For a hundred years now, the Martha-Mariinsky Convent in the capital and the regions has been providing charitable assistance to people in need, the sick and the poor, disabled children, the disadvantaged and orphans. The monastery has more than 20 branches open and operating throughout Russia.
It began with a tragedy
An unusual monastery was founded by an equally unusual person. It was opened for doing good deeds by the great Russian princess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Although she was not Russian by blood, a German by birth began to love Russia and confirm this with deeds and faith. Her mother Alice is the daughter of the English Queen Victoria, father Theodor Ludwig the Fourth is the Grand Duke of Hesse.
With the advent of the 20th century, turbulent times began in the Russian Tsarist Empire. In 1904, terrorist Ivan Kalyaev organized an attempt on the life of the Minister of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Pleve. A few months later, the same man entered the Kremlin and threw a deadly bomb at the brother of the emperor, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.
The widow of Prince Elizabeth Feodorovna was so complacent that, despite the great grief - the loss of her husband, she forgave the murderer and brought him her personal gospel to his prison cell. She even asked Emperor Nicholas II to leave his life, but Kaliayev was still executed by hanging.
The widow Elizabeth gave away and sold her jewelry and property and with the proceeds bought a spacious house in the heart of the capital. In 1909, all four buildings of the estate were given over to a nunnery.
Elizaveta Fedorovna gave the religious institution the name of two saints who are the personification of purity and faith in the Christian world. Martha and Mary are famous sisters of Lazarus, who prayed fervently and with love all their lives.
Elizabeth's innovation
The Grand Duchess strove for the goal: so that the convent would incorporate not only all the positive canons and traditions of Russian Orthodox Christianity, but also adopt the experience of foreign monasteries. Her dream was that the post of a clergyman for women, as well as the post of deaconess, would be introduced in Russian churches.
She made every effort to achieve this goal and received consent to the introduction of the rank of deaconesses in the monastery from the Holy Synod itself. That is, in fact, the church agreed that the service should be conducted by women who are in the dignity of a priest. Their responsibilities would include conducting the sacrament of baptism of female believers, conducting services, helping the suffering and needy. But this was not destined to come true. The emperor of Russia himself turned out to be against the initiative, and women were not allowed to church power.
However, the Martha-Mariinsky Monastery was still much different from other monasteries. For example, in other places the nuns lived in constant seclusion, and in the monastery of Elizabeth Feodorovna they actively traveled to hospitals in order to help the sick and devoted all their time to charitable causes. And in order for the nuns to provide high-quality medical care, the novices were trained by the brilliant metropolitan doctors. So they learned the basics of nursing and all the features of caring for sick patients.
In addition, anyone in need could personally come to the monastery and ask for help - the doors of the monastery were not locked either day or night.
At a convenient time for visitors, spiritual readings were organized here, meetings of the Palestinian Orthodox and Geographical Societies were held.
Another innovative point is that nuns were not obliged to devote themselves to the monastery and prayer all their lives. According to the modernized charter, after a while any of the sisters could leave the monastery walls and return to ordinary life.
The Grand Duchess herself also lived in the monastery permanently. She spent daily prayers and constantly visited hospitals to help the sick. During the First World War, she, together with her sisters, was collecting alms to help the wounded and soldiers at the front. The monastery regularly completed and dispatched full-fledged trains with food, medicine and medical dressings to be sent to the front.
With the course of hostilities, the number of soldiers in need of prosthetics also grew. The Grand Duchess raised money and began building an enterprise for the production of medical prostheses. It is surprising that the factory opened by the founder of the monastery is still functioning today, continuing to produce components for prosthetics.
The assassination of Elizabeth Feodorovna
The Soviet government did not spare anyone from the royal family. All the close and distant relatives of the emperor were at gunpoint of the Bolsheviks. The Grand Duchess was forcibly exiled to the Perm province.
A 53-year-old woman, still alive, was thrown to die in a spent mine near Alapaevsk. In the same mine, 7 people were killed along with it.
This was followed by the closure of the monastery. This happened in 1926. But more than a hundred of the nuns living in it were not dispersed, but left to serve the polyclinic, which had opened in the former building of the monastery. This lasted until 1928. Then everyone was expelled from the monastery, the sisters were exiled to the Turkestan steppes and the Tver province.
Soviet period
Having liquidated the monastery, the authorities set up a city cinema and a public health education lecture hall in the building. Restoration workshops were set up in one of the premises, and an outpatient clinic was organized in another. This lasted until the 1990s, only by this period it was possible to return the monastery to its true purpose. The cathedral church was taken over by the church only in 2006.
Museum creation
Some of the rooms are now given over to a museum dedicated to the founder and perfect deeds of Elizabeth Feodorovna, as well as to the historical milestones of the monastery itself. Every day, tourists with an excursion visit the Martha-Mariinsky monastery, following from the Intercession Cathedral. Also, many pilgrims come here.
Here you can see the rooms of the Grand Duchess, in which the furnishings have been restored, which were during the life of the founder. On the iconostasis there are personal icons of Elizabeth, next to her there is her own embroidery and even an old royal grand piano. Also in the rooms are presented:
- original tea set,
- portraits,
- personal belongings,
- documentation,
- photos.
In addition to the two active churches, today the monastery has a small chapel, which is also dedicated to the founder of the monastery.
Abode today
Several years ago, the religious monastery was given the status of stauropegic. The Martha-Mariinsky Monastery is officially classified as a protected cultural heritage of the Russian Federation.
Within the walls of the institution, 30 nuns live permanently. They work in a hospice, provide gratuitous assistance to incurable children, and also serve a cafeteria for the homeless and help military hospitals.
And the novices of the Martha-Mariinsky monastery teach children in the gymnasium, the monastery maintains an orphanage and a medical center for children with cerebral palsy.
Today there are more than 20 branches of the monastery throughout Russia, each nun must come for an internship at the main monastery.
The monastery also conducts classes for future parents and training for foster families. Children with developmental delays are brought into special groups, and lectures on the history of faith and the church are held.
Of course, 30 nuns will not be able to do all this work every day, so volunteer organizations and ordinary volunteers regularly help the monastery.
How to get to the monastery
The monastery is located in Moscow on Bolshaya Ordynka. Just 2 km from it is the capital's Kremlin (if you move to the south).
Approximately a 10-minute walk is the Tretyakovskaya and Polyanka metro stations.
You can also get to the monastery by public transport - buses, following the routes:
- 8
- M5
- M6
- TO
You need to get off at the stops: Bolshaya Polyanka and Bolshaya Ordynka streets.
