Vladimir Fedorovich Dzhunkovsky (1865 - 1938) was an outstanding statesman of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. He is known to historians as the Moscow governor (1905-1912), deputy minister of internal affairs and commander of the Separate Gendarme Corps (1913-1915), and also as the author of multi-volume memoirs - a kind of chronicle of late imperial Russia. Dzhunkovsky's memoirs cover the period from 1865 to 1917. Memoirs for 1905-1915 were published in 1997.
However, a very interesting period of Vladimir Fedorovich's life associated with his formation as a statesman remained outside the scope of this two-volume edition. From 1892 to 1905, Dzhunkovsky acted as adjutant to the Moscow Governor-General, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and constantly communicated with both the Grand Duke and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. Dzhunkovsky's memoirs, as well as his correspondence with his sister Evdokia Fedorovna, allow one to penetrate into the world of friendly communication that has developed between Vladimir Fedorovich and the grand ducal couple, to see those informal episodes of this communication that best characterize the personalities of its participants.
It should be said that the Dzhunkovsky family was officially recorded in the Noble Book of the Poltava province only in 1845. Under the coat of arms, the motto was written in Latin - “Deo et Proximo”, which means “To God and the Neighbor”. The motto of the Dzhunkovsky family in an abbreviated form reproduced the two main commandments left by the Savior.
“This motto,” wrote Vladimir Fedorovich, “my parents carefully kept in their hearts and followed it throughout their lives, trying to educate us in the same spirit, and if any of us did not observe it in all strictness, then this is our fault. no longer our parents, but ourselves.”
The family motto was organically supplemented by the commandments of the Knights of Malta, on which he was brought up in His Imperial Majesty's Corps of Pages, an elite military educational institution where Vladimir Fedorovich received his education.
Serving as an aide-de-camp to the Moscow governor-general, the orders that Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich gave him, allowed Vladimir Fedorovich not only to develop administrative abilities, but also to realize the motto of the clan. In the future, in the activities of Dzhunkovsky, in his attitude towards his subordinates and the population, there was always Christian mercy, the desire for a moral justification of his powers of authority. It seems that in this sense he was also influenced by communication with the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, those examples of a merciful attitude towards his neighbor, which he could observe in relation to himself.
In 1884, after graduating from the Corps of Pages, Vladimir Fedorovich was released into the Preobrazhensky Regiment, commanded by Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Relations with the regiment commander and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, developed well. Subordination on the part of Dzhunkovsky in relation to them as representatives of the Royal House was never violated, however, these relations later grew from official to friendly.
Elizaveta Feodorovna struck Dzhunkovsky with her beauty even during her wedding with Grand Duke Sergei in 1882, when he accompanied her carriage as a page.
“Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was charming, she spoke to everyone with such attention, so captivated with her beauty, grace, with amazing modesty and simplicity, that it was impossible to look at her except with admiration,” recalled Vladimir Fedorovich. In his archive, a poem by the poet K.R. :
I look at you, admiring every hour.
You are so unspeakably good!
Oh, right under such a beautiful exterior
Such a beautiful soul!
in Ilyinsky. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, surrounded by the faces of their retinue.
Right: V.S. Gadon (standing), V.F. Dzhunkovsky (sitting), Count F.F. Sumarokov-Elston.
To the left of the Grand Duke is Princess Z.N. Yusupov. (GA RF. F. 826. Op.1.D. 889.L.2.)
Dzhunkovsky's position could have changed significantly as early as 1886, when he was first hinted at the possibility of becoming an aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Bowing to the Grand Duke on the occasion of leaving on vacation, he unexpectedly received an invitation to stop by for a few days at Ilinskoye, and the Grand Duke took his word from him to telegraph to send horses for him. Dzhunkovsky, not without embarrassment, drove up to the estate and felt very embarrassed at first, from excitement he spilled vodka on the tablecloth during dinner, despite the fact that the atmosphere in which he found himself was the most friendly. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna said that she had already been waiting for him all these days. Gradually, thanks to the naturalness with which the grand ducal couple behaved, his stiffness passed. “I was struck by the simplicity with which Their Highnesses behaved, from the very first evening I did not feel not only fear, but also any embarrassment, everything was so simple, family, no one got up when the Grand Duchess or Grand Duke passed, just like in a simple family house, even simpler than in other aristocratic houses. I was always struck by the special simplicity that was characteristic of the members of the imperial house outside of official receptions, ”recalled Vladimir Fedorovich.
During his stay in Ilyinsky, Professor V.P. Bezobrazov, a former teacher of political economy at the Grand Duke, asked Dzhunkovsky how he would react to the proposal to become the adjutant of the Grand Duke, "because, in essence, this position is unpleasant, lackey."
“I answered,” Dzhunkovsky wrote, “that I would consider it a great honor if the choice fell on me<…>that you can bring a lot of benefits by occupying such a position that everything depends on yourself, you just don’t need to lose your self and behave with dignity, then the position of adjutant will be far from being a lackey. Bezobrazov's words made a strong impression on him and made him think that his peace of mind was disturbed by these thoughts. “On the one hand, this kind of appointment flattered my pride, on the other hand, it was terribly painful for me to leave military service in the regiment, which I more than liked, which I was fond of and found satisfaction in regimental life,” he recalled.
Subsequently, it turned out that the Grand Duke really had such thoughts, and that is why Dzhunkovsky was invited to Ilinskoye. However, at the same time, Countess Tizenhausen asked for her nephew Count Sumarokov-Elston, who was appointed to this position. “I think it saved me. If I then, at such a young age, would have been appointed adjutant, - Dzhunkovsky wrote, - then nothing decent would have come of me. I didn’t know life at all then, and court life would have captured me in everything.<…>she would suck me. And I thank God that this did not happen then.
On February 9, 1891, the Grand Duke was appointed Governor-General of Moscow. On the day of the surrender of the regiment, he gave an order in which he said goodbye to the regiment and "surprisingly cordially, not stereotyped, thanked everyone for their service." Dzhunkovsky expected to be appointed to the post of adjutant of the governor-general, since throughout his entire service he enjoyed great attention from the Grand Duke.
However, the proposal followed only at the end of December. Moreover, before agreeing, Vladimir Fedorovich turned to the Grand Duke with a request to receive his mother's blessing. “The Grand Duke treated me like his own,” he recalled, “and touched me very much, saying that without the blessing of my mother I should not decide anything.<…>As a result, my mother blessed me for this step. On December 14, 1891, the Supreme Order on the appointment of Dzhunkovsky took place. The lower ranks of the company in which Vladimir Fedorovich served blessed him with the image of St. Vladimir. Dzhunkovsky received a reception from Emperor Alexander III, who asked him to convey his regards to his brother. Empress Maria Feodorovna also expressed her pleasure at his appointment. But Vladimir Fedorovich himself was restless in his soul, it seemed to him that he had betrayed the regiment, the new life was embarrassing with complete uncertainty.
December 26, 1891 Dzhunkovsky arrived in Moscow. Right from the station, he went to bow to the icon of the Iberian Mother of God on Red Square. Then he went to Neskuchnoye, the residence of the Grand Duke, who, according to Vladimir Fedorovich, “moved him to tears,” accepting him as his own. “He hugged me, kissed me, saying that he was very happy to see me at his place, sat me down and talked with me for half an hour, asking with the most cordial participation about everything: how I parted with the regiment, how I left my loved ones, how my mother’s health and etc.,” Dzhunkovsky recalled. At about one in the afternoon, an invitation to the Grand Duchess followed, who also accepted him as her own.
“She was surprisingly sweet and attractive,” Vladimir Fedorovich wrote in his memoirs, “it seemed to me that she had become even prettier. At breakfast she seated me next to her.
In Neskuchny at that time lived the nephews of Sergei Alexandrovich - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. The Grand Duke treated them "as the most tender, loving father, and he and the Grand Duchess surrounded the children with the most touching cares."
Dzhunkovsky made a detailed plan of his new apartment for his elder sister Evdokia Fedorovna, for which she thanked him in a letter dated February 18, 1892, and added: “Forgive me that I have not yet fulfilled your order about the photo of V. Kn. El. Fed. “I will do it today.”
in Ilyinsky. The interior of Evdokia Feodorovna's room.
Portrait of V.F. Dzhunkovsky, written by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. (GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 1009. L. 29.)
On January 5, having come to dinner at 8 pm, Dzhunkovsky was very embarrassed, seeing only three devices, it turned out that Stenbock, Gadon and Stepanov had left for the English Club, and Princess Trubetskaya went to her sister. “I thought if I had made a faux pas that I hadn’t gone somewhere either, and when Their Majesties went into the dining room, I apologized that I didn’t know that everyone had left,” Vladimir Fedorovich recalled. - The Grand Duke, noticing my embarrassment, said very affectionately: “On the contrary, it’s very good that you stayed, at least we are not alone.” But still, having dinner with the three of us, I was somehow embarrassed<…>". After dinner, the Grand Duke went to study in his office. Dzhunkovsky was left alone with the Grand Duchess. “I was extremely shy, it seemed to me that maybe she wanted to either read a book or write a letter, but because of me she sits and works,” he wrote in his memoirs. - Due to my embarrassment, I did not know where to start the conversation, and we were silent for a while. But then she spoke, began to remember England, and told me a lot about life in England that was completely new and extremely interesting to me, about her grandmother Queen Victoria, and so on. The two hours that I sat with the Grand Duchess doubly passed unnoticed. Then the Grand Duke came, tea was served and soon dispersed.
Court secular life and the routine duties of an adjutant never attracted Vladimir Fedorovich. “Such a monotonous idle life far from satisfied me and weighed me down very much, which did not escape the Grand Duchess and the sensitive Grand Duke, who always looked for some assignment for me so that I would not be so sad.<…>they often wondered why I was dissatisfied.<…>then they got used to the idea that a real courtier would never come out of me, that I would always look into the forest, and they no longer struggled with this, but on the contrary tried to make life easier for me in this regard, ”he recalled.
From the very beginning of his service, the Grand Duke gave Dzhunkovsky special assignments in which he could prove himself as an administrator and organizer, and when describing each such assignment, Vladimir Fedorovich noted how happy he was to escape from the court environment. The first task was directly related to helping the near and national disaster - the famine relief campaign of 1891-1892.
Already in February 1892, Dzhunkovsky was sent to the Saratov province as an authorized representative of the Committee of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna for the distribution of assistance among the starving.
Dzhunkovsky was supposed to visit the counties affected by crop failure, check the needs on the ground, and distribute the assistance sent from the Committee.
Evdokia Feodorovna wrote to him on February 23, 1892: “Druzhok, Vadyusha, we beg you, take care of your health, think about your dear mother all the time, who, of course, will mentally accompany you everywhere and worry about your health. - Of course, Vadyusha, each of us should be happy to help our neighbor, and you can undoubtedly bring a lot of benefits, but it’s hard for us to let you out of the house, not to equip you for the journey. The blessing of the Lord be upon you; pray to the Lord and we will pray for you every minute<…>Bring a warm sweatshirt and warm clothes in general, this is necessary. Take your mattress with you."
Dzhunkovsky successfully fulfilled the assignment given to him. Approval of this trip was expressed to him by his elder brother Nikolai: “I think that you have fulfilled the assignment given to you in the best possible way to distribute money, bread and hay<…>because I know your attitude to every task entrusted to you, and since actions are animated by love for the task, it will be good.
December 14, 1892 marked exactly one year since the appointment of Dzhunkovsky as adjutant to the Grand Duke, and it was the day he was on duty. "<…>when I entered the office to report on the arrival of Prince Shcherbatov,” he wrote in his memoirs, “the Grand Duke told me that he congratulated himself on the anniversary of my appointment to him. These words confused me and moved me to tears, I was completely at a loss.
