Elizaveta Romanova. History of Russian Goverment

Elizabeth Fedorovna Romanova was born on November 1, 1864 in Darmstadt. She was Honorary Member and Chairman of the Palestinian Orthodox Society in 1905-1917, the founder of the Moscow Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.

Elizaveta Romanova: biography. Childhood and family

She was the second daughter of Ludwig IV (Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Princess Alice. In 1878 the family was overtaken by diphtheria. Elizaveta Romanova, the Empress Alexander (one of the younger sisters) was not ill. The latter was in Russia and was the wife of Nicholas II. From the diphtheria the mother of Princess Alice and the second younger sister Maria died. After the death of the spouse, Ella's father (as they called Elizabeth in the family) married Alexandrine Gutten-Chapskaya. The children were brought up mainly from their grandmother in Osborne House. From the very childhood Ella instilled religious views. She participated in charitable affairs, received lessons on farming. Great importance in the development of the spiritual world of Ella had the image of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, famous for mercy. The potential groom considered Friedrich of Baden (her cousin). For some time Elizabeth was courted by Crown Prince Prussia Wilhelm. He was also her cousin. According to information from several sources, Wilhelm made a proposal to Ella, but she rejected it.

The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanova

On June 3 (15), 1884, the Wedding of Ella and Sergei Aleksandrovich, brother of Alexander III, was held at the Court Cathedral. After the wedding, the couple settled in the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace. Later he became known as Sergievsky. The honeymoon was held in Ilinsky, where Elizabeth Romanovna and her husband later lived. At Ella's insistence, the hospital was equipped with a hospital, regular fairs for peasants were held.

Activities

Princess Elizabeth Romanov perfectly mastered the Russian. Confessing Protestantism, she attended divine 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 adopted Christianity. Being at that time the wife of the Moscow Governor-General, she organized a charitable society. His activities were conducted first in the city itself, and then spread to the district. With all the parishes in the province, Elisaveta committees were formed. In addition, the wife of the governor-general headed the Ladies' Society, and after the death of her husband, became chairman of the Moscow Red Cross. At the beginning of the war with Japan, Elizabeth Romanova established a special committee to help the soldiers. In the Kremlin Palace was established a fund of donations for soldiers. In the warehouse, bandages were harvested, clothes were sewed, parcels were collected, and marching churches formed.

Death of the spouse

During the reign of Nicholas II, the country experienced revolutionary unrest. Elizaveta Romanova spoke about them. The letters she wrote to Nicholas expressed her rather rigid position with regard to freethinking and revolutionary terror. February 4, 1905 Sergei Alexandrovich was killed by Ivan Kaliayev. Elizabeth Feodorovna suffered a loss. Later she came to the murderer in prison and transferred forgiveness on behalf of her deceased spouse, leaving Kalyaev the Gospel. In addition, Elizabeth Fedorovna filed a petition to Nicholas to pardon the criminal. However, it was not satisfied. After the death of her husband, Elizabeth Romanova replaced him as the Chairman of the Palestinian Orthodox Society. In this post she was from 1905 to 1917.

Foundation of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent

After the death of her husband, Ella sold the jewelry. Transferring to the treasury that part, which was owned by the Romanov dynasty, Elizabeth bought the estate on Bolshaya Ordynka with a large garden and four houses. The Marfo-Mariinsky monastery was built here. The sisters were engaged in charitable affairs, medical activities. During the organization of the monastery, both Russian Orthodox and European experience was used. The sisters living in it brought vows of obedience, nestya and chastity. Unlike the monastic service, they were allowed to leave the cloister and create families after a while. Sisters received serious medical, methodological, psychological and spiritual training. Lectures were read to them by the best Moscow doctors, and the conversations were led by the confessor Father Mitrofan Srebryansky (who later became Archimandrite Sergius) and Father Eugene Sinadsky.

The work of the monastery

Elizaveta Romanova planned that the institution will provide comprehensive, medical and spiritual education for all who need it. They were not just given clothes and food, but also often engaged in their employment and placement in hospitals. Often the sisters persuaded families who could not give their children proper education, to give them to the orphanage. There they received good care, a profession, education. The hospital operated in the monastery, had its own outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, some of which was free of charge. There was also a shelter, there was a canteen and many other institutions. In the Intercession Church, educational talks and lectures were held, meetings of the Orthodox Palestine and Geographical Societies, and other events were held. Elizabeth, living in the monastery, led an active life. At night, she took care of the seriously ill or read the Psalter over the dead. During the day she worked with the rest of her sisters: she passed the poorest quarters, visited the Khitrov market independently. The latter was considered at that time the most criminogenic place in Moscow. From there, she took the children and led them to the orphanage. Elizabeth was respected for the dignity with which she always held, for the lack of exaltation over the inhabitants of the slums.

