Elizaveta Fyodorovna Romanova was born on November 1, 1864 in Darmstadt. She was an Honorary Member and Chairman of the Palestinian Orthodox Society in 1905-1917, the founder of the Moscow Martha and Mary Convent.
Elizaveta Romanova: biography. Childhood and family
She was the second daughter of Ludwig IV (Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Princess Alice. In 1878 diphtheria overtook the family. Only Elizaveta Romanova, Empress Alexandra (one of the younger sisters) did not get sick. The latter was in Russia and was the wife of Nicholas II. The mother of Princess Alice and the second younger sister Maria died of diphtheria. After the death of his wife, Ella's father (as Elizabeth was called in the family) married Alexandrina Gutten-Chapskaya. The children were brought up primarily by their grandmother at Osborne House. From childhood, Ella was instilled with religious views. She participated in charitable causes, received lessons in housekeeping. Of great importance in the development of the spiritual world of Ella was the image of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, famous for her mercy. Friedrich of Baden (her cousin) was considered as a potential suitor. Some time for ElizabethCourted by Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. He was also her cousin. According to a number of sources, Wilhelm proposed to Ella, but she rejected him.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanova
3 (15) June 1884 in the Court Cathedral was the wedding of Ella and Sergei Alexandrovich, brother of Alexander III. After the wedding, the couple settled in the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace. Later it became known as Sergievsky. The honeymoon took place in Ilyinsky, where subsequently Elizaveta Fedorovna Romanova and her husband lived. At the insistence of Ella, a hospital was equipped on the estate, and regular fairs for peasants began to be held.
Activities
Princess Elizaveta Romanova was fluent in Russian. Confessing Protestantism, she attended services in the Orthodox Church. In 1888 she made a pilgrimage with her husband to the Holy Land. Three years later, in 1891, Elizaveta Romanova converted to Christianity. Being at that time the wife of the Moscow governor-general, she organized a charitable society. Its activities were carried out first in the city itself, and then spread to the district. Elisabeth committees were formed at all church parishes in the province. In addition, the wife of the Governor-General headed the Ladies' Society, and after the death of her husband, she became the chairman of the Moscow Red Cross Department. At the beginning of the war with Japan, Elizaveta Romanova established a special committee to help the soldiers. A donation fund for soldiers was formed in the Kremlin Palace. Bandages were prepared in the warehouse, sewnclothes, parcels were collected, camp churches were formed.
Death of spouse
During the reign of Nicholas II, the country experienced revolutionary unrest. Elizaveta Romanova also spoke about them. The letters that she wrote to Nikolai expressed her rather tough position regarding freethinking and revolutionary terror. February 4, 1905 Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by Ivan Kalyaev. Elizaveta Fedorovna was very upset by the loss. Later, she came to the killer in prison and conveyed forgiveness on behalf of her deceased husband, leaving Kalyaev the Gospel. In addition, Elizaveta Fedorovna filed a petition to Nikolai for a pardon for the criminal. However, it was not satisfied. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Romanova replaced him as Chairman of the Palestinian Orthodox Society. She was in this post from 1905 to 1917
Foundation of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent
After the death of her husband, Ella sold the jewelry. Having transferred to the treasury that part owned by the Romanov dynasty, Elizabeth bought an estate on Bolshaya Ordynka with a large garden and four houses with the funds received. The Marfo-Mariinsky Convent was arranged here. The sisters were engaged in charitable affairs, medical activities. When organizing the monastery, both Russian Orthodox and European experience was used. The sisters who lived in it took vows of obedience, non-possession and chastity. In contrast to the monastic service, after a while they were allowed to leave the monastery and create families. The sisters received serious medical, methodological,psychological and spiritual preparation. Lectures were given to him by the best Moscow doctors, and conversations were held by the confessor, Father Mitrofan Srebryansky (who later became Archimandrite Sergius) and Father Evgeny Sinadsky.
The work of the monastery
Elizaveta Romanova planned that the institution would provide comprehensive, medical, spiritual and educational assistance to all those in need. They were not only given clothes and food, but were often employed and placed in hospitals. Often the sisters persuaded families who could not give their children a proper upbringing to give them to an orphanage. There they received good care, profession, education. The monastery operated a hospital, had its own dispensary, pharmacy, some of the medicines in which were free. There was also a shelter, there was a canteen and many other institutions. Educational talks and lectures were held in the Church of the Intercession, meetings of the Orthodox Palestinian and Geographical Societies, and other events were held. Elizabeth, living in the monastery, led an active life. At night, she nursed the seriously ill or read the Ps alter over the dead. During the day, she worked with the rest of the sisters: she went around the poorest neighborhoods, visited Khitrov Market on her own. The latter was considered at that time the most criminogenic place in Moscow. From there, she took the minors and took them to a shelter. Elizabeth was respected for the dignity with which she always carried herself, for not praising the inhabitants of the slums.