The confidence of the Grand Duke was manifested in the fact that he instructed Dzhunkovsky to look after his nephews Maria and Dmitry in Ilyinsky when he himself was away. “Of course, I could not even think of refusing,” he recalled, “knowing that children are the most precious thing in life for the Grand Duke, he always trembled over them like that.” In a letter dated July 22, 1893, Dzhunkovsky reported: “I was very happy that I could personally congratulate her (Maria Pavlovna - A.D.) and hand over your doll and watering can. If you saw her delight at the sight of a doll with a mass of clothes, she immediately wanted to take everything off, change her clothes and kept saying very pretty<…>I am terribly happy that I stayed with the children.
Trust was also given to Dzhunkovsky's sister Evdokia Fedorovna. In November 1895, she was asked to become the tutor of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. And although Evdokia Feodorovna, who was also officially considered the maid of honor of their majesties the empresses, was loaded with her work in the Evgeniev community of the sisters of mercy of the Red Cross, she could not refuse. In a letter to her brother, she conveyed the story of one of the court ladies: “Yesterday I was with the Empress and the Sovereign asked me what were the children of Pavel Alex.? - I answered that I had not yet been and I was afraid to go there, I heard a new personality there with children - a stranger. - To this the Sovereign said: “Do not be afraid, go and you will see what kind of softness this is, there will not be such a second one, she will positively be a mother - everyone loves her terribly.” Vadyusha, I'm just scared - such reviews! Help me Lord!”
In a letter to her brother dated August 20, 1896, Evdokia Fedorovna quoted from a letter from the Grand Duke sent to her from abroad: “Dear Evd. F., I just received your sweetest letter. Alas! the last from Ilyinsky, and from the bottom of my heart I thank you for everything so touchingly presented in it! I am infinitely glad that you fell in love with Baby (Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna - A.D.) and that she treats you so trustingly. Your wife thanks you from the bottom of her heart for your letter.<…>Be so kind as to write to me sometimes - if you knew how you would please me with this. Heartfelt tribute to your brother<…>» .
Brother and sister have earned universal respect and love due to their conscientiousness, seriousness and deep religiosity.
General sympathy was especially pronounced during the unexpected illness of Vladimir Fedorovich - rheumatism of the knee joint, due to which in the spring of 1894 he was forced to spend more than one week sitting in an armchair or lying down. On May 29, Dzhunkovsky received a "huge bouquet of lilies of the valley" from the Grand Duchess. May 31 - 3 bouquets of lilies of the valley and one of the cornflowers. The Grand Duke hung funny pictures in Ilyinsky in Dzhunkovsky's room so that he would not be bored lying there. “What an attentive Grand Duchess that she sent lilies of the valley,” Evdokia Feodorovna wrote on June 2, 1894, and in the next letter she added: “And how the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess are attentive to you, but it cannot be otherwise.” “The Queen of Greece asked about you, about your health, she was sorry that you were sick,” the sister reported on July 27. - And in response to my answer that Their Highnesses were so merciful to the brother and surrounded him with attention, the queen said: “Your brother is so loved and appreciated by everyone that this cannot be otherwise.” Here, my dear, they give you your due. Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich shared his opinion about her brother with Evdokia Feodorovna: “I love your brother terribly (like everyone else), he is so cute<…>here is Vel. Book. I visited him every day, I regret that I could not spend whole days with him, he is so good. Bow down to him."
In 1894, Vladimir Fedorovich's mother, Maria Karlovna, fell seriously ill. Dzhunkovsky visited her in St. Petersburg and even invited Fr. John of Kronstadt to pray at her bedside, after which Maria Karlovna felt much better. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess showed a lively participation in his personal misfortune. “The Grand Duchess met me so joyfully, she said that she was so happy that my mother was recovering, that she kept thinking about her, and if she weren’t afraid to be annoying, she would send dispatches every day,” Dzhunkovsky wrote in his memoirs. “The Grand Duke was also touching, asking the most detailed details about the state of my mother’s health.”
In his memoirs, Vladimir Fedorovich cited two letters from the Grand Duke to him, "serving as evidence of his unusually sensitive soul." On May 16, 1895, the Grand Duke wrote to him:
"Dear Vladimir Fedorovich,
Today I received both your letters and I sincerely thank you for them.<…>I want you to know that there is a person who wholeheartedly sympathizes with your grief and who prays for you that the Lord will help and comfort you. The wife sends her heartfelt regards.<…>God bless you. Your Sergei.
Vladimir Fedorovich could fully feel the heartfelt support of the grand ducal couple in 1897, when he was going through a serious spiritual drama connected with his personal life. Dzhunkovsky fell in love with Nina Vasilievna Evreinova, who came from the well-known merchant family of the Sabashnikovs. The famous pianist N.G. Rubinstein spoke of her like this: “This young lady has three dowries - talent, beauty and wealth, so long as they do not interfere with each other.” However, her marriage to Alexei Vladimirovich Evreinov, in which four children were born, was not happy. The meeting with Dzhunkovsky took place in 1893. The friendship that initially arose between them grew into a strong feeling, and raised the question of choice, which caused a strong internal struggle.
At the beginning of 1897, the lovers decided to part for a year in order to cool down and calmly make a decision, which we can judge from Evdokia Fedorovna’s letter dated January 18, 1897: “May the Lord give you the strength to endure the test - it seems to me that such a decision is the best - the year will show you everything - and the Lord will arrange everything for the better. The topic of official divorce and remarriage of Nina Vasilyevna with Vladimir Fedorovich is constantly present in the letters of his sister in 1897. Evdokia Fedorovna believed that divorce would not bring them happiness. “Others might not have the reproaches of the conscience of the divorced,” she wrote to her brother on January 10, 1897, “but you are both such believers. Will you be completely happy - I tell this only to you, my Vadya - I tell you alone what I think.
On January 13, 1897, Evdokia Fedorovna informed her brother that Nina Vasilievna was praying for him, and added: “You write that Vel. Book. Like a brother - so you told him;<…>Vadya, don't lose heart. You have not done anything criminal, and the Lord will arrange everything for the better.
In a letter dated February 19, 1897, she wrote to the Grand Duke: “Thank you for the information about my brother - I am very, very sorry for his moral suffering.<…>It is terribly hard for both of them not to write to each other now, but it seems to me that it is better this way. “It is a great comfort to me to know that Your Highness understood my brother and treat him cordially.” The letter dated April 28 is also filled with gratitude: “Your Highness, I cannot find words to express to you how deeply I feel everything you have done for my brother. I know what prompted you to appoint him on this business trip - I thank you and the Grand Duchess for your kind and cordial relations with him. God grant that the work entrusted to him makes him seriously engage - work and activity are the best means in his moral state.
Indeed, the new business trip was completely unexpected for Dzhunkovsky - he was to lead the medical detachment of the Iberian community of sisters of mercy, equipped by the Grand Duchess from the Russian Red Cross Society. A detachment of 19 people was supposed to organize a hospital to help the Turkish wounded in the theater of the Greco-Turkish war. The new assignment was in full accordance with the generic motto of the Dzhunkovskys "God and neighbor."
Evdokia Fedorovna wrote to her brother on April 24, 1897: “Here is your fate to work in my dear Red Cross<…>I bless you on a journey, on a good deed - in a good hour - a happy journey! Write everything to your friend and sister. And the next day - the day of departure - the sister served a prayer service for travelers in the Znamenskaya Church of Tsarskoye Selo and admonished the brother: “The Lord sends you to such an activity in which you can bring many, many benefits to your neighbor - and I am sure that you will fulfill your duty » .
Farewell to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess was very cordial. "<…>I went to Their Highnesses, first to the Grand Duchess, and then to the Grand Duke, I received a pattern from them, and the Grand Duke gave me 2 dozen wonderful silk shirts, which he made for himself when he went to war in 1877 and which he only once I put on two or two, completely new, ”Dzhunkovsky recalled. -<…>I wore them during the last world war, and now, when I write these lines, I still have one of them, I keep it as a dear memory. This parting greatly excited Vladimir Fyodorovich, he could not utter a word all the way to the station. “The way they said goodbye to me, it was possible to say goodbye only to the closest, dearest,” he wrote in his memoirs.
In Turkey, Vladimir Fedorovich continued to receive letters from his sister. On May 23, 1897, Evdokia Fedorovna wrote to him: “I am reading and re-reading your lines<…>. Take care of yourself, I'm afraid that when you take care of others, you completely forget yourself. “You cannot imagine how V. Kn. Eliz. F. praised you in front of the Empress. It was so gratifying to listen to, because. these were not empty words!” she went on.
At the conclusion of his official report, Vladimir Fedorovich wrote that thanks to the concerted efforts of the entire detachment, he had not only to fulfill his direct task, but also to bring awareness of the height of Christian help among the Muslim population.
The meeting with Their Highnesses was joyful and touching. The Grand Duke, not waiting for him in Ilyinsky, went to meet Dzhunkovsky's crew along the road. “He hugged me,” Vladimir Fedorovich recalled, “he was terribly sweet, he said that he was so afraid for me that he was so glad that I returned healthy.” On January 1, 1898, Vladimir Fedorovich once again specially thanked the Grand Duke in a letter. “The past year began so painfully for me,” he wrote, “and the whole of it was very difficult for me morally, and only thanks to Your Highnesses could I live through it so relatively easily.<…>Your participation in me, in everything that I experienced last spring, will remain until the end of my life the most precious memories and proof of your infinitely cordial attitude towards me. May the Lord reward you and help me prove my devotion to you. My assignment to the theater of war with a detachment of the Red Cross saved me from melancholy and despair, made me wake up, forget for a while my personal suffering.
However, he did not manage to solve the problem that tormented him in the way he desired. Dzhunkovsky mentions in his memoirs that he received news in Turkey from the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who met Nina Vasilievna in Paris, which was a great joy for him. We can only judge how events unfolded in Paris during the business trip and after it from the letters of Evdokia Fedorovna. The sister mentioned the conversation between Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Nina Vasilievna in a letter to her brother dated September 7, 1897 from the resort town of Saint-Jean de Luz in France, where Evreinova was also resting at that time: “... about the arrival of A.V. N.V. does not know whether he will come here or to Paris. He writes to children. N.V., as I wrote to you, is much calmer, physically healthy, she talks about the future, that she hopes to achieve freedom - but knowing A.Vl. about divorce, she believes that he will never give her. N.V. she told me that V. Kn. she said that he would surely give if she demanded; but N.V. told me, V. Kn. she says so because she has no children - I will never part with the children. Now she is satisfied with the general home system, the children are healthy, cheerful, cheerful with classes, everything is going well.
The divorce of Nina Vasilievna from her husband did not take place. In 1903, Alexei Vladimirovich died, but for some reason, Nina Vasilievna no longer wanted to marry. However, the friendly relations between Vladimir Fedorovich and Nina Vasilievna continued until her emigration to France in 1922. After her departure, they maintained a correspondence. Moreover, Vladimir Fedorovich always touchingly took care of Nina Vasilievna, helped her children. Evreinova's granddaughter, Nina Raush de Traubenberg, recalled that he was a kind of guardian angel for her grandmother, which was happiness for her and for the whole family.
Since 1901, Vladimir Fedorovich was involved in the new for him activities of the Moscow Metropolitan Guardianship of People's Sobriety.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich entrusted the post of deputy chairman to Dzhunkovsky, telling him at the same time: “I know how you always crave work<…>all the work will be on you<…>this appointment is quite compatible with your position as an adjutant with me, and I do not lose you in this way. People's houses, tea houses, Sunday schools and hospitals, which were under the jurisdiction of Dzhunkovsky, provided the people with healthy and cheap food, enlightened the inhabitants of Moscow, and provided assistance to the sick. The administrative and economic experience gained in this post (Dzhunkovsky oversaw the work of 13 people's houses) allowed him to confidently take the office of governor.
Changes in his career followed the tragic death of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. In his memoirs, Dzhunkovsky cited the last letter of the Grand Duke dated January 1, 1905, a month before his death: “Dear Vladimir Fedorovich, you deeply touched my wife and me, blessing us with the icon of the Guardian Angel, which, of course, will always be with us. Good relations are always especially felt in difficult moments: such is the present. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hug. Your Sergey. January 1, 1905".
