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Community of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth

Lif e
'T here will come a time when gif ted poets will write verse in praise of
the Grand Duchess, her noble soul, her radiant f eats, not only ascetic
f eats but also f eats of love and mercy. Her beautif ul and noble deeds,
her sacrif ice, a sacrif ice made on the altar of love, will never be erased
f rom the memory of human nobility and mankind will bless her as great,
f or she was wedded to love'.
Abbot Seraphim, T he Martyrs of Christian Duty, P.12, Beijing, 1920.
T he f uture Grand Duchess and New Martyr Elizabeth was born in 1864,
the second of seven children. She was the daughter of Ludwig IV,
Grand-Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt, and Princess Alice, daughter of
Queen Victoria. Since she was half English, Ella, as she was called,
of ten visited Queen Victoria in England, becoming her f avourite
granddaughter. Here she stayed at Windsor Castle, Osborne House
and also at Balmoral in Scotland. T here survives an extensive
correspondence in English with her beloved grandmother in 'dear
England'. Educated in a traditional English way by an English
governess, Ella's mother instilled in her a Christian spirit, according to
the principle of 'love thy neighbour'. As her earliest biographer, Metropolitan Anastasy, wrote: 'An English
imprint undoubtedly lay on all her tastes and habits; the English language was closer to her than her
native German'. When Princess Alice tragically died of diptheria in 1878, aged only 35, her last will was
that her cof f in be draped with the Union Jack.
In 1884, aged nineteen, Elizabeth married the Grand Duke Sergei, the son of Emperor Alexander II of
Russia in two ceremonies, one Orthodox, the other Protestant. Deeply in love with her husband, she
began to study the Russian people and culture and above all the Orthodox Faith which had moulded
them. She long hesitated to join the Orthodox Church, f or f ear of upsetting her immediate f amily who
were Lutherans. T hen af ter two years of intense study and prayer, of her own f ree will she f inally
decided to become an Orthodox Christian by conviction. She was duly received by chrismation into the
Orthodox Church on the Saturday bef ore Palm Sunday 1891. In this decision only her grandmother,
Queen Victoria, wrote her a letter f ull of encouragement and support, f or which Elizabeth replied
thanking her f or her goodness and motherly love. Elizabeth described this event in one of her many
letters in English, dated 5 January 1891, to the f uture Emperor Nicholas II. Here she described how she
had long 'continued in outward f orms to be a Protestant when my soul already belonged to the Orthodox
belief '.
Also in 1891 her deeply religious husband was appointed Governor of Moscow by Emperor Alexander III.
In 1894 her younger sister, Alexandra, married the f uture Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, with the ardent
encouragement of Elizabeth. T he Grand Duchess devoted herself to charitable work, continually caring
f or the well-being of the Russian Orthodox people, especially during the Russo-Japanese War of 19045. However, on 4 February 1905, while she was leaving her home to do charitable work, she heard a
terrible explosion. Hurrying towards where the explosion had come f rom, she saw a soldier stretching his
greatcoat over some of the remains of her husband. He had just been been killed by a terrorist bomb and
his body had literally been blown apart.
Prof oundly shocked, Elizabeth, now a childless widow, still had the moral strength to visit the arrested
assassin of her husband, a certain Kaliayev, in prison. She hoped to sof ten his heart through her

