At the end of July of 2004 the sacred relics of the Holy Martyrs Grand
Princess Yelizavetta Fyodorovna and the Nun Varvara were brought from Jerusalem
to Russia and Orthodox believers were granted an opportunity  to
revere the holy relics. Yelizavetta Fyodorovna and the Nun Varvara accepted
a martyrs' death at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1918 and were canonized
as Saints by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1981. Eleven years later
they were, likewise, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate.
The arrival of the relics marked an important stage in the process of bringing
closer the two branches of the Russian Church, split due to the tragic
events of the 1917 Bolshevist coup and the ensuing Civil War.
Quite a lot is known about the Grand Princess Yelizavetta. She was born
in the family of the Grand Duke of Hessen-Darmstaad, Ludwig IV and the
daughter of the English Queen Victoria, Princess Alice. Yelizavetta was
brought up in the traditions of Old England: in strict discipline and a
religious spirit. After losing her Mother at the age of 14, Ella, as she
was lovingly called in the family, took upon herself the responsibility
for the younger brothers and sisters. In actual fact, she became a Mother
to them. Inherently gentle and kind, sensitive to the pain and grief of
others, totally devoid of selfishness, she helped other people, at times
at the expense of her own needs and interests. Not only was Yelizavetta
endowed with a pure and king soul, she was also a great beauty, too. At
the time they used to say there were two acknowledged beauties in Europe:
Anne of Austria, and Yelizavetta Hessen-Darmstaad. It's hardly surprising
that there were many contenders for her hand in marriage among the royal
houses of Europe. However, she herself chose Grand Prince Sergey, a close
relative to the last Russian Emperor Nikolai II. They were a most harmonious
and happy couple, indeed.
Having arrived in Russia, the Anglo-German Princess with all her heart
fell in love with her newfound homeland, adopted Orthodoxy, and became
truly Russian in spirit. With a God-given gift of love and compassion towards
her fellowmen, she spent a lot of time on charity. This particular aspect
of her activity was still further augmented when she moved to Moscow, after
her husband was appointed the town's Governor-General. The Princess helped
orphans, children of the impoverished and ill parents, and during the Russo-Japanese
war of 1904-1905 organized help for the front by putting together supplies
of medicaments and clothing. Muscovites were quick to appreciate the goodness
and charity of the Grand Princess, and referred to her as the 'Patron-Angel'
of Moscow.
1905 witnessed an event that was to have repercussions for Yelizavetta's
entire life - her dearly beloved husband died at the hands of a revolutionary-terrorist.
Despite the dreadful pain of loss, as a true devout Christian she found
it in herself to forgive her husband's assassin. After emerging from mourning,
the Grand Princess decided to depart from the dazzle of secular society
life and dedicate the rest of her life to charity work. Dipping into her
private funds, she acquired a large property in the heart of Moscow, complete
with four two-storey buildings, and a large garden, where she founded a
Convent in honor of the Holy Myrrh bearing women Marpha and Maria, and
became its Mother Superior. The Marpha-Mariinsky Convent also housed a
hospital, a dispensary, chemist, Sunday school, home for orphan girls,
soup-kitchen for the poor, and two big churches. The place did a great
deal of charity work. It annually received up to 12 thousand supplications
for help in obtaining an education, employment, caring for the sick, etc.
Yelizavetta's zealous activity won her tremendous respect in Russian society,
and in her lifetime she was acknowledged as a Saint.
The Revolutionary turmoil of 1917, that eradicated Czarist rule, didn't
spare the royal Romanov dynasty; neither did it spare the Grand Princess
Yelizavetta. She was arrested by the Bolsheviks in her Convent on the third
day after Easter of 1918, and together with the Romanov Princes, relatives
of the last Russian Emperor Nikolai II - exiled to the Urals. There, in
Yekaterinburg, the entire Royal Family were being held under arrest. Yelizavetta
asked for permission to see her sister - Empress Alexandra. But her plea
was turned down. Yelizavetta had a premonition they would never see each
other again.
She followed her road to the Calvary with humility and complete trust in
God's will. In one of the letters to the sisters of the Marpha-Mariinsky
Convent she wrote from exile:
"The Lord has decreed that it is time for us to carry His cross. We shall
try to be worthy of this great joy. I deemed we were too weak to aspire
to carrying this cross. Yet, "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh". May God's
will be realized. May the Lord's name be blessed forever."
It was obviously so decreed by God that Yelizavetta accept a martyr's death
in Alapaevsk, a small ancient town in the Urals. It was here the Grand
Princess and the Romanov Princes were secretly brought on May 20th 1918.
It's interesting that long before these events, in 1914, during her pilgrimage
across holy sites of the Urals, the Grand Princess met Hegumen Seraphim
Kuznetsov, who became her friend and spiritual Father. In 1917, when the
revolution broke out, Seraphim offered Yelizavetta Fyodorovna refuge for
some time in a safe place - the Convent outside Alapaevsk. The Grand Princess
refused the offer. Yet, it was God's will that she be brought expressly
there after her arrest...