Dzhunkovsky, as usual, worked in the Office of the Guardianship when he was informed of the murder of the Grand Duke. Taking the first available cab, he rushed to the Kremlin. “It is difficult to describe the sad picture that presented itself to my eyes,” he wrote in his memoirs, “complete silence around, few people, soldiers and officers carry something covered with a soldier’s overcoat, which the Grand Duchess holds with a calm face. Around the face of the retinue and a few strangers. I ran up, took the hand of the Grand Duchess, kissed it and, holding on to the stretcher, wandered after them.
The Grand Duchess received many letters, which she entrusted Dzhunkovsky to read. “All the mail came to me,” he recalled, “I put aside letters from relatives and friends, which I handed over immediately, and opened other letters and reported their contents; then, on behalf of the Grand Duchess, I answered them, why not a single letter remained unanswered. But, unfortunately, there were also such letters that I directly burned without reporting, these letters, almost all anonymous, were full of curses against the late Grand Duke, and in some there were threats against the Grand Duchess. I did not leave the palace all the time before the funeral, and throughout the day they brought me various items from the clothes of the Grand Duke, as well as particles of his body, bones.<…>All this was put together by me, things were transferred to the Grand Duchess, and the particles of the remains were placed in a metal box and placed in a coffin.
Dzhunkovsky always treated the memory of the Grand Duke with reverence and every year on February 4 he prayed at his coffin, commemorated him at liturgies or, while away, served memorial services in memory of him.
After a successful governorship, during which representatives of all classes of the province sincerely fell in love with him, Dzhunkovsky was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior and commander of the Separate Gendarme Corps in early 1913.
Dzhunkovsky scheduled his departure from Moscow to St. Petersburg for February 4th. “On this day of the anniversary of the martyrdom of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, I wanted to pray in the tomb at his grave and go already to the new place of his difficult service, as if with his blessing,” he recalled. Dzhunkovsky was present at the funeral service in the Miracle Monastery, and then in the tomb at a memorial service. After that, he was received by the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who blessed him and admonished him with an icon.
After his resignation from the post of Deputy Minister of the Interior, associated with his speech against G. Rasputin, in August 1915, Dzhunkovsky, of his own free will, went to the Western Front, where he successively commanded a brigade, division and corps, creating the best conditions for all command posts for his fighters. Instructor Derbyshev, who lost both eyes during a shell explosion, was evacuated to Moscow. “At my request, the kind Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna took him to her shelter for blind warriors,” Dzhunkovsky recalled. “He wrote touching letters to me from there.” In December 1917, Vladimir Fedorovich retired for health reasons and became an official pensioner and "former" person in Soviet Russia.
Communication with Elizabeth Feodorovna continued until the very arrest of the Grand Duchess in 1918. Evdokia Feodorovna wrote to her brother on February 4, 1918: “Today I prayed for the repose of the soul of V.K. S. Al. - and Metropolitan Vladimir - What a horror! You will see V.K. E.F. say that I kiss her hands. Poor woman, how she must suffer.
Vladimir Fedorovich survived the execution of the royal family and the tragic death of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, he spent more than three years in prison on the verdict of the Moscow Revolutionary Tribunal.
After being released from prison, Vladimir Fedorovich and Evdokia Fedorovna settled in Maly Nikolopeskovsky Lane in Moscow, together with relatives - husband and wife Evgenia Stepanovna and Konstantin Nikolaevich Makarenko. In one of the rooms of the apartment hung a portrait of Vladimir Fedorovich, painted by the Grand Duchess in pastel in 1901. “The Grand Duchess gave me this portrait in an oak frame,” Vladimir Fedorovich wrote in his memoirs in the 1920s, “and to this day, when I write these lines, it hangs in my sister’s room.”
The life of Vladimir Fedorovich, as well as the life of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, ended tragically - on February 26, 1938, he was shot at the Butovo NKVD training ground near Moscow on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. In 1989 V.F. Dzhunkovsky was officially rehabilitated.
Notes
“One of the Pharisees, a lawyer, tempting Jesus Christ asked Him: Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mat. 22:35-46).
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 38.L. 7.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 41. L. 13.
There. D. 1055. L. 4.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 41. L. 41.
There. L. 86.
There.
There.
There. L. 170.
There. L. 199.
GA RF. F. 826. Op.1. D. 40. L. 2-rev.
There.
There. L. 3-vol.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 530. L. 41.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 40. L. 18-rev.
There. D.40.L.97 GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1 D. 530. L. 45-rev.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 529. L. 12.
There. D. 40. L. 110v.
There. L. 36.
OR RGB. F. 253. K. 8. D. 12. L. 12-rev. 14-rev.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 534. L. 41.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 534. L. 123.
There. D. 532. L. 36-ob., 38.
There. L. 70.
There. L. 81-rev.
There. D. 43. L. 60.
There. D. 43. L. 138.
There. L. 139.
Notes of Mikhail Vasilyevich Sabashnikov. M., 1995. S. 41.
There. D. 535. L. 15.
There. D. 535. L. 8-rev.
There. L. 11-rev.
OR RGB. F. 253. K. 8. D. 6. L. 12v.
There. L. 25-ob., 27.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 535. L. 34-rev.
There. L. 36. GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 43. L. 265.
There.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 535. L. 43.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 43. L. 325.
OR RGB. F. 253. K. 8. D. 12. L. 30.
GA RF. F. 826. Op.1. D. 43. L. 301.
This means the husband of N.V. Evreinova Alexey Vladimirovich.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 535. L. 112.
This evidence is given in the film about V.F. Dzhunkovsky "Gendarm" (2005).
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 45. L. 127.
GA RF. F. 826. Op.1. D. 45. L. 457.
Dzhunkovsky V.F. Memoirs in 2 volumes. M., 1997. T.1. S. 41.
There. S. 43.
Dzhunkovsky V.F. Memories… V.2. S. 105.
GA RF. F. 826. Op.1 D. 58. L. 150.
On the life of Dzhunkovsky in Soviet Russia, see Dunaeva A.Yu. “You can’t follow the Lord the Crusader without a cross…”: Vladimir Dzhunkovsky in Soviet Russia // Motherland 2010. No. 3. pp. 105 - 109.
Hieromartyr Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia, was shot by the Bolsheviks without trial or investigation on January 25, 1918 in Kyiv, becoming the first Russian New Martyr to suffer for his faith. From 1898 to 1912, Vladyka Vladimir headed the Moscow cathedra, in 1905 he performed the funeral service and buried Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was the spiritual director of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, in particular, assisted her in founding the Martha and Mary Convent on Bolshaya Ordynka Street in Moscow and on April 8, 1912, he consecrated the cathedral church of the monastery in the name of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
GA RF. F. 826. Op. 1. D. 541. L. 131 rev.
There. D. 45. L. 7.
Dunaeva Anastasia Yurievna, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Moscow
The article was published in the collection “XIV St. Elisabeth Readings. Holy Martyr Elisaveta Feodorovna Romanova: Path to Orthodoxy” (Moscow, 2012). Monograph A.Yu. Dunaeva "Police reforms in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and Vladimir Fedorovich Dzhunkovsky" was published by the United Edition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia publishing house.
February 4/17, 1905 - the day of the martyrdom of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, a prominent statesman and ascetic of the Russian Orthodox Church.
It is generally accepted that the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke were in a “white marriage” (that is, they lived like brother and sister). This is not true: they dreamed of children, especially Sergei Alexandrovich. It is generally accepted that Elizaveta Feodorovna was a meek and quiet angel. And that's not true. Her strong-willed character and business qualities made themselves felt from childhood. They said that the Grand Duke is vicious and has unconventional inclinations - again not true. Even the all-powerful British intelligence did not find anything more "reprehensible" in his behavior than excessive religiosity.
Today, the personality of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov either remains in the shadow of his great wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, or is vulgarized - as, for example, in the film "State Councilor", where the Governor General of Moscow appears as a very unpleasant type. Meanwhile, it was largely thanks to the Grand Duke that Elizaveta Feodorovna became what we know her to be: “the great Mother”, “the guardian angel of Moscow”.
Slandered during his lifetime, almost forgotten after his death, Sergei Alexandrovich deserves to be rediscovered. The man, through whose efforts Russian Palestine appeared, and Moscow became an exemplary city; a man who has carried the cross of an incurable disease and the cross of endless slander all his life; and the Christian who took communion up to three times a week - with the general practice of doing this once a year at Easter, for whom faith in Christ was the core of life. “God grant me to be worthy of the leadership of such a spouse as Sergius”, - Elizaveta Fedorovna wrote after his murder ...
About the history of the great love of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich, as well as the history of lies about them - our story.
The name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov is pronounced today, as a rule, only in connection with the name of his wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna. She really was an outstanding woman with an extraordinary fate, but Prince Sergei, who remained in her shadow, it turns out, just played the first violin in this family. They tried to denigrate their marriage more than once, call it lifeless or fictitious, in the end, unhappy, or, conversely, idealized. But these attempts are unconvincing. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna burned her diaries, but the diaries and letters of Sergei Alexandrovich have survived, and they allow us to look into the life of this exceptional family, carefully guarded from prying eyes.
NOT SO SIMPLE BRIDE
The decision to marry was made at a difficult time for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: in the summer of 1880, his mother, Maria Alexandrovna, whom he adored, died, and less than a year later, the bomb of the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky cut short the life of his father, Emperor Alexander II. The time has come for him to remember the words of the teacher, the maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva, who wrote to the young prince: “By your nature, you need to be married, you suffer alone”. Sergei Alexandrovich really had the unfortunate property of going deep into himself, engaging in self-criticism. He needed a close person ... And he found such a person.
1884 Ella is one of the most beautiful brides in Europe. Sergei is one of the most enviable suitors, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II the Liberator. Judging by the diaries, they first met when the Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, Alice-Maud-Mary, wife of Ludwig IV, was in the last months of pregnancy the future wife of the Grand Duke. A photograph has been preserved where she sits together with the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who arrived in Darmstadt, and her seven-year-old son Sergei. When the Russian royal family returned to Russia from their trip to Europe, they again stopped by their relatives in Darmstadt, and the little Grand Duke was allowed to be present at the bathing of the newborn Ella, his future wife.
Why Sergei made a choice in favor of Elizabeth, escaped the attention of his relatives and educators. But the choice was made! And although Ella and Sergei both had doubts, in the end, in 1883, their engagement was announced to the world. “I gave my consent without hesitation,” Ella’s father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV, said then. - I have known Sergei since childhood; I see his sweet, pleasant manner and I am sure that he will make my daughter happy.”
The son of the Russian emperor married a provincial German duchess! Here is a familiar look at this brilliant couple - and also a myth. The duchesses of Darmstadt were not so simple. Elizabeth and Alexandra (who became the last Russian empress) are the granddaughters of the mother of Queen Victoria, from the age of 18 until her death in old age - the permanent ruler of Great Britain (Empress of India since 1876!), A man of strict morality and an iron grip, under which Britain achieved its heyday. The official title of Elizabeth Feodorovna, which passed to all Hessian princesses, is the Duchess of Great Britain and the Rhine: they belonged, no more, no less, to the family that ruled at that time the third part of the land. And this title - according to all the rules of etiquette - was inherited from her mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Thus, the Romanovs became related to the British crown thanks to Alice of Hesse - like her mother Victoria, an unusually strong woman: having married a German duke, Alice had to face the fastidiousness of the Germans, who were not very willing to accept the English princess. Nevertheless, she once presided over parliament for nine months; launched extensive charitable activities - the almshouses founded by her operate in Germany to this day. Ella also inherited her grip, and subsequently her character will make itself felt.
In the meantime, Elizabeth of Darmstadt, although extremely noble and educated, but somewhat windy and impressionable young lady, discusses shops and beautiful trinkets. Preparations for their wedding with Sergei Alexandrovich were kept in the strictest confidence, and in the summer of 1884, the nineteen-year-old Hessian princess arrived in a train decorated with flowers in the capital of the Russian Empire.
