She was a sister of the last Empress, a wife
of Governor-General of Moscow, an Abbess, a White Angel, a saint. Nowadays, the image of Elizabeth has transformed
in our minds into something perfect, immaculate, and sweet. But she was happily married, she was a Grand
Duchess, the First lady of Moscow. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna is the
most enigmatic figure of the House of Romanov. Her political power was surrounded by legends. If it went so far as to replace a Minister
of Home Affairs, the extent of that power is easy to guess. The Empress's sister openly opposed Rasputin,
she was considered one of the parties involved in the plot against him. She saw Grigory Rasputin’s true face, which
was plain and simple. Answers to many questions could have been
found in her diaries and letters, but they mysteriously disappeared. In KGB archive documents it's often stated
that the sisters hid the papers. A century after the Grand Duchess's death,
archives reveal documents that have never been seen before. It turns out that officers of Tsar’s Secret
Police were watching her around the clock for seven years. An explosion occurred on a special train of
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna while it was moving. There was an attempt on her life; her husband,
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, a brother of Emperor Alexander III, became
the first Romanov to be assassinated by terrorists in the 20th century. When she saw the remains of her husband, she
began to pick them up with her own hands. His death was a thing that changed her life
forever. Palaces and splendour were left in the past,
her new life was all about praying and love. A lot of people think that this is an overly
heavy cross to bear and that I would either regret and get rid of it or collapse under
its weight. When Elizabeth Feodorovna came up with the
idea to set up a cross on the spot where Sergei Alexandrovich died, she called it a cross
of forgiveness because there is a remarkable inscription on that cross. Those words are taken from the Gospel, they
belong to the Savior: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That cross was the first monument of the Moscow
Kremlin to be destroyed after the October Revolution. Lenin, under the chairmanship of Peoples Commissariat
and accompanied by allies and enthusiasts that included Mayakovsky, a poet, and many
others, took a rope and easily toppled a colossal, seven-meter-high cross, making it fall to
the Taynitsky Garden. The monument disappeared, seemingly forever. A hundred years later, in May 2017 the cross
recreated in accordance to sketches by Vasnetsov came back to the spot where Elizabeth Feodorovna
had set it up. This extraordinary woman is worthy of special
mention. A tireless worker and well-doer, she was canonized
as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church, she didn’t leave the country during the
years of tremendous hardships. and for the rest of her life remained faithful
to the ideals of Christian forgiveness and love. It was a terrible blow to Elizabeth Feodorovna,
a forty-year-old young and energetic woman, as she couldn’t imagine her life without
her husband. They had been happily married for 20 years,
that had been a strong wholesome marriage that used to be a center of her universe. He used to manage all the things on his own
as well as guided me in everything. I truly was a weaker one. His heart was most faithful, unchangeable
and pure among those I have ever known. I wish I can deserve having been his wife
someday. He turned 47 by the time he got assassinated. He died as an acting head of the Moscow Military
District, which is to say he was a military head of all the central Russia. And when riots started to erupt in 1905 causing
confusion among Moscow authorities, it was the Grand Duke who ordered to bring the military
in. That helped to ease tensions fast and without
bloodshed. His firm position in this situation obviously
was an unwanted obstacle for socialists and terrorists. The Grand Duke really disliked taking precautions
on his own. He hid from everyone all the threatening letters
he received, never showed them to anyone and destroyed them. Only once did he let it slip out when I was
reporting to him on security measures around the palace. That is written in the memories of Djunkovsky,
an adjutant of the Grand Duke. Sergei Alexandrovich moved around Moscow unguarded,
and so did he that morning, on the 4th of February, 1905. We are standing on the very heart of the Kremlin,
the Ivanovskaya Square. That is the last place connected to Grand
Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The Grand Duke came out of the Small Nicholas
Palace and got into a carriage. Then the carriage went around the palace and
along the Ivanovskaya Square, to the Kremlin Senate and past it. At around 20 meters from the St. Nicholas
Tower a terrorist Kalyaev, a Socialist Revolutionary Party member, stood in the way of the carriage. At that moment Elizabeth Feodorovna was at
