gdelizabet h.org.uk http://www.gdelizabeth.org.uk/html/st_elizabeth.shtmlCommunity of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess ElizabethLif e'There will come a time when gif ted poets will write verse in praise ofthe Grand Duchess, her noble soul, her radiant f eats, not only asceticf eats but also f eats oflove and mercy. Her beautif ul and noble deeds,her sacrif ice, a sacrif ice made on the altar oflove, will never be erasedf rom the memory ofhuman nobility and mankind will bless her as great,f or she was wedded to love'.Abbot Seraphim, The Martyrs ofChristian Duty, P.12, Beijing, 1920.The f uture Grand Duchess and New Martyr Elizabeth was born in 1864,the second ofseven children. She was the daughter ofLudwig IV,Grand-Duke ofHessen-Darmstadt, and Princess Alice, daughter ofQueen Victoria. Since she was halfEnglish, Ella, as she was called,of ten visited Queen Victoria in England, becoming her f avouritegranddaughter. Here she stayed at Windsor Castle, Osborne Houseand also at Balmoral in Scotland. There survives an extensivecorrespondence in English with her beloved grandmother in 'dearEngland'. Educated in a traditional English way by an Englishgoverness, Ella's mother instilled in her a Christian spirit, according tothe principle of'love thy neighbour'. As her earliest biographer, Metropolitan Anastasy, wrote: 'An Englishimprint undoubtedly lay on all her tastes and habits; the English language was closer to her than hernative German'. When Princess Alice tragically died ofdiptheria in 1878, aged only 35, her last will wasthat her cof f in be draped with the Union Jack.In 1884, aged nineteen, Elizabeth married the Grand Duke Sergei, the son ofEmperor Alexander II ofRussia in two ceremonies, one Orthodox, the other Protestant. Deeply in love with her husband, shebegan to study the Russian people and culture and above all the Orthodox Faith which had mouldedthem. She long hesitated to join the Orthodox Church, f or f ear ofupsetting her immediate f amily whowere Lutherans. Then af ter two years ofintense study and prayer, ofher own f ree will she f inallydecided to become an Orthodox Christian by conviction. She was duly received by chrismation into theOrthodox Church on the Saturday bef ore Palm Sunday 1891. In this decision only her grandmother,Queen Victoria, wrote her a letter f ull ofencouragement and support, f or which Elizabeth repliedthanking her f or her goodness and motherly love. Elizabeth described this event in one ofher manyletters in English, dated 5 January 1891, to the f uture Emperor Nicholas II. Here she described how shehad long 'continued in outward f orms to be a Protestant when my soul already belonged to the Orthodoxbelief '.Also in 1891 her deeply religious husband was appointed Governor ofMoscow by Emperor Alexander III.In 1894 her younger sister, Alexandra, married the f uture Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, with the ardentencouragement ofElizabeth. The Grand Duchess devoted herselfto charitable work, continually caringf or the well-being ofthe Russian Orthodox people, especially during the Russo-Japanese War of1904-5. However, on 4 February 1905, while she was leaving her home to do charitable work, she heard aterrible explosion. Hurrying towards where the explosion had come f rom, she saw a soldier stretching hisgreatcoat over some ofthe remains ofher husband. He had just been been killed by a terrorist bomb andhis body had literally been blown apart.Prof oundly shocked, Elizabeth, now a childless widow, still had the moral strength to visit the arrestedassassin ofher husband, a certain Kaliayev, in prison. She hoped to sof ten his heart through herexample off orgiveness. The murderer told her that he had on several occasions wanted to kill herhusband, but he had not been able to bring himselfto touch him because she had been with him. TheGrand Duchess gave a book ofGospels and an icon to the man, hoping against hope that he wouldrepent bef ore the end.The shock ofthe murder brought about a great change to Elizabeth. She withdrew f rom social lif e andadopted a vegetarian diet. The wound in her soul was such that she raised her eyes to look at eternity.Closely f ollowing advice f rom bishops ofthe Holy Synod ofthe Russian Church, she devoted her lif e tothe Orthodox way oflif