Elizabeth of Russia - Westminster Abbey, London, UK
N 51° 29.968 W 000° 07.716
30U E 699295 N 5709279
A statue to Grand Duchess Elizabeth, a modern martyr, was unveiled in July 1998 and stands above the west entrance to Westminster Abbey. This is one of ten statues of 20th century martyrs.
Waymark Code: WME2C1
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/25/2012
Views: 9
The statue, by John Roberts, was placed here in 1998. It
weighs about a ton and is carved from French Richemont limestone. The statue,
that is about twice life size, shows Elizabeth in the clothing of a nun. She is
holding a crucifix in her right hand with her left hand held up with the palm
facing forwards. She appears to have a further cross hanging around her neck.
The Westminster Abbey website (view
link) tells us this about Elizabeth:
"'I am leaving a glittering world where I had a glittering position, but with
all of you I am descending into a greater world - the world of the poor and the
suffering.'
Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt was born on 1 November 1864. She was named after
Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-31), a Catholic saint of her own family. Her mother
died when she was a child, and she came to England to live under the protection
of her grandmother, Queen Victoria. If her childhood was Lutheran, the religious
culture of her adolescence was distinctively Anglican. In 1884 Elizabeth married
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, the fifth son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
Elizabeth found Orthodoxy increasingly absorbing, and in 1891 she adopted the
faith.
Although her life had assurance and all the comforts of eminence, it rested on
fragile foundations. The Tsarist state maintained its grip over a changing
society by repression. Talk of revolution persisted, and grew louder. Acts of
terrorism mounted. On 18 February 1905, the Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated.
This marked a turning point in Elizabeth's life. Now she gave away her jewellery
and sold her most luxurious possessions, and with the proceeds she opened the
Martha and Mary home in Moscow, to foster the prayer and charity of devout
women. Here there arose a new vision of a diaconate for women, one that combined
intercession and action in the heart of a disordered world. In April 1909
Elizabeth and seventeen women were dedicated as Sisters of Love and Mercy. Their
work flourished: soon they opened a hospital and a variety of other
philanthropic ventures arose.
In March 1917 the Tsarist state, fatally damaged by the war with Germany,
collapsed. In October, a revolutionary party, the Bolsheviks, seized power.
Civil war followed. The Bolshevik party was avowedly atheistic, and it saw in
the Orthodox Church a pillar of the old regime. In power, it persecuted the
Church with terrible force. In time, hundreds of priests and nuns were
imprisoned, taken away to distant labour camps, and killed. Churches were closed
or destroyed. On 7 May 1918 Elizabeth was arrested with two sisters from her
convent, and transported across country to Perm, then to Ekatarinburg, and
finally to Alapaevsk. On 17 July the Tsar and his family were shot dead. During
the following night Elizabeth, a sister from SS Mary and Martha named Varvara,
and members of the royal family were murdered in a mineshaft.
In the Soviet Union Christianity survived in the face of periodic persecution
and sustained oppression. But Elizabeth was remembered. In 1984 she was
recognized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and then by the
Moscow Patriarchate in 1992."