a warehouse of medical supplies and donations to warriors of the Russo-Japanese War. She worked at that warehouse day and night. Three months before her husband was assassinated,
she had written a letter to Princess Yusupova. It had said: We live on a summit of a volcano
which is going to erupt. When it does, who will be affected? I have never thought we would have to live
in such a horrible, anxious time. Lord, have mercy upon us! We are standing in the place where Grand Duke
Sergei Alexandrovich was the first to fall victim of the Revolution of 1905. An explosion happened at 2:47. Everyone who happened to be in the Kremlin
at the moment was shocked by the sight of a column of fire and ash, shattered glass. All people rushed to the spot. The explosion was massive, tremendous. Elizabeth Feodorovna turned pale, screamed
This is Serge! and ran outside, wearing almost no proper clothing at all. She was the first one to cover that short
distance and come to the spot where Sergei Alexandrovich was assassinated. She started to pick up some little pieces,
cloth rugs, remains of her husband saying Sergei didn’t like a mess
Some unknown woman put a white shawl on the widow’s head. Somebody brought a stretcher, originally meant
for soldiers. She covered the remains with a grenadier's
greatcoat that somebody gave her. Then the procession went to the Alekseevskaya
church of the Chudov Monastery. The first memorial service was held at the
relics of Saint Alexius, who was much venerated by Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and loved
by Grand Duchess Elizabeth. The Novospassky Monastery. Next to the body of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich,
one may find his belongings that were taken out of his coffin during the reburial. Among those things, there is a wedding tablecloth. There are numbers embroidered on that tablecloth
– three point six. And an 1884 just below. That means the 3rd of June, 1884, their wedding
date. All the things Elizabeth had found at the
site of her husband's death she wrapped in that tablecloth. She put her wedding ring to his coffin too,
just next to his own ring disfigured by the explosion. She did that as a sign that they will always
be together, that she will always be with him. That was a ring with his name engraved on
it. And the date of their wedding. They were distant relatives to each other. The mother of Sergei Alexandrovich, Maria
Alexandrovna, belonged to the House of Hesse-Darmstadt as well as Elizabeth Feodorovna. Germany, Darmstadt. Elizabeth was born in this city on the 1st
of November, 1864. Her parents were Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of
Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England. The baby girl was called Ella by all family
members. Alice wrote to her husband: Ella constantly
kisses me and wraps her chubby little hands around my neck. She makes a scene every time I have to leave. She is so gentle. Sweet plump Ella is very strong, and far from
being quiet. Photo albums of Dukes and Duchesses of Hesse
are kept in Darmstadt archives. The photos show palaces and houses where Ella’s
family lived back then. There were seven children in the family. Ella’s brother later recalled: Every Saturday
morning we were supposed to bring bouquets of flowers to the hospital and present them
to different patients. Even the smallest ones among us had to accompany
our mother during these visits Her mother always said that princes and princesses
need to receive the same upbringing ordinary kids do. Or even a stricter one. Because the more advantage you get, the more
responsibility you have to bear Elizabeth’s mother died of diphtheria at
the age of 35. But that time was enough for her to bring
two Russian Orthodox saints to the world. December 2017, Frankfurt. We see preparations for an international exhibition
opening. It was called Princesses of Hesse in Russian
History and it was made possible only because of the Educational society named after Elizabeth
and Sergei. Unique pieces were brought there from all
around the world. The biggest museums of Russia – the Hermitage,
the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Historical Museum – contributed to it. But there were also some museums that helped
us and which we had never heard of before, like a museum in Jordanville, America. The House of Hesse also provided an object
of great rarity – a family album. Heroines of the exhibition can be found on
its pages. A unique photo: 1864, Alice, Grand Duchess
of Hesse, is expecting a baby. Ella will be born in several months. A guest of the house is a relative, Maria
Alexandrovna, Empress of Russia. She arrived with her son, Sergei, who is not
in the picture. Princess Alice and Maria Alexandrovna often
visited each other. It is worth mentioning that the Empress had
a kind heart. She didn’t abandon the girls of Hesse after
their mother had died. Maria Alexandrovna had a soft spot for Elizabeth
(or Ella). Quite likely that Sergei Alexandrovich remembered
this fact and took it into account later on when choosing a wife. In November 1883 Ella agreed to become Sergei’s