e. She bought a house and a large piece ofland in Moscow and established acommunity, devoted to St Martha and St Mary, carrying out the tasks ofdeaconesses, as in the earlyOrthodox Church. She intended this community to become like the home ofSt Lazarus, which had soof ten been visited by Christ. Several women f rom all classes joined the Grand Duchess to devote theirlives to this f oundation, tending the sick, helping the poor, taking care ofthe street children ofMoscow.The Grand Duchess also established a rent-f ree hostel f or young women workers and students, ahospital, a clinic, a school f or nurses and a soup kitchen.From what was to become in 1909 'The Convent ofMercy ofSt Martha and St Mary' the Grand Duchessand her helpers visited the poor, did housework, took care ofchildren, bringing peace and happinesswherever they went. The Grand Duchess took part in all the work done, establishing a beautif ul Conventgarden, visiting even the poorest and most dangerous parts ofMoscow. As she wrote in English to TsarNicholas in April 1909: 'I want to work f or God and in God f or suf f ering mankind'. She shone with theinner light ofthe soul at prayer and the crowds adored her. Her lif e was ascetic, all her personal f ortunewas devoted to good works and her only travels were pilgrimages to the holy places ofRussia.In 1910 she was made Abbess ofthe Convent, which then housed 45 sisters. Writing ofthis in a letter inEnglish addressed to Tsar Nicholas, dated 26 March 1910, in which she warned ofRasputin who in heropinion had clearly f allen into spiritual illusion, she said: 'I am espousing Christ and His cause, I am givingall I can to Him and our neighbours, I am going deeper into our Orthodox Church'.In the Convent she learned to practise the Jesus Prayer under strictobedience to the Convent's saintly spiritual f ather, Fr Mitrophan, ofwhom she had written in an English letter to Tsar Nicholas in April 1909:'He is large, nothing ofthe narrow-minded bigot, all f ounded on God'sboundless love and f orgiveness - a true Orthodox priest keepingstrictly to our Church'. The role ofthe Convent became particularlyimportant during the First German War, when there were so many inhospital, so many to comf ort.When the Revolution came in 1917, Abbess Elizabeth continued to liveas bef ore, attending church services, nursing the sick, caring f or thepoor. She turned down the of f er ofa Swedish Cabinet Minister toleave the country, saying that she wished to share the destiny ofhercountry and its people. At f irst ignored by the Bolshevik regime, on thethird day ofEaster 1918 Abbess Elizabeth was ordered to leave f orthe town ofPerm in the Urals. She lef t together with two nuns,Catherine and Barbara, escorted by Latvian Guards. From here shewas moved via Ekaterinburg, where the Imperial Family, including hersister, were held in conf inement, to the town ofAlapayevsk. Shearrived here on 20 May 1918.Abbess Elizabeth lived in captivity in Alapayevsk until the f atef ul night of18 July 1918. It was the f east-day ofSt Sergius ofRadonezh, her husband's namesday. On that night she, Sister Barbara, f ivemembers ofthe Imperial Family and a secretary, were taken to a mine and there martyred, f irst beingblindf olded, beaten and then thrown alive into the mine-shaf t. First to be thrown in was Abbess Elizabeth.As they seized her, she prayed, crossed herselfand said: 'Lord, f orgive them, f or they know not whatthey do'. The murderers then tossed in hand grenades, but hearing the hymn,' O Lord, save Thypeople...', they panicked and soon lef t. It is recorded that two ofthe murderers became insane shortlyaf ter their horrible crime. A peasant eyewitness reported that f or hours af terwards he heard AbbessElizabeth, mortally wounded, singing the Cherubic Hymn, hymns f rom the f uneral service and hymnsgiving thanks to God and glorif ying Him. These hymns continued into the f ollowing day.When in September the White Army liberated Alapayevsk and f ound the mine, they removed the bodies,including that ofAbbess Elizabeth. They f ound her not at the bottom ofthe 200-f oot deep mine-shaf t,but on a ledge about f if ty f eet down. Only one body had been torn apart by the grenades. On the sameledge near the Grand Duchess' intact body there were two unexploded grenades and on her