Orthodox Saints • Hesse • Moscow • Conversion and Martyrdom
Saint Elizabeth Feodorovna: Queen Victoria's Granddaughter Who Became Orthodox
She was born a Lutheran princess in a German court, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She died in a Russian mine shaft in 1918, canonized in the Church she chose. Why did Ella cross over, and what did it cost her?
Elizabeth Feodorovna at a Glance
- The Saint
- Elizabeth the New Martyr (1864 to 1918), Grand Duchess of Russia and founder of the Martha and Mary Convent
- Born
- February 24, 1864, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse, daughter of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria
- Married
- June 1884, to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, fifth son of Alexander II
- Conversion
- Received by Chrismation on Lazarus Saturday, 1891
- Death
- July 18, 1918, killed by local Bolsheviks at Alapaevsk
- Glorified
- 1981 by the Russian Church Outside Russia; 1992 by the Russian Orthodox Church
- Her Feast Day
- July 5 (Old Style), July 18 in the modern calendar
A Princess of Hesse
Elisabeth was born on February 24, 1864, in Darmstadt, the second child of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria. Her family called her Ella. Her younger sister Alix would later marry Tsar Nicholas II.
Her mother died of diphtheria in December 1878, when Ella was fourteen. The family stayed devoted to the work Alice had begun in nursing and charity, and the sisters grew up with a strong sense that a princess owed something to the sick and the poor.
Part II
A Russian Marriage
In June 1884 she married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II. By one account she had earlier turned down Kaiser Wilhelm II. Queen Victoria was said to have been horrified at the thought of her marrying a Russian, a detail recorded in a later biographical article.
The couple settled in Saint Petersburg and later in Moscow, where Sergei became governor-general. Ella stayed a Lutheran for the first years of the marriage. She came to know the Russian Church from the inside, and she was often moved by what she saw.
Part III
The Conversion, 1891
Ella was received into the Orthodox Church by Chrismation on Lazarus Saturday in 1891. The sources I could reach say that she gave her reason as a desire for a pure conscience and nearness to God, and that the outward splendor of the Church did not draw her. She also said that to remain outwardly Protestant would be lying before God.
The most repeated claim is that she converted because her husband forced her. The evidence runs the other way. The claim is thought to have been spread by Kaiser Wilhelm II, a spurned suitor, and Ella rejected it herself. Among her relatives, one summary says that Queen Victoria showed the most understanding and gave her moral support.
The decision also had a family consequence. Alix, her sister, was reluctant to give up her Lutheran faith when Nicholas proposed, and Ella urged Nicholas to stay patient. Alix agreed to marry him in 1894 and became Orthodox herself.
Part IV
A Widow's Choice
On February 17, 1905, a bomb thrown by the revolutionary Ivan Kalyayev killed Grand Duke Sergei in the Kremlin. Ella visited Kalyayev in prison and urged him to repent. He refused. She also asked, according to the accounts, that her husband's tombstone carry the words from the Gospel about forgiving those who do not know what they do.
She sold her jewels and luxuries and used the proceeds to found the Martha and Mary Convent in Moscow, where, in April 1909, she and seventeen women were dedicated as Sisters of Love and Mercy. The convent ran a hospital, a pharmacy, an orphanage, and a school.
Part V
Martyrdom and Glorification
After the Revolution she was exiled to Yekaterinburg and then to Alapaevsk. On July 18, 1918, she was killed by local Bolsheviks with others of the imperial family. Her body was thrown into a mine shaft, which the killers then bombed.
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia glorified her in 1981. The Russian Orthodox Church followed in 1992. She is among the New Martyrs of Russia.
Part VI
What the Sources Do and Do Not Say
The dates above come from a standard Orthodox reference and a royal-history article, and where they differ in detail this article has stayed with the safer statement. For example, the sources I could read do not give a specific date for the convent's consecration, so none is given.
Her motives are known from her own later words and from what her family recorded, not from a private diary. A fair reader holds both: she said she converted for conscience, and the family politics around the decision were real.
Part VII
Timeline
- February 24, 1864Elisabeth of Hesse is born in Darmstadt.
- December 1878Her mother, Princess Alice, dies of diphtheria.
- June 1884She marries Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
- Lazarus Saturday, 1891She is received into the Orthodox Church by Chrismation.
- 1894Her sister Alix agrees to marry Nicholas and becomes Orthodox.
- February 17, 1905Sergei is killed by Ivan Kalyayev.
- April 1909She and seventeen women are dedicated as Sisters of Love and Mercy.
- July 18, 1918She is killed at Alapaevsk.
- 1981Glorified by the Russian Church Outside Russia.
- 1992Glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church.
A Crossing Made for Conscience
Ella gave up a Protestant court and a European name for a Russian Church that would one day take her life. If you want her face beside you in prayer, the prayer card is a small place to begin.
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