wife. He told the news to his brother the emperor,
unsure if he deserved that much happiness. His feelings are understandable. At that time people used to say that there
were two exceptional beauties, both called Elizabeth: Elizabeth of Austria and Elizabeth
of Hesse. Maria Pavlovna, a niece of the Grand Duke,
wrote in her memoirs: Aunt Ella is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen
in my life. She is a tall and delicate blonde, has very
clean-cut features and grey-blue eyes. There is a little brown patch in one of her
eyes, and that adds even more charm. Ella’s grandmother gave her consent for
the marriage only after British special services had ran a thorough background check on the
groom. Their verdict was: Suitable for marriage
A bit too reserved and extremely religious, attends church more often than necessary. That was a flaw they had found in Sergei Alexandrovich. On New Year’s Eve, 2018, German newspapers
wrote about the success of the Russian exhibition dedicated to four princesses of the House
of Hesse. A representative of the House of Romanov,
a great-great-grandson of Alexander III, specially arrived in Germany to see the exhibition. We are now standing at the exhibition dedicated
to four German princesses. They were a part of Russian history. Their lives were complex. It's difficult to say whose fate has impressed
me most. Paul’s great-grandmother, Empress Maria
Alexandrovna, was deeply affected by her husband’s infidelity. Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna died while
giving birth. The tragic fates of the last Empress and her
sister are well-known. Despite all the splendour and exceptional
beauty of many pieces at that exhibition, I am most impressed by this museum complex
which provokes feelings of piety, immense tenderness, and pity. This earring was found in 1919 at the site
of the Imperial family’s first burial. Next to the earring, one may see a portrait
of young Alice. It's a watercolor painting drawn by Elizabeth
Feodorovna and it depicts the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna wearing those very pearl
earrings. One of them was later found when sifting the
ground at Ganina Yama. The relationship between the two sisters,
older and younger, Elizabeth and Alexandra, was very close and strong. They were quite little when their mother passed
away, and that was a significant event for them. They were there for each other, greatly supported
each other. The very fact of Sergei and Elizabeth taking
part in arranging the marriage between Nicholas and Alexandra cannot be underestimated. It’s safe to say that their word was decisive. Alexander III died in 1894. Russia got a new ruler, Nicholas II. Before he died, his father had given his blessing
to Nicholas, to choose as his wife the woman he loved. An intricate crown-for-Alice operation, that
lasted many years, ended successfully. The documents prove that the marriage between
the heir to the throne and Princess Alice was arranged with direct participation of
Grand Duke and Duchess, Sergei Alexandrovich and Elizabeth Feodorovna. That allows us to claim that Elizabeth Feodorvna
is responsible for this marriage and its consequences. There were four parties to this secret alliance:
Nicholas, Alice, Sergei, and Elizabeth. That private club members had different names. For example, letters were coded as Paley One
or Paley Two, and they went through Elizabeth Feodorovna. Here is one of the letters written inside
this secret alliance. Elizabeth Feodorovna wrote to the future Emperor:
My dear Nicky, Paley’s love is still strong and deep. The thing is that she can't change her religion,
she feels it is a wrong thing to do. Nonetheless, I still hope Ill manage to convince
her to do as she should. After all, love is sacred as well, one of
the purest feelings in this world Alice was Queen Victoria’s beloved granddaughter. The Queen always called her Sunny and didn’t
want to part with her and see her leave for faraway, restless Russia. The Queen wrote to Elizabeth: Dear Ella, I’ve
heard rumours that someone is taking a very active part in promoting this marriage. Do you happen to know who might that be? To which Elizabeth responded: Of course not,
dear grandma. If I knew that, I would immediately let you
know In the autumn of 1893, Nicholas was supposed
to leave for Darmstadt, to ask for Alice’s hand. The trip was cancelled with the interference
of his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich sent an angry
letter to his nephew: Dear Nicky, you either happen to have no character and will, or your
feelings have completely changed. In this case, it is deeply regrettable that
you haven’t told that straight to my wife or me
We can understand the heir’s parents' point. It was known that Alice, Princess of Hesse,
most likely was carrying the gene for haemophilia. As we knew, the gene for an awful disease,
haemophilia, was spread among the descendants of the Queen. It was passed on through the female line. Historians ask strange questions like How
did they let it happen if they knew there was a possibility of children being born sick?