"HE OFTEN TREATED HER LIKE A SCHOOL TEACHER..."
In public, Elizaveta Fedorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich were, first of all, high-ranking persons, they headed societies and committees, and their human relations, their mutual love and affection were kept secret. Sergei Alexandrovich made every effort to ensure that the inner life of the family did not become public: he had many ill-wishers. From the letters we know more than the contemporaries of the Romanovs could have known.
“He told me about his wife, admired her, praised her. He thanks God every hour for his happiness.”, - recalls Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, his relative and close friend. The Grand Duke really adored his wife - he loved to give her unusual jewelry, to give her small gifts with or without occasion. Treating her sternly at times, in her absence he could not boast of Elizabeth.
As one of his nieces (later Queen Maria of Romania) recalls, “Uncle was often harsh with her, as with everyone else, but worshiped her beauty. He often treated her like a school teacher. I saw the delicious flush of shame that filled her face as he scolded her. “But, Serge ...” she exclaimed then, and her expression was like the face of a student caught in some kind of mistake..
“I felt how Sergey longed for this moment; and I knew many times that he suffered from it. He was a true angel of kindness. How often could he, by touching my heart, lead me to change my religion in order to make myself happy; and never, never did he complain... Let people shout about me, but just never say a word against my Sergei. Take his side before them and tell them that I adore him and also my new country and that in this way I have learned to love their religion too…” (C.) From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her brother Ernest about the change of religion
Contrary to the rumors spread then, it was a truly happy marriage. On the day of the decade of married life, which fell at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, the prince wrote in his diary: “In the morning I am in the church, my wife is in the warehouse *. Lord, why am I so happy?(The donation warehouse for the benefit of the soldiers, organized with the assistance of Elizabeth Feodorovna: they sewed clothes there, prepared bandages, collected parcels, formed camp churches. - Ed.)
Their life really was a service with the maximum return of all their strengths and abilities, but we will have time to say about this.
What is she? In a letter to her brother Ernest, Ella calls her husband "a real angel of kindness."
The Grand Ducal couple visiting Darmstadt relatives. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna is second from the right; second from left - Princess Alice, future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
The Grand Duke became in many ways the teacher of his wife, very soft and unobtrusive. Being 7 years older, he really takes care of her education to a large extent, teaches her Russian language and culture, introduces her to Paris, shows her Italy and takes her on a trip to the Holy Land. And, judging by the diaries, the Grand Duke did not stop praying, hoping that someday his wife would share with him the main thing in his life - his faith and the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, to which he belonged with all his soul.
“After 7 long years of our happy married life<�…>we have to start a completely new life and leave our cozy family life in the city. We will have to do so much for the people there, and in fact we will play the role of the ruling prince there, which will be very difficult for us, because instead of playing such a role, we are eager to lead a quiet private life.
From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her father, the Grand Duke of Hesse, on the appointment of her husband to the post of Governor-General of Moscow
Unusual religiosity is a feature that distinguished the Grand Duke from childhood. When seven-year-old Sergei was brought to Moscow and asked: what would you like? - he replied that his most cherished desire is to get to the bishop's service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.
Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna in the Holy Land. Gethsemane, Church of St. Mary Magdalene, 1888
Subsequently, when an adult young man he met during a trip to Italy with Pope Leo XIII, he was amazed at the Grand Duke's knowledge of church history - and even ordered to raise the archives to check the facts voiced by Sergei Alexandrovich. Entries in his diaries always began and ended with the words: "Lord have mercy", "God bless".
He himself decided what church utensils should be brought to the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (also his brainchild) - brilliantly knowing both the service and all its paraphernalia! And, by the way, Sergei Alexandrovich was the first and only of the great princes of the Romanov dynasty who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times in his life. Moreover, he dared to do the first through Beirut, which was extremely difficult and far from safe. And on the second he took his wife with him, at that time still a Protestant ...
"TO BE OF THE SAME FAITH WITH A SPOUSE - CORRECT"
In their family estate Ilyinsky, where Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna spent the happiest days of their lives, starting from their honeymoon, a temple has been preserved, now it is working again. According to legend, it was here that the then Protestant Ella was present at her first Orthodox service.
According to her status, Elizabeth Feodorovna did not have to change her religion. It will be 7 years after her marriage before she writes: "My heart belongs to Orthodoxy". Evil tongues said that Elizabeth Feodorovna was actively pushed to adopt a new faith by her husband, under whose unconditional influence she was always. But, as the Grand Duchess herself wrote to her father, her husband “never tried to force me by any means, leaving it all entirely to my conscience”. All he did was softly and delicately introduce her to his faith. And the princess herself approached this issue very seriously, studying Orthodoxy, looking at it very carefully.
Having finally made a decision, Ella first of all writes to her influential grandmother Queen Victoria - they have always been on good terms. The wise grandmother says: “Being with your spouse of the same faith is right”.
Her father did not accept Elizabeth Feodorovna's decision so favorably, although it is difficult to come up with a more affectionate and tactful tone and more sincere words with which Ella begged "dear Pope" for a blessing on the decision to convert to Orthodoxy: “... I kept thinking and reading and praying to God to show me the right path, and came to the conclusion that only in this religion can I find all the real and strong faith in God that a person must have in order to be a good Christian. It would be a sin to remain the way I am now - to belong to the same Church in form and for the outside world, but inside myself to pray and believe like my husband does husband…”
Duke Ludwig IV did not answer his daughter, but she could not go against her conscience, although she admitted: “I know that there will be many unpleasant moments, since no one will understand this step.” So, to the indescribable happiness of the spouse, the day came when they were able to take communion together. And the third, last in his life, trip to the Holy Land has already been made together - in every sense.
90 SOCIETIES OF THE GRAND DUKE
The Grand Duke was one of the initiators of the creation and until his death - the chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, without which today it is impossible to imagine the history of the Russian pilgrimage to the Holy Land! Having become the head of the Society in the 1880s, he managed to open 8 courtyards of the Russian Orthodox Church in Palestine, 100 schools where Arab children were taught the Russian language and introduced to Orthodoxy, build a church of Mary Magdalene in honor of his mother - this is an incomplete list of his deeds, and All this was carried out quite subtly and cunningly. So, sometimes the prince allocated money for construction, without waiting for the issuance of permits, one way or another bypassed many obstacles.
There is even an assumption that his appointment in 1891 as the governor-general of Moscow is a cunning political intrigue invented by the intelligence services of the discontented England and France - who will like Russia's "mastery" on the territory of their colonies? - and which had as its goal the removal of the prince from affairs in the Holy Land. Be that as it may, these calculations did not come true: the prince, it seems, only redoubled his efforts!
It is hard to imagine how active people the spouses were, how much they managed to do in their, in general, short life! He headed or was a trustee of about 90 societies, committees and other organizations, and found time to take part in the life of each of them. Here are just a few: the Moscow Architectural Society, the Ladies' Guardianship of the Poor in Moscow, the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the Committee for the Arrangement of the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at Moscow University, the Moscow Archaeological Society. He was an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Society of Artists of Historical Painting, Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities, the Society of Agriculture, the Society of Natural Science Lovers, the Russian Musical Society, the Archaeological Museum in Constantinople and the Historical Museum in Moscow, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Orthodox Missionary Society, Department of distribution of spiritual and moral books.
Since 1896, Sergei Alexandrovich has been the commander of the Moscow Military District. He is also the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum. On his initiative, the Museum of Fine Arts on Volkhonka was created - the Grand Duke laid six of his own collections at the basis of its exposition.
“Why do I always feel deeply? Why am I not like everyone else, not cheerful like everyone else? I stupidly delve into everything and see it differently - I myself am ashamed that I am so old-fashioned and cannot be, like all the “golden youth”, cheerful and carefree ". (with.) From the diary of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
Becoming in 1891 the governor-general of Moscow - and this meant taking care not only of Moscow, but also of the ten provinces adjacent to it - he launched an incredible activity, setting himself the goal of making the city equal to European capitals. Under him, Moscow became exemplary: clean, neat paving stones, police officers placed within sight of each other, all utilities work perfectly, order is everywhere and in everything.
Under him, electric street lighting was established - the central city power station was built, the GUM was erected, the Kremlin towers were restored, a new building of the Conservatory was built; under him, the first tram began to run along the capital, the first public theater opened, and the city center was put in perfect order.
Charity, which was engaged in Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna, was neither ostentatious nor superficial. "The ruler should be the blessing of his people", - Ella's father often repeated, and he himself and his wife, Alice of Hesse, tried to follow this principle. From childhood, their children were taught to help people, regardless of rank - for example, every week they went to the hospital, where they gave flowers to seriously ill patients, encouraged them. It entered their blood and flesh, the Romanovs raised their children in the same way.
Even while relaxing in their estate near Moscow, Ilyinsky, Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna continued to accept requests for help, for employment, for donations for the upbringing of orphans - all this was preserved in the correspondence of the Grand Duke's manager of the court with different people. Once a letter arrived from the compositors of a private printing house, who dared to ask to be allowed to sing at the Liturgy in Ilyinsky in the presence of the Grand Duke and Princess. And this request was fulfilled.
In 1893, when cholera was raging in Central Russia, a temporary first-aid post was opened in Ilyinsky, where they examined and, if necessary, urgently operated on all those in need of help, where peasants could stay in a special “hut for isolation” - like in a hospital. The infirmary operated from July to October. This is a classic example of the ministry that the couple has been engaged in all their lives.
"WHITE MARRIAGE" WHICH DID NOT EXIST
It is generally accepted that Sergei and Elizabeth deliberately entered into the so-called "white marriage": they decided not to have children, but to devote themselves to serving God and people. Memories of loved ones and diaries testify otherwise.
“How I wish I had children! For me, there would be no greater paradise on earth if I had my own children.”, - Sergey Alexandrovich writes in letters. A letter from Emperor Alexander III to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, has been preserved, where he writes: “What a pity that Ella and Sergey cannot have children.” “Of all the uncles, we were most afraid of Uncle Sergei, but despite this, he was our favorite,” recalls the niece of Prince Maria in her diaries. “He was strict, kept us in awe, but he loved children ... If he had the opportunity, he would come to watch the children bathe, cover them with a blanket and kiss them goodnight ...”
The Grand Duke was given the opportunity to raise children - but not his own, but his brother Pavel, after the tragic death during premature birth of his wife, the Greek princess Alexandra Georgievna. Direct witnesses of the six-day agony of the unfortunate woman were the owners of the estate, Sergei and Elizaveta.
Heartbroken, Pavel Aleksandrovich, for several months after the tragedy, was not able to take care of his children - the young Maria and the newborn Dmitry, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich took over this care completely and completely.
He canceled all plans and trips and stayed in Ilyinsky, participated in bathing a newborn - who, by the way, should not have survived, according to the unanimous opinion of doctors - he himself covered him with cotton wool, did not sleep at night, taking care of the little prince. Interestingly, Sergei Alexandrovich wrote down all the important events in the life of his ward in his diary: the first erupted tooth, the first word, the first step.
And after brother Pavel, contrary to the will of the emperor, married a woman who did not belong to an aristocratic family, and was expelled from Russia, his children, Dmitry and Maria, were finally taken into care by Sergei and Elizabeth.
Why the Lord did not give the spouses their own children is His secret. Researchers suggest that the childlessness of the grand ducal couple could be the result of Sergei's serious illness, which he carefully concealed from others. This is another little-known page in the life of the prince, which completely changes the ideas about him that are familiar to many.
WHY DOES HE NEED A CORSET?
Coldness of character, isolation, closeness - the usual list of accusations against the Grand Duke.
To this they add: proud! - because of his overly straight posture, which gave him an arrogant look. If the accusers of the prince knew that the “culprit” of a proud posture is a corset, with which he was forced to support his spine all his life. The prince was seriously and terminally ill, like his mother, like his brother Nikolai Alexandrovich, who was supposed to become the Russian emperor, but died of a terrible illness. His diagnosis - bone tuberculosis, leading to dysfunction of all joints - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich knew how to hide from everyone. Only his wife knew what it cost him.