chest anicon ofChrist. This was the icon ofthe Saviour Not-Made-By-Hands. This had been given to her,probably by the Emperor Alexander III, on the day ofher reception into the Orthodox Church on 13 April1891. (It is now kept in the Russian Orthodox Memorial Church in Brussels). She had been lying next tothe Grand Duke John and it was f ound that she had attempted to dress his wounds bef ore herselfexpiring.By order ofthe White General Admiral Kolchak, the bodies were all removed to the Cathedral in thenearby town ofAlapayevsk on 1 November 1918. In 1919, the White Army, then in retreat, took thecof f ins with the bodies to Siberia and then in 1920 to China. The body ofAbbess Elizabeth remainedincorrupt. On 3 April that year the cof f ins were placed in St Seraphim's church in Beijing. However, f romhere they were removed to Palestine, thanks in part to the ef f orts ofElizabeth's elder sister, Victoria,Marquess ofMilf ord Haven. On 15/28 January 1921, the relics were solemnly met in Jerusalem byPatriarch Damian, Russian and Greek clergy, members ofthe British authorities and innumerableOrthodox f aithf ul. Here Abbess Elizabeth was buried in the church ofSt Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane.In 1888, bef ore ever becoming Orthodox, the Grand Duchess had already expressed the desire to beburied here. This had been at the consecration ofthat very church, where she had gone with herhusband, who was President ofthe Russian Palestine Society.'Like a beautif ul apparition, she passed through the world, leaving behind her a radiant trail' So wroteAbbess Elizabeth's early biographer, Metropolitan Anastasy. 'Together with the others who suf f ered f ortheir homeland, she is both the atonement ofthe f ormer Russia and the f oundation ofthe Russia tocome, which will be built on the relics ofthe holy New Martyrs... Not in vain had the voice ofthe Russianpeople proclaimed her to be a saint while she was still alive. As ifto reward her f or her glorious deeds onearth, and especially f or her love ofHoly Russia, her martyred remains were destined to rest near thevery place ofthe Suf f erings and Resurrection ofthe Saviour'.Abbess Elizabeth was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1981, whichcanonisation was later recognised by the Church inside Russia when it became f ree to do so in the1990's.Holy New Martyr Elizabeth, pray to God f or us!Fr Andrew Phillips16/29 December 2002The text is taken f rom the Orthodox England website and published with the permission ofthe author.On 17th ofFebruary (4th old style) we pray f or the repose ofthe soul ofGrand Duke SergeiAlexandrovich the husband ofHoly Martyr Elizabeth who was assassinated on that day in the year 1905by terrorist Kaliaev, a member ofthe Socialist Revolutionary party. Below we publish two f ragments f romthe Diary ofGrand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and f rom the memoir ofGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna,the niece ofGrand Duchess Elizabeth, who lived with GD Elizabeth an GD Sergei all her childhood.4 February, St Petersburg. Poor Uncle Sergei was killed in Moscow this Af ternoon! It is simply terrible -awf ul, sad and shamef ul. he was riding out in his carriage when some swine shrew a bomb and he waskilled instantly - blown to pieces! No it is simply not possible! Poor Ella, how desperately sorry I am f orher, what unimaginable grief , and there all on her own. I so want to go to her, be there with her, the poorthing, at this terrible time. At 5.30 we went to Tsarskoe and f ound everybody gathered, Alix ofcoursewants to go, Mama too, but they were dissuaded - it's just too great risk,although it seems awf ul toleave poor Ella quite alone it's too unbearable to contemplate!