and so on. I think these discussions shouldn’t take
place at all. There was love, it was big and strong. Elizabeth and Sergei just supported the thing
that was destined to happen. That’s it. The first time Princess Alice saw Tsesarevich
Nicholas, her husband-to-be, was at her older sister’s wedding – another thread that
forever connected these two couples. The bride of Grand Duke Sergei was 19 years
old. She was taken to Russia on a train decorated
with her favourite white flowers. An adoring crowd met it at every station. Elizabeth was astonished by the fact that
she was taken to the Winter Palace, in an 18th-century gilded carriage. For several days there was incessant bell-ringing,
as a part of the wedding celebration. We’re looking at the manifesto by Alexander
III informing that a wedding between his brother, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and Princess
of Hesse has taken place. We command, that the wife of Grand Duke Sergei
Alexandrovich be called, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, with the title of Her Imperial
Highness. Why the patronymic name was Feodorovna? That is because centuries before that day
Alexander Nevsky carried the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God with him, which
he received from his father. That icon was used when baptizing all the
Russian Empresses who adopted Orthodox Christianity. The Grand Duke's wife wasn’t an Empress,
so she wasn’t obliged to adopt Orthodox Christianity. Emperor Alexander III wrote to his brother:
I know how much the thought that your wife doesn’t belong to our church burdens you. But I still haven’t lost hope that this
cherished dream of mine will come true. And that it will happen to your dear Ella. Elizabeth Feodorovna will become Orthodox
Grand Duchess, but that will take years. She was pondering over it for seven years. She took lots of actions connected with Orthodox
Christianity and became more Orthodox than many people who already belonged to this religion. The key role in her adopting Orthodox Christianity
belonged to her husband. Elizabeth Feodorovna was a Lutheran when she
came to Russia; gradually, with the Grand Dukes model in front of her eyes, his strong
faith and veneration of the saints inspired interest in her. She felt like reading the Catechism together
with him. Her decision to adopt the Orthodox religion
was a shock to her relatives. Your letter caused me a lot of pain, Ludwig
IV, Grand Duke of Hesse wrote to his daughter. She replied to that: My conscience doesn’t
let me keep living as I did, that would be a sin. I have been lying to everyone trying to stick
to my former religion. It is impossible to live the same way anymore
When Elizabeth told Sergei about her decision he was on the verge of tears. Then she said that belonging to the same religion
with one’s husband is a great happiness. Elizabeth Feodorovna adopted Orthodox Christianity
a week before Easter, on Lazarus Saturday, 13th of April, 1891. The voice of the Grand Duchess who was reading
the Creed was confident and calm. She was wonderful as an angel – wearing
a white dress, barefooted, her hair down. That decision was going to change Elizabeth
Feodorovna’s life more than she or her family members could imagine. Emperor Alexander III presented an icon of
the Savior to her to commemorate her adopting the Orthodox religion. With this icon against her chest, she later
stepped towards the shaft where her life on the Earth ended. Elizabeth Feodorovna was deeply religious
throughout her life. At the same time, in her letters she often
stressed out that she wasn’t fanatical, she just had faith in the bottom of her heart. And she didn’t just say that, she proved
that with her actions. The thing that Elizabeth Feodorovna did after
her husband’s death stunned all of Moscow: she went to prison to see his assassin. Kind and religious Grand Duchess Elizabeth
Feodorovna brought a small cross for him. She talked to him and forgave him. She is a saint. She never revealed what they talked about. She only said that as she entered, he asked:
Who are you? I am the wife of the person you killed. She forgave him, and presented him with a
scapular. Ella is a saint; she is majestic in her grief. There’s evidence that the assassin told
Elizabeth Feodorovna that he had seen her in a carriage with her husband plenty of times
before and hadn’t had the heart to throw a bomb, so she should have been grateful that
he had saved her life. To that, she answered: Don’t you understand
that by killing my husband you have also killed me? There was another person whom the Grand Duchess
visited some hours after the explosion. The Grand Dukes coachman was suffering from
multiple injuries. He was promptly taken to the hospital. Knowing that Andrey Rudinkin was dying, she
came to him in a white dress so that he didn’t see her mourning. And she told him that it was the Grand Duke
himself who asked her to pay a visit as if he was alive. Andrey Rudinkin died
in peace. She spent the first days after her husband’s
death by his coffin, almost never leaving. And during those hard days, during memorial