example of f orgiveness. T he murderer told her that he had on several occasions wanted to kill her
husband, but he had not been able to bring himself to touch him because she had been with him. T he
Grand Duchess gave a book of Gospels and an icon to the man, hoping against hope that he would
repent bef ore the end.
T he shock of the murder brought about a great change to Elizabeth. She withdrew f rom social lif e and
adopted a vegetarian diet. T he wound in her soul was such that she raised her eyes to look at eternity.
Closely f ollowing advice f rom bishops of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church, she devoted her lif e to
the Orthodox way of lif e. She bought a house and a large piece of land in Moscow and established a
community, devoted to St Martha and St Mary, carrying out the tasks of deaconesses, as in the early
Orthodox Church. She intended this community to become like the home of St Lazarus, which had so
of ten been visited by Christ. Several women f rom all classes joined the Grand Duchess to devote their
lives to this f oundation, tending the sick, helping the poor, taking care of the street children of Moscow.
T he Grand Duchess also established a rent-f ree hostel f or young women workers and students, a
hospital, a clinic, a school f or nurses and a soup kitchen.
From what was to become in 1909 'T he Convent of Mercy of St Martha and St Mary' the Grand Duchess
and her helpers visited the poor, did housework, took care of children, bringing peace and happiness
wherever they went. T he Grand Duchess took part in all the work done, establishing a beautif ul Convent
garden, visiting even the poorest and most dangerous parts of Moscow. As she wrote in English to Tsar
Nicholas in April 1909: 'I want to work f or God and in God f or suf f ering mankind'. She shone with the
inner light of the soul at prayer and the crowds adored her. Her lif e was ascetic, all her personal f ortune
was devoted to good works and her only travels were pilgrimages to the holy places of Russia.
In 1910 she was made Abbess of the Convent, which then housed 45 sisters. Writing of this in a letter in
English addressed to Tsar Nicholas, dated 26 March 1910, in which she warned of Rasputin who in her
opinion had clearly f allen into spiritual illusion, she said: 'I am espousing Christ and His cause, I am giving
all 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 strict
obedience to the Convent's saintly spiritual f ather, Fr Mitrophan, of
whom she had written in an English letter to Tsar Nicholas in April 1909:
'He is large, nothing of the narrow-minded bigot, all f ounded on God's
boundless love and f orgiveness - a true Orthodox priest keeping
strictly to our Church'. T he role of the Convent became particularly
important during the First German War, when there were so many in
hospital, so many to comf ort.
When the Revolution came in 1917, Abbess Elizabeth continued to live
as bef ore, attending church services, nursing the sick, caring f or the
poor. She turned down the of f er of a Swedish Cabinet Minister to
leave the country, saying that she wished to share the destiny of her
country and its people. At f irst ignored by the Bolshevik regime, on the
third day of Easter 1918 Abbess Elizabeth was ordered to leave f or
the town of Perm in the Urals. She lef t together with two nuns,
Catherine and Barbara, escorted by Latvian Guards. From here she
was moved via Ekaterinburg, where the Imperial Family, including her
sister, were held in conf inement, to the town of Alapayevsk. She
arrived here on 20 May 1918.
Abbess Elizabeth lived in captivity in Alapayevsk until the f atef ul night of 18 July 1918. It was the f eastday of St Sergius of Radonezh, her husband's namesday. On that night she, Sister Barbara, f ive
members of the Imperial Family and a secretary, were taken to a mine and there martyred, f irst being
blindf 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 herself and said: 'Lord, f orgive them, f or they know not what
they do'. T he murderers then tossed in hand grenades, but hearing the hymn,' O Lord, save T hy
people...', they panicked and soon lef t. It is recorded that two of the murderers became insane shortly

af ter their horrible crime. A peasant eyewitness reported that f or hours af terwards he heard Abbess
Elizabeth, mortally wounded, singing the Cherubic Hymn, hymns f rom the f uneral service and hymns
giving thanks to God and glorif ying Him. T hese 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 of Abbess Elizabeth. T hey f ound her not at the bottom of the 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 same
ledge near the Grand Duchess' intact body there were two unexploded grenades and on her chest an
icon of Christ. T his was the icon of the Saviour Not-Made-By-Hands. T his had been given to her,
probably by the Emperor Alexander III, on the day of her reception into the Orthodox Church on 13 April
1891. (It is now kept in the Russian Orthodox Memorial Church in Brussels). She had been lying next to
the Grand Duke John and it was f ound that she had attempted to dress his wounds bef ore herself
expiring.
By order of the White General Admiral Kolchak, the bodies were all removed to the Cathedral in the
nearby town of Alapayevsk on 1 November 1918. In 1919, the White Army, then in retreat, took the
cof f ins with the bodies to Siberia and then in 1920 to China. T he body of Abbess Elizabeth remained
incorrupt. On 3 April that year the cof f ins were placed in St Seraphim's church in Beijing. However, f rom
here they were removed to Palestine, thanks in part to the ef f orts of Elizabeth's elder sister, Victoria,
Marquess of Milf ord Haven. On 15/28 January 1921, the relics were solemnly met in Jerusalem by
Patriarch Damian, Russian and Greek clergy, members of the British authorities and innumerable
Orthodox f aithf ul. Here Abbess Elizabeth was buried in the church of St Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane.
In 1888, bef ore ever becoming Orthodox, the Grand Duchess had already expressed the desire to be
buried here. T his had been at the consecration of that very church, where she had gone with her
husband, who was President of the Russian Palestine Society.
'Like a beautif ul apparition, she passed through the world, leaving behind her a radiant trail' So wrote
Abbess Elizabeth's early biographer, Metropolitan Anastasy. 'Together with the others who suf f ered f or
their homeland, she is both the atonement of the f ormer Russia and the f oundation of the Russia to
come, which will be built on the relics of the holy New Martyrs... Not in vain had the voice of the Russian
people proclaimed her to be a saint while she was still alive. As if to reward her f or her glorious deeds on
earth, and especially f or her love of Holy Russia, her martyred remains were destined to rest near the
very place of the Suf f erings and Resurrection of the Saviour'.
Abbess Elizabeth was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1981, which
canonisation was later recognised by the Church inside Russia when it became f ree to do so in the
1990's.
Holy New Martyr Elizabeth, pray to God f or us!
Fr Andrew Phillips
16/29 December 2002
T he text is taken f rom the Orthodox England website
and published with the permission of the author.
On 17th of February (4th old style) we pray f or the repose of the soul of Grand Duke Sergei
Alexandrovich the husband of Holy Martyr Elizabeth who was assassinated on that day in the year 1905
by terrorist Kaliaev, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary party. Below we publish two f ragments f rom
the Diary of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and f rom the memoir of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna,
the niece of Grand 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 was
killed instantly - blown to pieces! No it is simply not possible! Poor Ella, how desperately sorry I am f or
her, what unimaginable grief , and there all on her own. I so want to go to her, be there with her, the poor
thing, at this terrible time. At 5.30 we went to Tsarskoe and f ound everybody gathered, Alix of course
wants to go, Mama too, but they were dissuaded - it's just too great risk,although it seems awf ul to