(Diary ofGrand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna f or 1905. See in "Nicolas & Alexandra", London, 1999,p.294)Suddenly we heard a terrible explosion which rattled the windows. The silence that f ollowed was sooppressive that f or several seconds we could not move or even look to each other....My aunt ran out ofthe house, the cloak thrown over her shoulders... She rushed to where the body was lying in the snow.She gathered f ragments ofdismembered f lesh and placed them on an ordinary army stretcher which hadbeen hurriedly f etched f rom a nearby workshop. Soldiers f rom the barracks opposite covered the bodywith their greatcoats; then, lif ting the stretcher onto their shoulders, they carried the corpse to theChudov monastery and took it into the church, next door to the palace entrance where we were staying.... the church was f illed to bursting; everyone was kneeling, many were in tears. ... My aunt was kneeling bythe stretcher. Her bright dress looked out ofplace against the modest garments surrounding her. I didnot dare look at her. Her f ace was white, her expression one ofextraordinary, utterly striking, immobility.She was not weeping, but the look in her eyes made an expression on me that I will never f orget.(Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna "Things I remember", London, 1930, pp. 67-70)Holy New-Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth in EastbourneThe local newspapers ofthe period reveal that as a child, our Saint visited East Sussex in the year 1878.It happened in this way. Queen Victoria was becoming increasingly concerned about the health ofhersecond daughter, Princess Alice, the Grand Duchess ofHesse and mother ofSaint Elizabeth. As theGrand Duke Ludwig ofHesse had little spare money, the Queen arranged f or the couple and theirchildren to have a restf ul summer holiday in Eastbourne paid f or by herself .Princess Alice arrived by train with her husband and children and went straight to High Clif f e House,number 25 on Grand Parade, where they stayed. This was owned by the 7th Duke ofDevonshire whohad laid out most ofthe seaside area ofEastbourne. Later the Hessian Royal Family lived at hisbeautif ul 18th century residence called Compton Place, a little way inland. The f irst f ew weeks oftheholiday seem to have been quiet, the papers only mentioning a visit paid by the Grand Duke and GrandDuchess to Hastings, where they saw the pier (now demolished) at St Leonards-on-Sea.However this period ofrest was not to last because Princess Alice always liked to involve herselfincharitable and philanthropic activities wherever she went and to teach at least her older children to do thesame. Such memories must have impressed themselves upon her children even though their mother diedwhen they were so young.On 6th ofAugust, she and her children watched a f estival and games organised f or the poorer schoolsofEastbourne. Alice's son, Prince Ernst Ludwig, who was ten, joined in the races and gave pocket knivesas prizes. On the same day Princess Alice presented prizes at Eastbourne College. Af terwards, the localnewspapers expressed their gratitude to the princess and her f amily f or drawing Eastbourne'sattractions to British holiday makers!The next social event, the Eastbourne Flower Show on 20th August, was attended only by the Royalchildren, as their mother was unwell but on 27th, the entire f amily opened and attended a Grand Bazaarin aid ofthe building ofAll Saints Church in a poor quarter ofthe town. Here is the f irst specif ic mentionofthe presence ofPrincess Elizabeth, who was f ourteen at the time. Also present was Alix, later theNew-Martyr and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who was only six. All Saints Church was notconsecrated until the f ollowing year and during their stay the f amily worshipped at Christ Church in thef ishermen's quarter. Here the Grand Duchess and her children visited the Day and Sunday Schools oftheparish and the poor in their homes. Princess Alice's stay is commemorated in a window above the altarwhich was completed in 1884.By September, the Royal visitors, had become extremely popular and well-known in Eastbourne and onthe 3rd the newspapers note with satisf action that they were prolonging their stay by a f ortnight.Sadly, Princess Alice died in the same year, af ter her return to Damstadt. She contracted diphtheria f romnursing her children who had caught the terrible disease. She died on 13th December though all but oneofthe sick children survived.In 1879, the children again stayed in Eastbourne, this time f or their own health's sake, but it seems tohave been a visit with no public engagements at all.In 1882 the f oundation stone was laid ofthe Princess Alice hospital in Eastbourne f unded by her sistersand built in memory ofher happy holiday. The hospital survived until 1996.