Establishment of a prosthetic factory
During the First World WarElizabeth actively participated in providing for the Russian army, helping the wounded. At the same time, she tried to support the prisoners of war, with whom the hospitals were then overcrowded. For this, she was subsequently accused of aiding the Germans. At the beginning of 1915, with her active assistance, a workshop was established for assembling prostheses from finished parts. Most of the elements were then delivered from St. Petersburg, from the factory of military medical products. It operated a separate prosthetic shop. This industrial branch was developed only in 1914. Funds for organizing a workshop in Moscow were collected from donations. As the war progressed, the need for products increased. By decision of the Committee of the Princess, the production of prostheses was transferred from Trubnikovsky lane to Maronovsky, to the 9th house. With her personal participation in 1916, work began on the design and construction of the country's first prosthetic plant, which still operates today, producing components.
Murder
After the Bolsheviks came to power, Elizaveta Romanova refused to leave Russia. She continued her active work in the monastery. On May 7, 1918, Patriarch Tikhon served a prayer service, and half an hour after his departure, Elizabeth was arrested by order of Dzerzhinsky. Subsequently, she was deported to Perm, then transported to Yekaterinburg. She and other members of the Romanov family were placed in the Ataman Rooms hotel. After 2 months they were sent to Alapaevsk. The sister of the monastery Varvara was also present with the Romanovs. In Alapaevsk they were in Napolnaya school. An apple tree grows near her building,which, according to legend, was planted by Elizabeth. On the night of July 5 (18), 1918, all the prisoners were shot and thrown alive (except for Sergei Mikhailovich) into the Nov. Selimskaya, 18 km from Alapaevsk.
Burial
October 31, 1918, the whites entered Alapaevsk. The remains of the executed were taken out of the mine and placed in coffins. They were put to a funeral service in the church at the cemetery of the city. But with the onset of the Red Army detachments, the coffins were transported further and further to the East several times. In Beijing in April 1920 they were met by Archbishop Innokenty, head of the Russian spiritual mission. From there, the coffins of Elizabeth Feodorovna and sister Varvara were transported to Shanghai, and then to Port Said and finally to Jerusalem. The burial was performed in January 1921 by Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem. Thus, the will of Elizabeth herself, expressed in 1888, during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was fulfilled.
Praise
In 1992, the Grand Duchess and Sister Barbara were canonized by the Council of Bishops. They were included in the Cathedral of Confessors and New Martyrs of Russia. Shortly before that, in 1981, they were canonized by the Orthodox Church Abroad.
Power
From 2004 to 2005 they were in Russia, the B altic States and the CIS. More than 7 million people bowed to them. As Patriarch Alexy II noted, long queues of people to the relics of the New Martyrs act as another symbol of repentance for sins, testify to the country's return to the historical path. After that they returned toJerusalem.
Monasteries and temples
In honor of Elizabeth Feodorovna, several churches were built in Russia, Belarus. The information base for October 2012 contained information about 24 churches, the main altar in which is dedicated to her, 6 - where it is one of the additional ones, as well as one church under construction and 4 chapels. They are located in cities:
- Yekaterinburg.
- Kaliningrad.
- Belousovo (Kaluga region).
- P. Chistye Bory (Kostroma region).
- Balashikha.
- Zvenigorod.
- Krasnogorsk.
- Odintsovo.
- Lytkarine.
- Shchelkovo.
- Shcherbinka.
- D. Kolotskoe.
- P. Diveevo (Nizhny Novgorod region).
- Nizhny Novgorod.
- S. Vengerovo (Novosibirsk region).
- Orly.
- Bezhetsk (Tver region).
Additional thrones in temples:
- Three Saints in the Spassko-Elizarovsky Monastery (Pskov region).
- Ascension Day (Nizhny Novgorod).
- Elijah the prophet (Ilyinskoye, Moscow region, Krasnogorsk district).
- Sergius of Radonezh and the Monk Martyr Elizabeth (Yekaterinburg).
- Savior Not Made by Hands in Usovo (Moscow region).
- In the name of St. Elisaveta Fedorovna (Yekaterinburg).
- Assumption of the Blessed. Mother of God (Kurchatov, Kursk region).
- St. Venerable Martyr Vel. Princess Elizabeth (Shcherbinka).
The chapels are located in Orel, St. Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola, inZhukovsky (Moscow region). The list in the infobase contains data about house churches. They are located in hospitals and other social institutions, do not occupy separate buildings, but are located in the premises of buildings, etc.
Conclusion
Elizaveta Romanova has always sought to help people, often even to her own detriment. There was, perhaps, not a single person who would not respect her for all her deeds. Even during the revolution, when her life was in danger, she did not leave Russia, but continued to work. In a difficult time for the country, Elizaveta Romanova gave all her strength to people in need. Thanks to her, a huge number of lives were saved, a prosthetic plant, shelters for children, and hospitals started operating in Russia. Contemporaries, having learned about the arrest, were extremely surprised, because they could not imagine what danger she could pose for the Soviet government. On June 8, 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation rehabilitated Elizaveta Romanova posthumously.