The arrested were lodged in a Parish school on the outskirts of the town.
The building of the school has survived to our day practically unchanged.
The Grand Princess lived in one of the classes. Today it houses a memorial
museum, containing various memorabilia and photographs of the Holy Martyr.
Continuing the narrative is museum guide Maryiana Ostapenko:
"To begin with, the prisoners were treated without undue severity," - Maryana
Ostapenko says. - "They were at liberty to go out into the yard, do manual
work, exercise, attend church service. Yelizavetta made the most of her
allotted time on Earth by working hard and praying earnestly. She worked
in the garden, planted flowers, and prayed much. The locals say that when
passing the school, they frequently heard songs of prayer coming from inside."
On June 21st the life of the prisoners radically altered for the worse.
Their personal belongings were taken away, money included. They were prohibited
from going outside beyond the school gate. All the Romanovs were able to
keep were their most cherished possessions: their crosses, icons, prayer
books and photographs of their relatives. Sensing the approach of the inevitable,
Yelizavetta and her companion, the Nun Varvara prepared for death. They
prayed to God, asking Him to lend them strength in their sufferings. This
prevalent mood of foreboding and sorrow was witnessed by one woman, who
lived to our day, and died just recently in Alapaevsk. As a ten-year-old
girl, she had taken the prisoners pies, baked by her Mother. Once, Varvara
with tears in her eyes begged her to ask people to pray for the Grand Princess
and herself. She gave the girl a length of pink silk. For the remembrance
prayers. From it, the girl had a dress made, that she particularly loved.
With the Orthodox, it is customary to give away the belongings of the deceased
with the request that prayers of remembrance be said for their souls.
On the night from the 17th to the 18th of July 1918 the Commissars woke
the arrested, seated them in separate carts, and took them out of the town.
The site for the killing had been chosen in advance. This was an abandoned
mine, 12 kilometers outside Alapaevsk. At a distance from the mine, the
prisoners were told to alight and walk the rest of the route. They were
led up, one after the other, to the awning 60 meter shaft of the mine,
slugged on the head and thrown down. Only Prince Sergey put up any resistance,
and was shot...
The martyrs took three days to die from blood hemorrhage, thirst and exposure.
One local said that after the arrested had been thrown into the mine, he
could hear the singing of the Cherubial song from the depths...
The assassination of the Grand Princess Yelizavetta and the Nun Varvara,
as well as the Romanov Princes, took place exactly 24 hours after the execution
of the Royal family in Yekaterinburg.
When, in September of 1918, Alapaevsk was cleared of Bolsheviks by detachments
of the White Guard, the bodies of the Martyrs were removed from the mine.
The Grand Princess Yelizavetta was found with the icon of the Savior on
her chest. It was before this icon that she had prayed when in her death
throes. On the other side was the inscription: ‘Palm Saturday, April 18th
1891'. This date was the day the Grand Princess had adopted Orthodoxy.
On October 18th 1918 a memorial vespers was conducted by numerous clergy,
and on the following day there was yet another memorial service, to a large
turn out of believers. Afterwards the bodies of the martyrs were placed
in a vault of the St.Trinity Cathedral, on the right-hand side of the Altar.
However, they were not destined to remain there for long. Soon the Red
Army launched an offensive and the frontline moved dangerously close to
Alapaevsk. So as to avoid possible desecration of the Holy remains, it
was decided to move them to a safe place. The Grand Princess's Spiritual
father Hegumen Seraphim Kuznetsov offered to accompany them.
This was a long and arduous journey. Seraphim Kuznetsov took the remains
to the South of Siberia - Chita - where for 9 months they were kept at
Pokrov Convent. When the frontline approached those places, too, the Hegumen
moved still farther - to China. The bodies of the Romanov Princes were
buried in Beijing. The coffins with the remains of Yelizavetta and the
Nun Varvara were taken by Seraphim to Jerusalem, where they found their
resting place at the Russian church of St.Mary Magdalene. When they opened
the coffins of the martyrs, a scent of honey and jasmine wafted through
the air. The remains were in part imperishable. Thus, the Lord signaled
the holiness of the martyrs."
Such was the narrative of museum guide Maryana Ostapenko. We would like
to add that upon being endowed with martyrship by the Lord, Yelizavetta
and Varvara were canonized in 1981, moreover - first by the Russian Orthodox
Church Abroad, a church that embarked on a reverence for the martyrs almost
immediately after their death. In 1992 Yelizavetta and Varvara were canonized
by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
On the site of the Martyrs death of the Grand Princess Yelizavetta and
the Nun Varvara just outside Alapaevsk a Monastery has been erected in
the name of the New Russian Martyrs and Confessors. In September of 2000
the Monastery was visited by His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All
Russia Alexi II. Addressing those gathered, the Patriarch said: "Thank
God we have lived to see a time when history is being returned to us, when
people come to this site to recall the martyr's death of those, who suffered
here. We must strive to emulate the lives of the Saints - Martyrs Yelizavetta
and Varvara, who in their lifetime manifested a feat of love and great
charity towards their fellow people."
|