services and burial, unfortunately, neither Emperor Nicholas II nor Alexandra Feodorovna
could be there by her side. They didn’t come to Sergei’s funeral because
there was a revolutionary situation, and coming there could have possibly resulted in the
death of the Imperial family. Elizabeth Feodorovna herself begged them not
to come. Alix naturally wants to go, same as mama. But they were persuaded not to do that as
it is too risky. Although it is awful to leave poor Ella alone. The very thought of her hurts. She survived the tragedy with great fortitude
but of course, there were very tough moments for her. It’s known that she several times went roaming
the streets of Moscow unguarded, in the evening or even at night, which was uncharacteristic
of her. The shock she felt was incredible. Answers to many questions could have been
found in her diaries and letters, but they mysteriously disappeared. We don’t know a single line from there. She didn’t want other people to read them,
and we think that Elizabeth Feodorovna destroyed all of them. This is the first of her wills we know, the
one she wrote after her husband’s death: All the photos should be burned, they only
hurt even more. All the clothes I gave to my maids, there
is only my mourning gown left on me, and it will also go to them. There is a curious and mysterious line in
the will: I want my old bag to be destroyed with everything that is inside it, don’t
open. Of course, her life was split before and after
her husband’s death. She was two different people in these parts,
with different preferences. She used to write in letters after Sergei’s
death: There was everything in my life. I saw glamour and lights, I know all of that,
I had all of that and that is not what I want. After her spouse’s death, she literally
dedicated her life to perpetuating the memory of him. A cross made according to Vasnetsov’s sketches,
a church called Comfort and Consolation dedicated to the Grand Duke and all the victims of political
terror. She organized almost 45,000 funeral dinners
for the poor people of Moscow. The widow initiated memorial services in different
churches that lasted for many years, some of them continue up to this day. In the Alexandrovsky Metochion in Jerusalem,
the Grand Duke's name is still mentioned in prayers every day. There is a remarkable thing that few people
know about. There is a nun who is reading the Psalter
for Grand Duke Sergei, and this process has been ongoing since 1905. The reading of the Psalter doesn’t stop
for a single moment. Nuns alternate with each other and keep reading. That was her desire, and so it goes on and
on. 1903. The Imperial family, walks from the Grand
Kremlin Palace, to the Assumption Cathedral. This is the only footage, where Elizabeth
Feodorovna can be seen in a formal dress. There she is, following the Imperial couple,
holding her husband by the arm. These days, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich,
is either overshadowed by his wife, or mentioned as an unpleasant, wicked man. His image has been distorted and defamed for
a very long time. This perception was created largely because
of memories of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. In these Memoirs, Sergei is presented as a
naval officer with quite loose morals. However, it is only natural that Sergei was
a certain source of irritation for Alexander. I would give ten years of my life, to prevent
her from becoming a wife of that arrogant Sergei. He didn’t hide it, and wrote that he envied
Sergei. Many people were in love with Elizabeth, so
he couldn’t understand, Why did she choose him and not me? In 1891 Emperor Alexander III appointed his
younger brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as the Governor-General of Moscow. Sergei and Elizabeth had mixed feelings about
that, as their previous life in Saint Petersburg was free of such heavy responsibility. After seven long years of happy marriage,
we're supposed to start a completely new life. We’re going to play the role of a Reigning
Prince, which is extremely difficult for us. That is because instead of playing this kind
of role, we would rather have a quiet family life. Tverskaya Street, 13. Nowadays this building in the city center
is occupied by the Government of Moscow. Starting from the late 19th century that place
was home to Governors-General. All the official receptions, the entire life
of the couple, including representational activities and diplomatic receptions, mainly
took place here. At the time when the couple moved in, the
palace had already been a hundred years old. It required considerable changes. Nikolai Sultanov was invited to take charge
of the renovations. Thanks to students of Stroganov State Academy,
we still can see watercolour pictures in the State Historical Museum and can imagine what
the interiors looked like. This room is decorated with a bright style
of Art Nouveau. This is a bathroom of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. We can see a lot of paintings. This winding staircase led to his and Elizabeth