“Sergey suffers a lot. He is unwell again. Salts, hot baths are very necessary, he cannot do without them, ”- Elizabeth writes to close relatives. “Instead of going to the reception, the Grand Duke took a bath”, - the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper scoffed already in pre-revolutionary times. A hot bath is almost the only remedy that relieves pain (articular, dental) that tormented Sergei Alexandrovich. He could not ride, could not do without a corset. In Ilyinsky, during the life of his mother, a koumiss farm was set up for medicinal purposes, but the disease progressed over the years. And if it were not for the bomb of student Ivan Kalyaev, it is very possible that the Governor-General of Moscow would not have lived long anyway ...
The Grand Duke was closed, laconic and closed from childhood. And could you expect anything else from a child whose parents were in fact divorced, which nevertheless could not take place? Maria Alexandrovna lived on the second floor of the Winter Palace, no longer having marital relations with her husband and enduring the presence of the sovereign's favorite, Princess Dolgorukova (she became his wife after the death of Maria Alexandrovna, but stayed in this status for less than a year, until the death of Alexander II). The collapse of the parental family, deep attachment to the mother, who meekly endured this humiliation, are factors that largely determined the formation of the character of the little prince.
They are also reasons for slander, rumors and slander against him. “I am excessively religious, withdrawn, go to church very often, take communion up to three times a week”, - this is the most "suspicious" of what English intelligence managed to find out about the prince before his marriage to Elizabeth, after all, the granddaughter of the English queen. The reputation is almost impeccable, and yet, even during his lifetime, streams of slander and unpleasant accusations poured out on the Grand Duke ...
"BE SUFFERED - YOU ARE ON THE BATTLE FIELD"
They talked about the dissolute lifestyle of the Governor-General of Moscow, rumors spread around the capital about his non-traditional sexual orientation, that Elizaveta Fedorovna was very unhappy in her marriage to him - all this even during the life of the prince sounded even in English newspapers. Sergei Alexandrovich was at first lost and perplexed, this can be seen from his diary entries and letters, where he poses one question: "Why? Where does all this come from?!”
“Tolerate all this lifetime slander, endure - you are on the battlefield”- Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote to him.
Attacks, accusations of arrogance and indifference could not be avoided and Elizabeth Feodorovna. Of course, there were reasons for this: despite the widest charitable activities, she always kept her distance, knowing the price of her status as a Grand Duchess - belonging to the imperial house hardly implies familiarity. And her character, manifested from childhood, gave rise to such accusations.
In our eyes, the image of the Grand Duchess, admittedly, is somewhat unctuous: a gentle, meek woman with a humble look. This image was formed, of course, not without reason. “Her purity was absolute, it was impossible to take your eyes off her, having spent the evening with her, everyone was waiting for the hour when they could see her the next day”, - her niece Maria admires Aunt Ella. And at the same time, it is impossible not to notice that the Grand Duchess Elizabeth had a strong-willed character. Mother admitted that Ella was the exact opposite of her older obedient sister Victoria: very strong and by no means quiet.
It is known that Elizabeth spoke very harshly about Grigory Rasputin, believing that his death would be the best way out of the catastrophic and ridiculous situation that had developed at court.
“... When he saw her<�…>, he asked: "Who are you?" “I am his widow,” she replied, “why did you kill him?” "I did not want to kill you," he said, "I saw him several times at the time when I had the bomb at the ready, but you were with him, and I did not dare to touch him." “And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him?” - she replied ... "
Description of the conversation between Elizabeth Feodorovna and the murderer of her husband from the book of Fr. M. Polsky "New Russian Martyrs"
As they would say today, the Grand Duchess was a first-class manager, who skillfully knew how to organize business, distribute duties and monitor their implementation. Yes, she kept a little aloof, but at the same time she did not ignore the slightest requests and needs of those who turned to her. There is a famous case during the First World War when a wounded officer, who was threatened with amputation of his leg, filed a request to reconsider this decision. The petition fell to the Grand Duchess and was granted. The officer recovered and subsequently, during the Second World War, served as Minister of Light Industry.
Of course, the life of Elizabeth Feodorovna changed dramatically after the terrible event - the murder of her beloved husband ... The photograph of the carriage torn apart by the explosion was then printed in all Moscow newspapers. The explosion was so strong that the dead man's heart was found only on the third day on the roof of the house. But the Grand Duchess collected the remains of Sergei with her own hands. Her life, her fate, her character - everything has changed, but, of course, the whole previous life, full of dedication and activity, was a preparation for this.
"It seemed - recalled Countess Alexandra Andreevna Olsufieva - that from now on she peers intently into the image of another world<�…>, <�она>dedicated to the pursuit of perfection."
It is generally accepted that the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke were in a “white marriage” (that is, they lived like brother and sister). This is not true: they dreamed of children, especially Sergei Alexandrovich. It is generally accepted that Elizaveta Feodorovna was a meek and quiet angel. And that's not true. Her strong-willed character and business qualities made themselves felt from childhood. They said that the Grand Duke is vicious and has unconventional inclinations - again not true. Even the all-powerful British intelligence did not find anything more "reprehensible" in his behavior than excessive religiosity.
Grand ducal couple. St. Petersburg. 1884Today, the personality of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov either remains in the shadow of his great wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, or is vulgarized - as, for example, in the film "State Councilor", where the Governor General of Moscow appears as a very unpleasant type. Meanwhile, it was largely thanks to the Grand Duke that Elizaveta Feodorovna became what we know her to be: “the great Mother”, “the guardian angel of Moscow”.
Slandered during his lifetime, almost forgotten after his death, Sergei Alexandrovich deserves to be rediscovered. The man, through whose efforts Russian Palestine appeared, and Moscow became an exemplary city; a man who has carried the cross of an incurable disease and the cross of endless slander all his life; and the Christian who took communion up to three times a week - with the general practice of doing this once a year at Easter, for whom faith in Christ was the core of life. “God grant me to be worthy of the leadership of such a spouse as Sergius,” wrote Elizaveta Feodorovna after his murder ...
About the history of the great love of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich, as well as the history of lies about them - our story.
The name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov is pronounced today, as a rule, only in connection with the name of his wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna. She really was an outstanding woman with an extraordinary fate, but Prince Sergei, who remained in her shadow, it turns out, just played the first violin in this family. They tried to denigrate their marriage more than once, call it lifeless or fictitious, in the end, unhappy, or, conversely, idealized. But these attempts are unconvincing. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna burned her diaries, but the diaries and letters of Sergei Alexandrovich have survived, and they allow us to look into the life of this exceptional family, carefully guarded from prying eyes.
Not such a simple bride
The decision to marry was made at a difficult time for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: in the summer of 1880, his mother, Maria Alexandrovna, whom he adored, died, and less than a year later, the bomb of the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky cut short the life of his father, Emperor Alexander II. The time has come for him to remember the words of the teacher, the maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva, who wrote to the young prince: “By your nature, you need to be married, you suffer alone.” Sergei Alexandrovich really had the unfortunate property of going deep into himself, engaging in self-criticism. He needed a close person ... And he found such a person.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. 1861
1884 Ella is one of the most beautiful brides in Europe. Sergei is one of the most enviable suitors, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II the Liberator. Judging by the diaries, they first met when the Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, Alice-Maud-Mary, wife of Ludwig IV, was in the last months of pregnancy the future wife of the Grand Duke. A photograph has been preserved where she sits together with the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who arrived in Darmstadt, and her seven-year-old son Sergei. When the Russian royal family returned to Russia from their trip to Europe, they again stopped by their relatives in Darmstadt, and the little Grand Duke was allowed to be present at the bathing of the newborn Ella, his future wife.
Why Sergei made a choice in favor of Elizabeth, escaped the attention of his relatives and educators. But the choice was made! And although Ella and Sergei both had doubts, in the end, in 1883, their engagement was announced to the world. “I gave my consent without hesitation,” Ella’s father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV, said then. - I have known Sergei since childhood; I see his sweet, pleasant manner and I am sure that he will make my daughter happy.”
Princess of Hesse and British Ella. Start
1870s
The son of the Russian emperor married a provincial German duchess! Here is a familiar look at this brilliant couple - and also a myth. The duchesses of Darmstadt were not so simple. Elizabeth and Alexandra (who became the last Russian empress) are the granddaughters of the mother of Queen Victoria, from the age of 18 until her death in old age - the permanent ruler of Great Britain (Empress of India since 1876!), A man of strict morality and an iron grip, under which Britain achieved its heyday. The official title of Elizabeth Feodorovna, which passed to all Hessian princesses, is the Duchess of Great Britain and the Rhine: they belonged, no more, no less, to the family that ruled at that time the third part of the land. And this title - according to all the rules of etiquette - was inherited from her mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Thus, the Romanovs became related to the British crown thanks to Alice of Hesse - like her mother Victoria, an unusually strong woman: having married a German duke, Alice had to face the fastidiousness of the Germans, who were not very willing to accept the English princess. Nevertheless, she once presided over parliament for nine months; launched extensive charitable activities - the almshouses founded by her operate in Germany to this day. Ella also inherited her grip, and subsequently her character will make itself felt.
In the meantime, Elizabeth of Darmstadt, although extremely noble and educated, but somewhat windy and impressionable young lady, discusses shops and beautiful trinkets. Preparations for their wedding with Sergei Alexandrovich were kept in the strictest confidence, and in the summer of 1884, the nineteen-year-old Hessian princess arrived in a train decorated with flowers in the capital of the Russian Empire.
“He often treated her like a school teacher…”
In public, Elizaveta Fedorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich were, first of all, high-ranking persons, they headed societies and committees, and their human relations, their mutual love and affection were kept secret. Sergei Alexandrovich made every effort to ensure that the inner life of the family did not become public: he had many ill-wishers. From the letters we know more than the contemporaries of the Romanovs could have known.
“He told me about his wife, admired her, praised her. He thanks God every hour for his happiness,” recalls Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, his relative and close friend. The Grand Duke really adored his wife - he loved to give her unusual jewelry, to give her small gifts with or without occasion. Treating her sternly at times, in her absence he could not boast of Elizabeth. As one of his nieces (in the future, Queen Maria of Romania) recalls, “my uncle was often harsh with her, as with everyone else, but worshiped her beauty. He often treated her like a school teacher. I saw the delicious flush of shame that filled her face as he scolded her. “But, Serge ...” she exclaimed then, and her expression was like the face of a student convicted of some kind of mistake.
“I felt how Sergey longed for this moment; and I knew many times that he suffered from it. He was a true angel of kindness. How often could he, by touching my heart, lead me to change my religion in order to make myself happy; and never, never did he complain... Let people shout about me, but just never say a word against my Sergei. Take his side before them and tell them that I adore him and also my new country and that in this way I have learned to love their religion too…”
From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her brother Ernest about the change of religion
Contrary to the rumors spread then, it was a truly happy marriage. On the day of the decade of married life, which fell at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, the prince wrote in his diary: “In the morning I am in church, my wife is in the warehouse *. Lord, why am I so happy? (The donation warehouse for the benefit of the soldiers, organized with the assistance of Elizabeth Feodorovna: they sewed clothes there, prepared bandages, collected parcels, formed camp churches. - Ed.)
Their life really was a service with the maximum return of all their strengths and abilities, but we will have time to say about this.
What is she? In a letter to her brother Ernest, Ella calls her husband "a real angel of kindness."
The Grand Ducal couple visiting Darmstadt relatives. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna is second from the right; second from left - Princess Alice, future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
The Grand Duke became in many ways the teacher of his wife, very soft and unobtrusive. Being 7 years older, he really takes care of her education to a large extent, teaches her Russian language and culture, introduces her to Paris, shows her Italy and takes her on a trip to the Holy Land. And, judging by the diaries, the Grand Duke did not stop praying, hoping that someday his wife would share with him the main thing in his life - his faith and the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, to which he belonged with all his soul.
