Elizabeth (Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt and by Rhine) was born a German princess and, after marriage, Elizabeth Feodorovna, Grand Duchess of the House of Romanovs. Throughout her life, she helped the suffering. After her martyrdom during the Russian revolution, Elizabeth was canonized as a saint. Today, a sculpture of her is located among the martyrs of the 20th century on the façade of Westminster Abbey in London.
Scroll down to see more
Press photo
Elizabeth was born a German princess and was the second daughter of the Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and the British Princess Alice, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Throughout her life, she helped the suffering. After her martyrdom during the Russian revolution, Elizabeth was canonized as a saint. She was called the most beautiful princess of Europe.
Press photo
From her childhood, Elizabeth was religious and participated in charitable activities together with her mother. Living in solitude, the German princess appeared not to strive towards marriage.
Press photo
All of Elizabeth's suitors in marriage were rejected. That is, of course, until she met Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II. At the age of twenty, Elizabeth became engaged to the great duke and later became his wife. / Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov.
Press photo
Elizabeth tried her best to know Russia's language and traditions. And soon, she mastered them both. / Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse with his daughters, Ella (right) and Alix (left). 1881
Press photo
Sergei Alexandrovich was a sincerely religious person. Her husband's example so significantly influenced Elizabeth that she decided to accept Russian Orthodox Christianity, despite the objections of her father and family in Darmstadt.
Press photo
As the General Governor of Moscow's wife (Grand Duke Sergei was appointed to this post in 1891), she organized the Elizabethan Charitable Society in 1892. / Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich in ethnic Russian costumes for a costume ball at the Winter Palace.
Press photo
The society's activity soon spread to the entire Moscow province. The Elizabethan Committees were formed from all Moscow parishes. In addition to that, Elizabeth headed the Women's Committee of the Red Cross.
Press photo
After the start of the Russo-Japanese War, Elizabeth Feodorovna organized the Special Committee to Help Soldiers under which a donation center was created in the Grand Kremlin Palace: here bandages were stored, clothes were sewn, packages gathered, and ambulatory churches created.
Press photo
The country was gradually gripped by terrorist attacks, protests, and strikes... revolution was imminent. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich considered that tougher measures should be taken against the revolutionaries, but he submitted his resignation.
Press photo
Nevertheless, the Socialist-Revolutionary (SR) Combat Committee sentenced Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich to death. On February 18, 1905, he was killed by a bomb, thrown by the terrorist Ivan Kalyayev.
Press photo
Soon after her husband's death, Elizabeth sold her valuables (returning the part of them that belonged to the Romanov dynasty to the treasury) and used the money she received to buy an estate on Bolshaya Ordynka Street with four houses and a spacious garden where she established the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in 1909.
Press photo
After taking up residence in the convent, Elizabeth Feodorovna led an ascetic life: by night, she would care for the gravely ill and read the Book of Psalms over the day; by day, she worked side by side with her sisters walking through Moscow's poorest districts./ Elizabeth Feodorovna dressed in the garb of a Marfo-Mariinsky Convent nun.
Press photo
She would visit Khitrov Market, the most criminal place in Moscow at that time, rescuing young children from there.
Elizabeth refused to leave Russia after the Bolsheviks came to power. In the spring of 1918 she was arrested and exiled from Moscow to Perm. In May 1918, she was taken to Yekaterinburg along with other members of the House of Romanov. / Vera I. Glazunova. "The Great Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna." Thesis work. 1997
Press photo
Two months later, they were sent to the city of Alapayevsk. On the night of July 5, 1918, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was murdered by the Bolsheviks: she and other members of the Romanov family were thrown into the Novaya Selimskaya mine, 18 km from Alapayevsk.
Press photo
In 1992, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Grand Duchess Elizabeth as a saint. / Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, painted by Friedrich August von Kaulbach.
Press photo
Ten 20th-century Christian martyrs from across the world are depicted in statues on the facade of Westminster Abbey, above the Great West Door, in London; the fourth from the left is Grand Duchess St. Elizabeth of Russia. / Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Sculpture. Westminster Abbey, London.
.jpg)