Feodorovna’s bedchamber. Throughout 20 years of their marriage, they
shared a bedchamber, which was unusual back then. At the same time, each of them had their own
part of the palace. Elizabeth spent a lot of time in her study. When guests entered the ballroom of the palace,
they were greeted by a portrait of the First lady of Moscow. The main decoration of the room was a portrait
of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna painted by Wilhelm von Kaulbach. It was commissioned by the Grand Duke, and
he thought it was one of the best pieces. Getting an invitation to visit a ball at the
palace of the Governor-General was a fabulous gift. There are memories of a 1904 ball debutante,
Natalya Balueva. She was greatly impressed by the mirrored
staircase, of which we can still see remains in the palace. And we can still imagine what an astonishing
look beautiful Elizabeth had, when standing at the top of that staircase. She was incredibly good-looking wearing a
pale pink dress, a diadem and a massive ruby necklace. We looked at Elizabeth Feodorovna in admiration
and marveled at her amazing complexion, fair skin, and elegant attire, the design of which
was drawn personally by her. One year later, the Grand Duke was assassinated
by a terrorist. Elizabeth Feodorovna had to see the palace
getting devastated during the October Revolution. Everything was destroyed: private apartments,
luxurious halls, studies, and an exceptionally beautiful home church dedicated to Sergius
of Radonezh and Alexander Nevsky. The spouses used to pray there every day,
hidden away from the world. Contrary to popular belief, they were happily
married. But he was the head of the house and had full
control over everything. Ella fully supported that, and he treated
her with great care and gentleness. They both really loved children. Sadly, they didn’t have their own. Probably we are not destined to enjoy absolute
happiness. If I had children, I guess this planet would
be a paradise for me. But this is a thing that God does not want. The Lord moves in a mysterious way. Why didn’t Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna have children? Many people are curious to know. But they became parents to a huge number of
children because the Grand Duchess was the head of the Elizabeth Charitable Society that
existed in Moscow for more than 25 years and took care of 9,000 newborns. Shelters founded by the Grand Duchess didn’t
have much in common with regular orphanages. This is a child’s dress, decorated with
lace and pleats. This is a dress made for girls with true love
as if they were someone’s own children. The same goes for all the rest of the garments
that were brought here for orphans. This dress was surely approved by the Grand
Duchess personally. Grand Duke Sergei, wrote to his brother the
emperor. Together with my wife, we visited the Educational
Home today. I have heavy feelings. While we were there, we saw a two-days-old
boy getting admitted, weighed, washed, and handed to a wet nurse. It was a lovely boy, with big black eyes. I had a strong desire to hold him. This house is more than a hundred years old. It was built in 1892. The wooden walls can still breathe This building
used to be a maternity shelter. It was built in Ilyinskoye manor house by
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. A childless Grand Duke building a maternity
hospital was quite a bizarre thing at the time. People thought that the reason was a shock
he had to go through: Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna, the Grand Duke's sister-in-law,
died in the autumn in Ilyinskoe manor house during childbirth. She got married to Paul Alexandrovich, the
last son of Emperor Alexander II. That place was a little piece of heaven loved
by everyone, be it Elizabeth and Sergei, or Paul and Alexandra. There are beautiful pictures of pregnant Alexandra,
sweet and plump – a charming photo that symbolizes youth. Elizabeth and Alexandra became close friends. The sudden death of the young Duchess, who
was just 21, came like a thunderbolt and it seemed that everyone forgot about the newborn
baby – that is what his sister, Maria, wrote in her memories. At the time neonatal intensive care units
for premature babies were a very rare thing, that’s why the baby was wrapped in cotton
wool and put in a cradle filled with hot water bottles to warm it up. Uncle Sergei personally washed him, following
doctor’s recommendations. The child was getting stronger and gaining
weight. The child was called Dmitry. His father left Ilyinskoe after the stress. Sergei didn’t blame him. My dear Tsip (this is a nickname family members
gave to Paul)! Аfter everything we suffered and went through
together you can be confident that I’m ready to give my life for your children
In fact, Dmitry and Maria were raised by their uncle and aunt. That happened because their father got married
for the second time beneath his station. Actually, he deluded Emperor Nicholas II,
and perhaps that’s why he was punished so much. Because he promised not to marry again. One of the consequences of the Grand Duke's