“After 7 long years of our happy married life<…>we have to start a completely new life and leave our cozy family life in the city. We will have to do so much for the people there, and in fact we will play the role of the ruling prince there, which will be very difficult for us, because instead of playing such a role, we are eager to lead a quiet private life.
From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her father, the Grand Duke of Hesse, on the appointment of her husband to the post of Governor-General of Moscow
Unusual religiosity is a feature that distinguished the Grand Duke from childhood. When seven-year-old Sergei was brought to Moscow and asked: what would you like? - he replied that his most cherished desire is to get to the bishop's service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.
Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna in the Holy Land. Gethsemane, Church of St. Mary Magdalene, 1888
Subsequently, when an adult young man he met during a trip to Italy with Pope Leo XIII, he was amazed at the Grand Duke's knowledge of church history - and even ordered to raise the archives to check the facts voiced by Sergei Alexandrovich. Entries in his diaries always began and ended with the words: "Lord, have mercy," "Lord, bless." He himself decided what church utensils should be brought to the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (also his brainchild) - brilliantly knowing both the service and all its paraphernalia! And, by the way, Sergei Alexandrovich was the first and only of the great princes of the Romanov dynasty who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times in his life. Moreover, he dared to do the first through Beirut, which was extremely difficult and far from safe. And on the second he took his wife with him, at that time still a Protestant ...
Love story. History of lies
It is generally accepted that the Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke were in a “white marriage” (that is, they lived like brother and sister). This is not true: they dreamed of children, especially Sergei Alexandrovich. It is generally accepted that Elizaveta Feodorovna was a meek and quiet angel. And that's not true. Her strong-willed character and business qualities made themselves felt from childhood. They said that the Grand Duke is vicious and has unconventional inclinations - again not true. Even the all-powerful British intelligence did not find anything more "reprehensible" in his behavior than excessive religiosity.
The name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov is pronounced today, as a rule, only in connection with the name of his wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna. She really was an outstanding woman with an extraordinary fate, but Prince Sergei, who remained in her shadow, it turns out, just played the first violin in this family. They tried to denigrate their marriage more than once, call it lifeless or fictitious, in the end, unhappy, or, conversely, idealized. But these attempts are unconvincing. After the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna burned her diaries, but the diaries and letters of Sergei Alexandrovich have survived, and they allow us to look into the life of this exceptional family, carefully guarded from prying eyes.
Today, the personality of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov either remains in the shadow of his great wife, the Reverend Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna, or is vulgarized - as, for example, in the film "State Councilor", where the Governor General of Moscow appears as a very unpleasant type. Meanwhile, it was largely thanks to the Grand Duke that Elizaveta Feodorovna became what we know her to be: “the great Mother”, “the guardian angel of Moscow”.
Slandered during his lifetime, almost forgotten after his death, Sergei Alexandrovich deserves to be rediscovered. The man, through whose efforts Russian Palestine appeared, and Moscow became an exemplary city; a man who has carried the cross of an incurable disease and the cross of endless slander all his life; and the Christian who took communion up to three times a week - with the general practice of doing this once a year at Easter, for whom faith in Christ was the core of life. “God grant me to be worthy of the guidance of such a spouse as Sergius,” wrote Elizaveta Feodorovna after his murder ...
About the history of the great love of Elizabeth Feodorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich, as well as the history of lies about them - our story.
Not such a simple bride
Grand Duke Sergei
Aleksandrovich. 1861
The decision to marry was made at a difficult time for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich: in the summer of 1880, his mother, Maria Alexandrovna, whom he adored, died, and less than a year later, the bomb of the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky cut short the life of his father, Emperor Alexander II. The time has come for him to remember the words of the teacher, the maid of honor Anna Tyutcheva, who wrote to the young prince: “By your nature, you need to be married, you suffer alone.” Sergei Alexandrovich really had the unfortunate property of going deep into himself, engaging in self-criticism. He needed a close person ... And he found such a person.
1884 Ella is one of the most beautiful brides in Europe. Sergei is one of the most enviable suitors, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II the Liberator. Judging by the diaries, they first met when the Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, Alice-Maud-Mary, wife of Ludwig IV, was in the last months of pregnancy the future wife of the Grand Duke. A photograph has been preserved where she sits together with the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who arrived in Darmstadt, and her seven-year-old son Sergei. When the Russian royal family returned to Russia from their trip to Europe, they again stopped by their relatives in Darmstadt, and the little Grand Duke was allowed to be present at the bathing of the newborn Ella, his future wife.
Why Sergei made a choice in favor of Elizabeth, escaped the attention of his relatives and educators. But the choice was made! And although Ella and Sergei both had doubts, in the end, in 1883, their engagement was announced to the world. “I gave my consent without hesitation,” Ella’s father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV, said then. - I have known Sergei since childhood; I see his sweet, pleasant manner and I am sure that he will make my daughter happy.”
Early 1870s
The son of the Russian emperor married a provincial German duchess! Here is a familiar look at this brilliant couple - and also a myth. The duchesses of Darmstadt were not so simple. Elizabeth and Alexandra (who became the last Russian empress) are the granddaughters of the mother of Queen Victoria, from the age of 18 until her death in old age - the permanent ruler of Great Britain (Empress of India since 1876!), A man of strict morality and an iron grip, under which Britain achieved its heyday. The official title of Elizabeth Feodorovna, which passed to all Hessian princesses, is the Duchess of Great Britain and the Rhine: they belonged, no more, no less, to the family that ruled at that time the third part of the land. And this title - according to all the rules of etiquette - was inherited from her mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, daughter of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Thus, the Romanovs became related to the British crown thanks to Alice of Hesse - like her mother Victoria, an unusually strong woman: having married a German duke, Alice had to face the fastidiousness of the Germans, who were not very willing to accept the English princess. Nevertheless, she once presided over parliament for nine months; launched extensive charitable activities - the almshouses founded by her operate in Germany to this day. Ella also inherited her grip, and subsequently her character will make itself felt.
In the meantime, Elizabeth of Darmstadt, although extremely noble and educated, but somewhat windy and impressionable young lady, discusses shops and beautiful trinkets. Preparations for their wedding with Sergei Alexandrovich were kept in the strictest confidence, and in the summer of 1884, the nineteen-year-old Hessian princess arrived in a train decorated with flowers in the capital of the Russian Empire.
"He often treated her like a school teacher..."
In public, Elizaveta Fedorovna and Sergei Alexandrovich were, first of all, high-ranking persons, they headed societies and committees, and their human relations, their mutual love and affection were kept secret. Sergei Alexandrovich made every effort to ensure that the inner life of the family did not become public: he had many ill-wishers. From the letters we know more than the contemporaries of the Romanovs could have known.
“He told me about his wife, admired her, praised her. He thanks God every hour for his happiness,” recalls Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, his relative and close friend. The Grand Duke really adored his wife - he loved to give her unusual jewelry, to give her small gifts with or without occasion. Treating her sternly at times, in her absence he could not boast of Elizabeth. As one of his nieces (in the future, Queen Maria of Romania) recalls, “my uncle was often harsh with her, as with everyone else, but worshiped her beauty. He often treated her like a school teacher. I saw the delicious flush of shame that filled her face as he scolded her. “But, Serge ...” she exclaimed then, and her expression was like the face of a student caught in some kind of mistake.
“I felt how Sergey longed for this moment; and I knew many times that he suffered from it. He was a true angel of kindness. How often could he, by touching my heart, lead me to change my religion in order to make myself happy; and never, never did he complain... Let people shout about me, but just never say a word against my Sergei. Take his side in front of them and tell them that I adore him and also my new country and that in this way I have learned to love their religion too ... "
(From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her brother Ernest about the change of religion)
Contrary to the rumors spread then, it was a truly happy marriage. On the day of the decade of married life, which fell at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, the prince wrote in his diary: “In the morning I am in church, my wife is in the warehouse. Lord, why am I so happy? (Donation warehouse for the benefit of the soldiers, organized with the assistance of Elizabeth Feodorovna: clothes were sewn there, bandages were prepared, parcels were collected, camp churches were formed. - Ed.)
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna is second from the right; second from left - Princess Alice, future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
Their life really was a service with the maximum return of all their strengths and abilities, but we will have time to say about this.
What is she? In a letter to her brother Ernest, Ella calls her husband "a real angel of kindness."
The Grand Duke became in many ways the teacher of his wife, very soft and unobtrusive. Being 7 years older, he really takes care of her education to a large extent, teaches her Russian language and culture, introduces her to Paris, shows her Italy and takes her on a trip to the Holy Land. And, judging by the diaries, the Grand Duke did not stop praying, hoping that someday his wife would share with him the main thing in his life - his faith and the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, to which he belonged with all his soul.
“After 7 long years of our happy married life<...>we have to start a completely new life and leave our cozy family life in the city. We will have to do so much for the people there, and in fact we will play the role of the ruling prince there, which will be very difficult for us, because instead of playing such a role, we are eager to lead a quiet private life.
(From a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to her father, the Grand Duke of Hesse, about the appointment of her husband to the post of Governor-General of Moscow)
Unusual religiosity is a feature that distinguished the Grand Duke from childhood. When seven-year-old Sergei was brought to Moscow and asked: what would you like? - he replied that his most cherished desire is to get to the bishop's service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.
Gethsemane, Church of St. Mary Magdalene, 1888
Subsequently, when an adult young man he met during a trip to Italy with Pope Leo XIII, he was amazed at the Grand Duke's knowledge of church history - and even ordered to raise the archives to check the facts voiced by Sergei Alexandrovich. Entries in his diaries always began and ended with the words: "Lord, have mercy," "Lord, bless." He himself decided what church utensils should be brought to the consecration of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane (also his brainchild) - brilliantly knowing both the service and all its paraphernalia! And, by the way, Sergei Alexandrovich was the first and only of the great princes of the Romanov dynasty who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times in his life. Moreover, he dared to do the first through Beirut, which was extremely difficult and far from safe. And on the second he took his wife with him, at that time still a Protestant ...
“To be of the same faith with a spouse is right”
In their family estate Ilyinsky, where Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna spent the happiest days of their lives, starting from their honeymoon, a temple has been preserved, now it is working again. According to legend, it was here that the then Protestant Ella was present at her first Orthodox service.
According to her status, Elizabeth Feodorovna did not have to change her religion. It will be 7 years after her marriage before she writes: "My heart belongs to Orthodoxy." Evil tongues said that Elizabeth Feodorovna was actively pushed to adopt a new faith by her husband, under whose unconditional influence she was always. But, as the Grand Duchess herself wrote to her father, her husband “never tried to force me by any means, leaving all this to my conscience alone.” All he did was softly and delicately introduce her to his faith. And the princess herself approached this issue very seriously, studying Orthodoxy, looking at it very carefully.
Having finally made a decision, Ella first of all writes to her influential grandmother Queen Victoria - they have always been on good terms. The wise grandmother replies: "Being with your spouse of the same faith is right." Her father did not accept Elizabeth Feodorovna's decision so favorably, although it is difficult to come up with a more affectionate and tactful tone and more sincere words with which Ella begged "dear Pope" for a blessing on the decision to convert to Orthodoxy:
“... I kept thinking and reading and praying to God to show me the right path, and came to the conclusion that only in this religion can I find all the real and strong faith in God that a person must have in order to be a good Christian. It would be a sin to remain as I am now - to belong to the same Church in form and for the outside world, but inside myself to pray and believe like my husband ‹...› I so strongly desire to partake of the Holy Mysteries together on Easter with my husband..."
Duke Ludwig IV did not answer his daughter, but she could not go against her conscience, although she admitted: “I know that there will be many unpleasant moments, since no one will understand this step.” So, to the indescribable happiness of the spouse, the day came when they were able to take communion together. And the third, last in his life, trip to the Holy Land has already been made together - in every sense.