leave poor Ella quite alone it's too unbearable to contemplate!

(Diary of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna f or 1905. See in "Nicolas & Alexandra", London, 1999,
p.294)
Suddenly we heard a terrible explosion which rattled the windows. T he silence that f ollowed was so
oppressive that f or several seconds we could not move or even look to each other....My aunt ran out of
the house, the cloak thrown over her shoulders... She rushed to where the body was lying in the snow.
She gathered f ragments of dismembered f lesh and placed them on an ordinary army stretcher which had
been hurriedly f etched f rom a nearby workshop. Soldiers f rom the barracks opposite covered the body
with their greatcoats; then, lif ting the stretcher onto their shoulders, they carried the corpse to the
Chudov 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 by
the stretcher. Her bright dress looked out of place against the modest garments surrounding her. I did
not dare look at her. Her f ace was white, her expression one of extraordinary, 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 "T hings I remember", London, 1930, pp. 67-70)

Holy New-Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth in Eastbourne

T he local newspapers of the 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 of her
second daughter, Princess Alice, the Grand Duchess of Hesse and mother of Saint Elizabeth. As the
Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse had little spare money, the Queen arranged f or the couple and their
children 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. T his was owned by the 7th Duke of Devonshire who
had laid out most of the seaside area of Eastbourne. Later the Hessian Royal Family lived at his
beautif ul 18th century residence called Compton Place, a little way inland. T he f irst f ew weeks of the
holiday seem to have been quiet, the papers only mentioning a visit paid by the Grand Duke and Grand
Duchess to Hastings, where they saw the pier (now demolished) at St Leonards-on-Sea.
However this period of rest was not to last because Princess Alice always liked to involve herself in
charitable and philanthropic activities wherever she went and to teach at least her older children to do the
same. Such memories must have impressed themselves upon her children even though their mother died
when they were so young.
On 6th of August, she and her children watched a f estival and games organised f or the poorer schools
of Eastbourne. Alice's son, Prince Ernst Ludwig, who was ten, joined in the races and gave pocket knives
as prizes. On the same day Princess Alice presented prizes at Eastbourne College. Af terwards, the local
newspapers expressed their gratitude to the princess and her f amily f or drawing Eastbourne's
attractions to British holiday makers!
T he next social event, the Eastbourne Flower Show on 20th August, was attended only by the Royal
children, as their mother was unwell but on 27th, the entire f amily opened and attended a Grand Bazaar
in aid of the building of All Saints Church in a poor quarter of the town. Here is the f irst specif ic mention
of the presence of Princess Elizabeth, who was f ourteen at the time. Also present was Alix, later the
New-Martyr and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who was only six. All Saints Church was not
consecrated until the f ollowing year and during their stay the f amily worshipped at Christ Church in the
f ishermen's quarter. Here the Grand Duchess and her children visited the Day and Sunday Schools of the
parish and the poor in their homes. Princess Alice's stay is commemorated in a window above the altar
which was completed in 1884.
By September, the Royal visitors, had become extremely popular and well-known in Eastbourne and on
the 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 rom
nursing her children who had caught the terrible disease. She died on 13th December though all but one
of the sick children survived.
In 1879, the children again stayed in Eastbourne, this time f or their own health's sake, but it seems to
have been a visit with no public engagements at all.
In 1882 the f oundation stone was laid of the Princess Alice hospital in Eastbourne f unded by her sisters
and built in memory of her happy holiday. T he hospital survived until 1996.