death was that Elizabeth Feodorovna, his wife, became the person to bear responsibility for
these children. Nobody saw Elizabeth Feodorovna crying apart
from her niece and nephew, Maria and Dmitry. The Grand Duchess had a sleepless in the nursery
night right after the explosion day. The widow wrote to their father that from
that moment on she became the head of the family: You know that for me your precious
little darlings are like angels that with their kind and tender little hearts will help
me keep living for them. The only person who was a meaning of my life
before, worthy of my heart and soul, was Sergei. 'The Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy was
Elizabeth Feodorovna’s major creation. After her husband’s death, she sold her
jewelry, and bought several houses on Bolshaya Ordynka Street, in Moscow, and started building
a church. Her retreat into the Martha and Mary Convent
wasn’t approved by the Imperial family, even by the closest people. Nobody was present at the taking of her vows,
apart from her sister Victoria and a couple of close friends. The Grand Duchess wrote to Nicholas II just
before her tonsure: Now it feels I'm saying goodbye to the past, to former mistakes and
sins, in the hope of reaching a higher purpose and a finer life. Pray for me, my dear. I’m going to take vows that are much more
serious than those a young girl takes at her wedding. She founded the Martha and Mary Convent that
wasn’t a nunnery in the literal sense. Moreover, she wore a white monastic cassock
for the rest of her life, but that wasn’t a monastic cassock in the literal sense either. Mikhail Nesterov, Elizabeth’s favourite
artist, painted the frescos in the church of the Convent. He also designed the monastic garments of
the sisters. The first garments were created by a popular
dressmaker, from Rue de la Paix, in Paris, which dressed some royal houses. And that was the only point that Elizabeth
gave in, regarding her care of how she looked. Elizabeth’s idea of combining social work
and serving God was revolutionary for the time. She combined a hospital and a church in one. At the Convent she opened a pharmacy, a shelter
for girls, a dispensary, and a hospital. It was believed that Elizabeth Feodorovna’s
hospital was the best one in Moscow. There were sisters who despite their social
status and rank eagerly learned medicine and together with all other sisters took part
in dressing changes and operations. Many young women decided to become sisters
of the Convent. It was possible to leave the Convent if, for
example, a girl found love. She could get married and leave, but she was
leaving with a range of acquired skills, she knew medicine, housekeeping, prayers. Those already were moral and mature personalities
who were professionally trained in addition. The Convent was founded in 1909, and quickly
gained popularity. People with various needs, started to come
to the Great Mother, as they called Elizabeth. Back then, a lot of girls suffered from unrequited
love. The Convent sisters even had to seek those
poor ones, at railways stations. The Convent received letters, informing them
that a certain lady left a certain place, and those who wrote the letters begged the
sisters to find the missing girl, because there was a possibility, she would throw herself
under a train or hurt herself in other ways. Those girls used to be passionate and Elizabeth
Feodorovna used to have a whole squad of assistants who watched the stations, brought the girls
to the Convent, calmed them down. Elizabeth found the time to do everything
during the day. She attended the services in the Convent church,
settled a lot of organizational issues, and worked at the hospital. She slept on a wooden bed without a mattress
and on a hard pillow, and fell asleep immediately, very tired. It often appeared that she only had some two
or three hours left for sleep. Once there was a woman who had knocked a burning
kerosene lamp on herself. Her body was one big injury, gangrene set
in. The Grand Duchess started treatment, she was
patient and unyielding. The patient recovered in several weeks. Her recovery was considered a miracle. Nicholas IIs abdication, in March 1917, turned
out to be a terrible blow to her. The institution in which she so strongly believed,
fell apart. The Grand Duchess was removed from running
all the charity activities, some of which she had been supervising for 25 years. The only thing she wasn’t deprived of, was
the Convent. I still can’t understand how this person
found strength not to get broken. To bear both superhuman physical exertion
and the absence of any activity at all in 1917. I was stunned to see how sick and exhausted
she looked. This woman who used to never stay put was
now spending most of her days embroidering or sewing in a wicker chair – this was written
in memories of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna on the last time she saw her aunt. The Kaiser repeatedly offered her to go to
Prussia with the help of the Swedish Ambassador because there was a great deal of turmoil