90 Societies of the Grand Duke
The Grand Duke was one of the initiators of the creation and until his death - the chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, without which today it is impossible to imagine the history of the Russian pilgrimage to the Holy Land! Having become the head of the Society in the 1880s, he managed to open 8 courtyards of the Russian Orthodox Church in Palestine, 100 schools where Arab children were taught the Russian language and introduced to Orthodoxy, build a church of Mary Magdalene in honor of his mother - this is an incomplete list of his deeds, and All this was carried out quite subtly and cunningly. So, sometimes the prince allocated money for construction, without waiting for the issuance of permits, one way or another bypassed many obstacles. There is even an assumption that his appointment in 1891 as the governor-general of Moscow is a cunning political intrigue invented by the intelligence services of the discontented England and France - who will like Russia's "mastery" on the territory of their colonies? - and which had as its goal the removal of the prince from affairs in the Holy Land. Be that as it may, these calculations did not come true: the prince, it seems, only redoubled his efforts!
It is hard to imagine how active people the spouses were, how much they managed to do in their, in general, short life! He headed or was a trustee of about 90 societies, committees and other organizations, and found time to take part in the life of each of them. Here are just a few: the Moscow Architectural Society, the Ladies' Guardianship of the Poor in Moscow, the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the Committee for the Arrangement of the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III at Moscow University, the Moscow Archaeological Society. He was an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Society of Artists of Historical Painting, Moscow and St. Petersburg Universities, the Society of Agriculture, the Society of Natural Science Lovers, the Russian Musical Society, the Archaeological Museum in Constantinople and the Historical Museum in Moscow, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Orthodox Missionary Society, Department of distribution of spiritual and moral books.
Since 1896, Sergei Alexandrovich has been the commander of the Moscow Military District. He is also the chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Museum. On his initiative, the Museum of Fine Arts on Volkhonka was created - the Grand Duke laid six of his own collections at the basis of its exposition.
“Why do I always feel deeply? Why am I not like everyone else, not cheerful like everyone else? I stupidly delve into everything and see it differently - I myself am ashamed that I am so old-fashioned and cannot be, like all the “golden youth”, cheerful and carefree.
(From the diary of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich)
Becoming in 1891 the governor-general of Moscow - and this meant taking care not only of Moscow, but also of the ten provinces adjacent to it - he launched an incredible activity, setting himself the goal of making the city equal to European capitals. Under him, Moscow became exemplary: clean, neat paving stones, police officers placed within sight of each other, all utilities work perfectly, order is everywhere and in everything. Under him, electric street lighting was established - the central city power station was built, the GUM was erected, the Kremlin towers were restored, a new building of the Conservatory was built; under him, the first tram began to run along the capital, the first public theater opened, and the city center was put in perfect order.
Charity, which was engaged in Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Fedorovna, was neither ostentatious nor superficial. “The ruler must be the blessing of his people,” Ella's father often repeated, and he himself and his wife, Alice of Hesse, tried to follow this principle. From childhood, their children were taught to help people, regardless of rank - for example, every week they went to the hospital, where they gave flowers to seriously ill patients, encouraged them. It entered their blood and flesh, the Romanovs raised their children in the same way.
Even while relaxing in their estate near Moscow, Ilyinsky, Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna continued to accept requests for help, for employment, for donations for the upbringing of orphans - all this was preserved in the correspondence of the Grand Duke's manager of the court with different people. Once a letter arrived from the compositors of a private printing house, who dared to ask to be allowed to sing at the Liturgy in Ilyinsky in the presence of the Grand Duke and Princess. And this request was fulfilled.
In 1893, when cholera was raging in Central Russia, a temporary first-aid post was opened in Ilyinsky, where they examined and, if necessary, urgently operated on all those in need of help, where peasants could stay in a special “hut for isolation” - like in a hospital. The infirmary operated from July to October. This is a classic example of the ministry that the couple has been engaged in all their lives.
"White Marriage" That Wasn't
“How I wish I had children! For me, there would be no greater paradise on earth if I had my own children, ”Sergey Alexandrovich writes in letters. A letter from Emperor Alexander III to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, has been preserved, where he writes: “What a pity that Ella and Sergei cannot have children.” “Of all the uncles, we were most afraid of Uncle Sergei, but despite this, he was our favorite,” the niece of Prince Maria recalls in her diaries. “He was strict, kept us in awe, but he loved children ... If he had the opportunity, he would come to watch the children bathe, cover them with a blanket and kiss them goodnight ...”
Spouses Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess
Elizabeth Fedorovna. 1884
The Grand Duke was given the opportunity to raise children - but not his own, but his brother Pavel, after the tragic death during premature birth of his wife, the Greek princess Alexandra Georgievna. Direct witnesses of the six-day agony of the unfortunate woman were the owners of the estate, Sergei and Elizaveta. Heartbroken, Pavel Aleksandrovich, for several months after the tragedy, was not able to take care of his children - the young Maria and the newborn Dmitry, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich took over this care completely and completely. He canceled all plans and trips and stayed in Ilyinsky, participated in bathing a newborn - who, by the way, should not have survived, according to the unanimous opinion of doctors - he himself covered him with cotton wool, did not sleep at night, taking care of the little prince. Interestingly, Sergei Alexandrovich wrote down all the important events in the life of his ward in his diary: the first erupted tooth, the first word, the first step. And after brother Pavel, contrary to the will of the emperor, married a woman who did not belong to an aristocratic family, and was expelled from Russia, his children, Dmitry and Maria, were finally taken into care by Sergei and Elizabeth.
Why the Lord did not give the spouses their own children is His secret. Researchers suggest that the childlessness of the grand ducal couple could be the result of Sergei's serious illness, which he carefully concealed from others. This is another little-known page in the life of the prince, which completely changes the ideas about him that are familiar to many.
Why does he need a corset?
Coldness of character, isolation, closeness - the usual list of accusations against the Grand Duke.
To this they add: proud! - because of his overly straight posture, which gave him an arrogant look. If the accusers of the prince knew that the “culprit” of a proud posture is a corset, with which he was forced to support his spine all his life. The prince was seriously and terminally ill, like his mother, like his brother Nikolai Alexandrovich, who was supposed to become the Russian emperor, but died of a terrible illness. His diagnosis - bone tuberculosis, leading to dysfunction of all joints - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich knew how to hide from everyone. Only his wife knew what it cost him.
“Sergey suffers a lot. He is unwell again. Salts, hot baths are very necessary, he cannot do without them, ”Elizaveta writes to close relatives. “Instead of going to the reception, the Grand Duke took a bath,” the Moskovskie Vedomosti newspaper scoffed already in pre-revolutionary times. A hot bath is almost the only remedy that relieves pain (articular, dental) that tormented Sergei Alexandrovich. He could not ride, could not do without a corset. In Ilyinsky, during the life of his mother, a koumiss farm was set up for medicinal purposes, but the disease progressed over the years. And if it were not for the bomb of student Ivan Kalyaev, it is very possible that the Governor-General of Moscow would not have lived long anyway ...
The Grand Duke was closed, laconic and closed from childhood. And could you expect anything else from a child whose parents were in fact divorced, which nevertheless could not take place? Maria Alexandrovna lived on the second floor of the Winter Palace, no longer having marital relations with her husband and enduring the presence of the sovereign's favorite, Princess Dolgorukova (she became his wife after the death of Maria Alexandrovna, but stayed in this status for less than a year, until the death of Alexander II). The collapse of the parental family, deep attachment to the mother, who meekly endured this humiliation, are factors that largely determined the formation of the character of the little prince.
They are also reasons for slander, rumors and slander against him. “Too much religious, closed, very often in the temple, takes communion up to three times a week,” this is the most “suspicious” of what English intelligence managed to find out about the prince before he married Elizabeth, after all - granddaughter of the English queen. The reputation is almost impeccable, and yet, even during his lifetime, streams of slander and impartial accusations poured out on the Grand Duke ...
"Be patient - you are on the battlefield"
They talked about the dissolute lifestyle of the Governor-General of Moscow, rumors spread around the capital about his non-traditional sexual orientation, that Elizaveta Fedorovna was very unhappy in her marriage to him - all this even during the life of the prince sounded even in English newspapers. Sergei Alexandrovich was at first lost and perplexed, this can be seen from his diary entries and letters, where he poses one question: “Why? Where does all this come from?!”
“Tolerate all this lifetime slander, endure - you are on the battlefield,” Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote to him.
Attacks, accusations of arrogance and indifference could not be avoided and Elizabeth Feodorovna. Of course, there were reasons for this: despite the widest charitable activities, she always kept her distance, knowing the price of her status as a Grand Duchess - belonging to the imperial house hardly implies familiarity. And her character, manifested from childhood, gave rise to such accusations.
In our eyes, the image of the Grand Duchess, admittedly, is somewhat unctuous: a gentle, meek woman with a humble look. This image was formed, of course, not without reason. “Her purity was absolute, it was impossible to take your eyes off her, after spending the evening with her, everyone was waiting for the hour when they could see her the next day,” her niece Maria admires Aunt Ella. And at the same time, it is impossible not to notice that the Grand Duchess Elizabeth had a strong-willed character. Mother admitted that Ella was the exact opposite of her older obedient sister Victoria: very strong and by no means quiet. It is known that Elizabeth spoke very harshly about Grigory Rasputin, believing that his death would be the best way out of the catastrophic and ridiculous situation that had developed at court.
“... When he saw her<...>, he asked: "Who are you?" “I am his widow,” she replied, “why did you kill him?” "I did not want to kill you," he said, "I saw him several times at the time when I had the bomb at the ready, but you were with him, and I did not dare to touch him." “And you didn’t realize that you killed me along with him?” - she replied ... "
(Description of the conversation between Elizabeth Feodorovna and the murderer of her husband from the book of O. M. Polsky "The New Russian Martyrs")
As they would say today, the Grand Duchess was a first-class manager, who skillfully knew how to organize business, distribute duties and monitor their implementation. Yes, she kept a little aloof, but at the same time she did not ignore the slightest requests and needs of those who turned to her. There is a famous case during the First World War when a wounded officer, who was threatened with amputation of his leg, filed a request to reconsider this decision. The petition fell to the Grand Duchess and was granted. The officer recovered and subsequently, during the Second World War, served as Minister of Light Industry.
Of course, the life of Elizabeth Feodorovna changed dramatically after the terrible event - the murder of her beloved husband ... The photograph of the carriage torn apart by the explosion was then printed in all Moscow newspapers. The explosion was so strong that the dead man's heart was found only on the third day on the roof of the house. But the Grand Duchess collected the remains of Sergei with her own hands. Her life, her fate, her character - everything has changed, but, of course, the whole previous life, full of dedication and activity, was a preparation for this.
“It seemed,” recalled Countess Alexandra Andreevna Olsufieva, “that from that time on she was peering intently into the image of another world.<...>, <она>dedicated to the pursuit of perfection."
"You and I know that he is a saint"
Grand Duke Sergei
Alexandrovich shortly
before death
“Lord, I would be worthy of such a death!” - Sergey Alexandrovich wrote in his diary after the death of one of the statesmen from a bomb - a month before his own death. He received threatening letters, but ignored them. The only thing the prince did was to stop taking his children, Dmitry Pavlovich and Maria Pavlovna, and his adjutant Dzhunkovsky with him on trips.
The Grand Duke foresaw not only his death, but also the tragedy that would overwhelm Russia in a decade. He wrote to Nicholas II, imploring him to be more resolute and tough, to act, to take action. And he himself took such measures: in 1905, when the uprising broke out among the students, he sent students on indefinite vacations, to their homes, preventing the fire from breaking out. "Hear me!" - he writes and writes in recent years to the sovereign emperor. But the emperor did not hear ...
February 4, 1905 Sergei Alexandrovich leaves the Kremlin through the Nikolsky Gate. For 65 meters before the Nikolskaya tower, an explosion of terrible force is heard. The coachman was mortally wounded, and Sergei Alexandrovich was torn to pieces: his head, arm and legs remained from him - so the prince was buried, having built a special “doll”, in the Chudov Monastery, in the tomb. At the site of the explosion, they found his personal belongings, which Sergei always carried with him: icons, a cross given by his mother, a small Gospel.