Establishment of a prosthetic plant

During the First World War, Elizabeth actively participated in providing the Russian army and helping the wounded. At the same time, she also tried to support prisoners of war, who were then overcrowded with hospitals. For this, she was subsequently accused of aiding the Germans. In early 1915, with her active assistance, a workshop was assembled to assemble the finished parts of the prosthesis. Most of the elements were then delivered from St. Petersburg, from the factory of military-medical products. It operated a separate prosthetic workshop. This industrial branch was developed only in 1914. Funds for the organization of the workshop in Moscow were collected from donations. During the war, the need for products increased. According to the decision of the Princess's Committee, the manufacture of prostheses was transferred from Trubnikovsky pereulok 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 works today, producing accessories.

Murder

After the Bolsheviks came to power, Elizaveta Romanova refused to leave Russia. She continued active work in the monastery. May 7, 1918, Patriarch Tikhon served a moleben, and half an hour after his departure, Elizabeth was arrested on the orders of Dzerzhinsky. Subsequently, she was deported to Perm, then transported to Ekaterinburg. Her and other representatives of the Romanovs' house were placed in the hotel "Ataman's Rooms". After 2 months they were sent to Alapaevsk. Together with the Romanovs there was also the sister of the monastery of Varvara. In Alapaevsk they were in the Outdoor School. Near her building grows an apple tree, which, according to legend, was planted by Elizabeth. On the night of July 5 (18), 1918, all the prisoners were shot and dropped alive (except Sergei Mikhailovich) in the mine Nov. Selimskaya, 18 km from Alapaevsk.

Burial

October 31, 1918, the White entered Alapaevsk. The remains of the executed were extracted from the mine and placed in coffins. They were put on a funeral service in the church at the city's cemetery. But with the offensive of the Red Army detachments, the coffins were transported several times to the East. 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 Sarvara's sisters were transported to Shanghai, and then to Port Said and finally to Jerusalem. The funeral was committed in January 1921 by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Damian. This was the fulfillment of the will of Elizabeth herself, expressed in 1888, during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Glorification

In 1992, the Council of Bishops, Grand Duchess and Sister Varvara were ranked as saints. They were included in the Cathedral of the Confessors and New Men of Russia. Shortly before, in 1981, they were canonized by the Orthodox Church abroad.

Power

From 2004 to 2005, they were in Russia, the Baltic States and the CIS. They worshiped more than 7 million people. As Patriarch Alexy II pointed out, the 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 to Jerusalem.

Monasteries and temples

In honor of Elizabeth Feodorovna built several churches in Russia, Belarus. The information base for October 2012 contained information about 24 churches, the main throne in which it is devoted to it, 6 - where it is one of the additional, as well as about a newly built temple and 4 chapels. They are located in the cities:

1. Yekaterinburg.
2. Kaliningrad.
3. Belousovo (Kaluga region).
4. P. Chistye Bory (Kostroma Region).
5. Balashikha.
6. Zvenigorod.
7. Krasnogorsk.
8. Odintsovo.
9. Lytkarin.
10. Shchelkov.
11. Scherbinka.
12. D. Kolotskoye.
13. P. Diveevo (Nizhny Novgorod region).
14. Nizhny Novgorod.
15. S. Vengerov (Novosibirsk region).
16. Orel.
17. Bezhetske (Tver region).

Additional thrones in the temples:

1. Three Saints in the Spassko-Elizarovsky Monastery (Pskov Region).
2. Ascension of the Lord (Nizhny Novgorod).
3. Elijah the prophet (Ilyinsky, Moscow region, Krasnogorsk district).
4. Sergius of Radonezh and the Martyr Elisaveta (Ekaterinburg).
5. The Savior of the Holy Face in Usov (Moscow region).
6. In the name of St. Elisaveta Fedorovna (Ekaterinburg).
7. Assumption of the Assumption The Virgin Mary (Kurchatov, Kursk Region).
8. The Holy Martyrs Vel. Princess Elizabeth (Scherbinka).

Chapels are located in Orel, St. Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola, in Zhukovsky (Moscow region). The list in the information database also contains data on house churches. They are located in hospitals and other social institutions, do not occupy separate buildings, but are located in the buildings of the buildings and so on.

Conclusion

Elizaveta Romanova has always sought to help people, often even to the detriment of herself. There was, perhaps, not a single person who did not respect her for all her affairs. Even during the revolution, when her life was under threat, she did not leave Russia, but continued to work. In a difficult time for the country, Elizaveta Romanova gave all her strength to needy people. Thanks to her, a huge number of lives were saved, in Russia a prosthetic plant, shelters for children, hospitals were opened. Contemporaries, learning about the arrest, were extremely surprised, because they could not imagine what danger it could have for Soviet power. June 8, 2009 Prosecutor General's Office rehabilitated Elizabeth Romanov posthumously.