waiting for Russia. But the Duchess replied to him that she would
not willingly leave neither the Convent nor Russia. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the abbess
of the Martha and Mary Convent was arrested on the 7th of May, 1918, the third day of
Easter. There were "Christ is risen!" cheers everywhere
and Patriarch Tikhon came to visit the Convent. He led the prayer service, talked with the
sisters. And then as he left a group of Red Army soldiers
came to the Convent. She became one of the last Romanovs to be
arrested by the Bolsheviks. At the same time, the family of Nicholas II
had already been deported to Yekaterinburg. The Bolsheviks hesitated for a long time to
arrest Elizabeth, because she was greatly respected for her works of mercy. They were scared to send Russian members of
the Red Army after her because she was incredibly popular among soldiers of Moscow. So they sent Latvian Riflemen to arrest her. They gave Elizabeth Feodorovna just half an
hour to collect her belongings. Today a glove that she dropped when exiting
the gates is cherished by the Martha and Mary Convent as a holy relic. The parting was very painful. Sisters were crying, screaming, were ready
to go lie under the car, they were running after it along the street and screaming We
won’t give away our mother! The sight was heartbreaking. They were going to lose everything at that
moment. Sisters of the Convent, Varvara Yakovleva
and Ekaterina Yanysheva, got into the car together with the prioress. A train was waiting for them at the Yaroslavsky
railway station. Just before she got arrested, she had written
to her sister Victoria: The Lord acts in a mysterious way. The fact that we can’t know our future is
sheer bliss. Our country is falling apart, destroyed by
our people, the people I love with all my heart. The souls are diseased. The eyes are blind. Nobody understands where we're going to. In 1888 when she was travelling with her husband
to the Holy Land Elizabeth uttered these prophetic words: How I wish to be buried here, how I
wish to stay here forever. Just imagine a young wife, delighted with
what she experienced in the Holy Land. We can see a magnificent view – the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Golden Gate, the Kidron Stream. Beautiful and thrilling. Grand Duchess Elizabeth and her husband, were
present at the consecration of this church, which was built in the memory of the mother
of Grand Duke Sergei, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Grand Duke Sergei, wrote this to his brother
the emperor, from Jerusalem. Dear Sasha, I keep thinking about you and
our brothers. You would certainly find relief, if you could
pray in this church, built in the memory, of our precious mama. He was greatly impressed by the new church. He wrote, Its interiors are very good, its
proportions are incredibly good as well. The walls, painted in two tones, look really
nice. Above the external entrance, there is a big
mosaic of Saint Mary. Marvellous! Before departing, the royal travelers posed
for a picture, on a lower platform of the church. Elizabeth, was just 24 years old. Probably, she did dream of coming back there
again someday. But who could have thought the way her dream
was going to come true? To the right of the solea, there is Elizabeth
the martyr’s reliquary. A lot of people from all the Orthodox world
come here, a lot of people indeed. And everyone wants to stand here, close to
Elizabeth Feodorovna because her fame is undeniable. I think that Saint Elizabeth belongs to the
whole world, Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Romanians and Greeks come here and read akathists. Germans come here to see their Princess. Americans and Australians come here too, the
whole world wants to pray at the relics of Saint Elizabeth. In Gethsemane, on the side of the Mount of
Olives lie the relics of Grand Duchess, Saint Elizabeth, the Martyr. Before she died, she repeated the words of
Christ: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. God decided that Elizabeth Feodorovna must
come to him in this exact way. Through another suffering, through a betrayal
of that Russian people she trusted. Knowing her as well as I did, I can certainly
say that she was thankful to God for the suffering she was ready to take in exchange for her
assassins’ souls. I strongly believe that she didn’t utter
a single word of complaint but thanked God for letting her suffer and thus enter the
gates to the home where His chosen people live. People are not born saints, but people become
saints. Saint Elizabeth knew love, disappointments,
losses, betrayals, the splendour of palaces, and a monastic cell. But what guided her through life, was prayer and love. For prayer and love, there is no distance. Based strictly on primary sources,
the book "The Romanov Royal Martyrs", offers previously unpublished texts in English,
from various archival sources. An impressive 512-page book,
featuring more than 200 black and white photographs, and a 56-page full-color photo insert. Order now your copy at www.romanovs.eu