After the tragedy, everything that Sergei did not have time to do, everything that he put his mind and irrepressible energy into, Elizaveta Fedorovna considered it her duty to continue. “I want to be worthy of the leadership of such a spouse as Sergius,” she wrote shortly after his death to Zinaida Yusupova. And, probably, driven by these thoughts, she went to prison to the murderer of her husband with words of forgiveness and a call to repentance. She worked to the point of exhaustion and, as Countess Olsufyeva writes, “always calm and humble, she found strength and time, getting satisfaction from this endless work.”
Grand Duchess Elizabeth
Feodorovna - Mother Superior
Martha and Mary Convent
mercy. 1910s
It is difficult to say in a few words about what the Martha-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy founded by the Grand Duchess, which still exists today, has become for the capital. “The Lord gave me so little time,” she writes to Z. Yusupova. “There is still a lot to be done.”
* * *
On July 5, 1918, Elizaveta Fedorovna, her cell-attendant Varvara (Yakovleva), nephew Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, the sons of Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich - Igor, John and Konstantin, and the manager of the affairs of Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Fyodor Mikhailovich Remez were thrown alive into a mine near Alapaevsk.
The relics of the Grand Duchess rest in the temple built by her husband - the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane, and the remains of the Grand Duke were transferred in 1998 to the Novospassky Monastery in Moscow. She was canonized in the 1990s, but he ... It seems that holiness can be very different, and the great - really great - Prince Sergei Alexandrovich again remained in the shadow of his great wife. Today, the commission for his canonization resumed its work. “You and I know that he is a saint,” Elizaveta Feodorovna said in correspondence after the death of her husband. She knew him best.
Text: Zoya Zhalnina
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, 1904 Archival photos and documents from the museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy
A person's deeds and letters speak best of all. Elizaveta Feodorovna's letters to close people reveal the rules on which she built her life and relationships with others, allow you to better understand the reasons that prompted the brilliant high-society beauty to turn into a saint during her lifetime.
In Russia, Elizaveta Feodorovna was known not only as “the most beautiful princess in Europe”, the sister of the Empress and the wife of the Tsar’s uncle, but also as the founder of the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, a new type of convent.
In 1918, the founder of the monastery of mercy, wounded but alive, was thrown into a mine in a dense forest so that no one would find it - by order of the head of the Bolshevik Party V.I. Lenin.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was very fond of nature and often walked for a long time - without ladies-in-waiting and "etiquette". In the photo: on the way to the village of Nasonovo, not far from the Ilyinsky estate near Moscow, where she and her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, lived almost without a break until his appointment in 1891 to the post of Governor-General of Moscow. End of the 19th century. State Archive of the Russian Federation
On faith: “External signs only remind me of the internal”
By birth, a Lutheran, Elizabeth Feodorovna, if desired, could remain her all her life: the canons of that time prescribed a mandatory transition to Orthodoxy only to those members of the august family who were related to the succession to the throne, and Elizabeth's husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was not the heir to the throne . However, in the seventh year of marriage, Elizabeth decides to become Orthodox. And he does this not “because of her husband”, but of her own free will.
Princess Elizabeth with her own family in her youth: father, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, sister Alix (future Empress of Russia), Princess Elizabeth herself, elder sister, Princess Victoria, brother Ernst-Ludwig. Mother, Princess Alice, died when Elizabeth was 12 years old.
Artist Heinrich von Angeli, 1879
From a letter to his father, Ludwig
IV
, Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine
(January 1, 1891):
I took this step [-conversion to Orthodoxy-] only out of deep faith and I feel that I must appear before God with a pure and believing heart. How easy it would be to remain as it is now, but then how hypocritical, how false it would be, and how can I lie to everyone - pretending to be a Protestant in all outward rites, when my soul belongs entirely to the religion here. I thought and thought deeply about all this, being in this country for more than 6 years, and knowing that the religion was "found".
Even in Slavonic, I understand almost everything, although I have never learned this language. You say that the outward brilliance of the church fascinated me. In this you are wrong. Nothing external attracts me, and not worship - but the foundation of faith. External signs only remind me of the internal ...
Certificate of high medical qualification of the sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Labor Community dated April 21, 1925. After the arrest of Elizaveta Feodorovna in 1918, a "labor artel" was set up in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent and a hospital was preserved where the sisters of the convent could work. The sisters worked so well that they even earned praise from the Soviet authorities. That did not prevent her from closing the monastery a year after the issuance of the certificate, in 1926. A copy of the certificate was provided to the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent by the Central Archive of Moscow
About the revolution: “I prefer to be killed by the first random shot than to sit with folded arms”
From a letter from V.F. Dzhunkovsky, adjutant of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1905):
The revolution cannot end any day, it can only worsen or become chronic, which in all probability it will. My duty is now to take care of helping the unfortunate victims of the uprising ... I prefer to be killed by the first accidental shot from some window than to sit here with folded arms.<…>
Revolution of 1905-1907 Barricades in Ekaterininsky Lane (Moscow). Photo from the Museum of Modern History of Russia. Newsreel RIA Novosti
From a letter to Emperor Nicholas II (December 29, 1916):
We are all about to be overwhelmed by huge waves<…>All classes - from the lowest to the highest, and even those who are now at the front - have reached the limit! ..<…>What other tragedy could unfold? What more suffering do we have ahead of us?
Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizaveta Feodorovna. 1892
Elizaveta Feodorovna in mourning for her murdered husband. Archival photos and documents from the museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
On forgiveness of enemies: "Knowing the good heart of the deceased, I forgive you"
In 1905, the husband of Elizaveta Feodorovna, the Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was killed by a bomb by the terrorist Kalyaev. Elizaveta Fedorovna, having heard an explosion that thundered not far from the governor's palace, ran out into the street and began to collect her husband's body torn to pieces. Then she prayed for a long time. After some time, she filed a petition for pardon for her husband's killer and visited him in prison, leaving the Gospel. She said she forgives him everything.
Revolutionary Ivan Kalyaev (1877-1905), who killed Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich in Moscow and executed by the tsarist government. From the family of a retired police officer. In addition to the revolution, he loved poetry, wrote poetry. From the notes of the archpriest of the prison Shlisselburg St. John the Baptist Cathedral, John Florinsky: “I have never seen a person going to his death with such calmness and humility of a true Christian. When I told him that in two hours he would be executed, he calmly answered me: “ I'm quite ready to die I don't need your sacraments and prayers I believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit He is always with me and I will die accompanied by Him But if you are a decent person and if you have compassion for me let's just talk like friends.” And he hugged me!” Newsreel RIA Novosti
From the encrypted telegram of the Prosecutor of the Senate E.B. Vasiliev dated February 8, 1905:
The meeting of the Grand Duchess with the killer took place on February 7 at 8 pm in the office of the Pyatnitsky part.<…>When asked who she was, the Grand Duchess replied “I am the wife of the one you killed, tell me why you killed him”; the accused stood up, saying "I did what I was instructed to do, this is the result of the existing regime." The Grand Duchess graciously turned to him with the words “knowing the good heart of the deceased, I forgive you” and blessed the murderer. Then<…>I was alone with the criminal for about twenty minutes. After the meeting, he told the accompanying officer that "the Grand Duchess is kind, and you are all evil."
From a letter to Empress Maria Feodorovna (March 8, 1905):
Violent shock [ from the death of her husband] I have been smoothed out by a small white cross placed at the spot where he died. The next evening I went there to pray and I was able to close my eyes and see this pure symbol of Christ. It was a great mercy, and then, in the evenings, before I go to bed, I say: "Good night!" - and I pray, and in my heart and soul I have peace.
Handmade embroidery by Elizabeth Feodorovna. The images of the sisters Martha and Mary meant the path of service to people chosen by the Grand Duchess: active kindness and prayer. Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow
About prayer: “I don’t know how to pray well…”
From a letter to Princess Z. N. Yusupova (June 23, 1908):
Peace of heart, peace of mind and soul brought me the relics of St. Alexis. If only you could approach the holy relics in the temple and, after praying, simply kiss them with your forehead, so that the world would enter into you and stay there. I hardly prayed - alas, I don’t know how to pray well, but only fell: I fell, like a child to a mother’s breast, without asking for anything, because he is at peace, from the fact that a saint is with me, on whom I can lean and don't get lost alone.
Elizaveta Feodorovna dressed as a sister of mercy. The clothes of the sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent were made according to the sketches of Elizaveta Feodorovna, who believed that white was more appropriate for the sisters in the world than black.
Archival photos and documents from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
About monasticism: “I accepted it not as a cross, but as a path”
Four years after the death of her husband, Elizaveta Fedorovna sold her property and jewelry, giving to the treasury that part that belonged to the Romanov family, and with the proceeds she founded the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy in Moscow.
From letters
Emperor Nicholas II (March 26 and April 18, 1909):
In two weeks my new life begins, blessed in the church. I kind of say goodbye to the past, with its mistakes and sins, hoping for a higher goal and a purer existence.<…>For me, taking vows is something even more serious than marriage for a young girl. I am betrothed to Christ and His cause, I give everything I can to Him and others.
View of the Martha and Mary Convent on Ordynka (Moscow) at the beginning of the 20th century. Archival photos and documents from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
From a telegram and a letter from Elizabeth Feodorovna to Professor
St. Petersburg Theological Academy A.A. Dmitrievsky (1911):
Some do not believe that I myself, without any outside influence, decided to take this step. It seems to many that I have taken on an unbearable cross, which I will regret one day and either throw it off or collapse under it. I accepted it not as a cross, but as a path abounding in light, which the Lord showed me after the death of Sergei, but which, many years before, began to dawn in my soul. For me, this is not a “transition”: it is something that little by little grew in me, took shape.<…>I was amazed when a whole battle was played out to prevent me, to intimidate me with difficulties. All this was done with great love and good intentions, but with an absolute misunderstanding of my character.
Sisters of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent
On relationships with people: "I have to do what they do"
From a letter to E.N. Naryshkina (1910):
... You can tell me, following many others: stay in your palace as a widow and do good "from above". But, if I demand from others that they follow my convictions, I must do the same as they do, I myself experience the same difficulties with them, I must be strong in order to console them, encourage them by my example; I have neither mind nor talent - I have nothing but love for Christ, but I am weak; the truth of our love for Christ, our devotion to him, we can express by comforting other people - this is how we give our lives to him ...
A group of wounded soldiers of the First World War in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. In the center are Elizaveta Feodorovna and Sister Varvara, Elizaveta Feodorovna's cell attendant, the venerable martyr, who voluntarily went into exile with her superior and died with her. Photo from the Museum of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy.
On his attitude towards himself: “You need to move forward so slowly that it seems that you are standing still”
From a letter to Emperor Nicholas II (March 26, 1910):
The higher we try to climb, the greater feats we impose on ourselves, the more the devil tries to make us blind to the truth.<…>You need to move forward so slowly that it seems that you are standing still. A person should not look down, he should consider himself the worst of the worst. It often seemed to me that there was some kind of lie in this: to try to consider yourself the worst of the worst. But this is precisely what we must come to - with the help of God, everything is possible.
Mother of God and Apostle John the Theologian at the Cross on Golgotha. A fragment of stucco decorating the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.
Why God Allows Suffering
From a letter
Countess A.A. Olsufieva (1916):
I'm not exalted, my friend. I am only sure that the Lord who punishes is the same Lord who loves. I have been reading the Gospel a lot lately, and if we realize that great sacrifice of God the Father, Who sent His Son to die and rise for us, then we will feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who illuminates our path. And then joy becomes eternal even when our poor human hearts and our little earthly minds experience moments that seem very terrible.
About Rasputin: "This is a man who leads several lives"
Elizaveta Feodorovna was extremely negative about the excessive trust with which her younger sister, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, treated Grigory Rasputin. She believed that the dark influence of Rasputin brought the imperial couple to "a state of blindness that casts a shadow over their home and country."
Interestingly, two of the participants in the murder of Rasputin were in the closest social circle of Elizabeth Feodorovna: Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, who was her nephew.
