered it her duty to continue. “I want to be worthy of the leadership of such a spouse as Sergius,” she wrote shortly after his death to Zinaida Yusupova. And, probably, driven by these thoughts, she went to prison to the murderer of her husband with words of forgiveness and a call to repentance. She worked to the point of exhaustion and, as Countess Olsufyeva writes, “always calm and humble, she found strength and time, getting satisfaction from this endless work.”
It is difficult to say in a few words about what the Martha-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy founded by the Grand Duchess, which still exists today, has become for the capital. “The Lord gave me so little time,” she writes to Z. Yusupova. “There is still a lot to be done.”…
On July 5, 1918, Elizaveta Fedorovna, her cell-attendant Varvara (Yakovleva), nephew Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, the sons of Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich - Igor, John and Konstantin, and the manager of the affairs of Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Fyodor Mikhailovich Remez were thrown alive into a mine near Alapaevsk.
The relics of the Grand Duchess rest in the temple built by her husband - the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane, and the remains of the Grand Duke were transferred in 1998 to the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow. She was canonized in the 1990s, but he... It seems that holiness can be very different, and the great - really great - Prince Sergei Alexandrovich again remained in the shadow of his great wife. Today, the commission for his canonization resumed its work. “You and I know that he is a saint,” Elizaveta Feodorovna said in correspondence after the death of her husband. She knew him best.
