“Lend a helping hand to everyone who suffers”: Elizaveta Feodorovna and her attempt to revive the ancient order of deaconessestranslated

On October 11, the day of the discovery of the relics of the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, it is worth remembering one of her boldest undertakings: the founder of the Martha and Mary Convent wanted to return the ministry of deaconesses to church life. Some hierarchs supported it, others suspected influence alien to Orthodoxy in this idea. The Grand Duchess never received a final decision. Why did she need to revive the ancient rite and what role did she assign to women in matters of church mercy?

On February 4, 1905, an explosion occurred near the very walls of the Kremlin. Terrorist Ivan Kalyaev threw a bomb at the carriage of the Governor General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The man whom Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna loved and with whom she lived for almost twenty years was literally torn to pieces.

“During all these days, my aunt demonstrated incomprehensible heroism; no one could understand where she got the strength to endure grief so steadfastly,” recalled Sergei Alexandrovich’s niece, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. Elizaveta Fedorovna literally collected her husband’s remains in the square with her own hands and constantly prayed. Three days later, she visited the terrorist in prison who threw the fatal...