Lutheran orthodoxy, she embraced Russian orthodoxy because of her marriage with the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov, brother of Tsar Alexander III. She always led a discrete and spiritual life. Her conversion was sincere and profound. The example of her husband, her attendance to religious services, and the reading of religious books resulted in her desire to incorporate fully into the Orthodox Church. On April 13, 1891 she was welcomed into Orthodoxy. A souvenir of that moment was a medallion with the holy Face, a gift from the Tsar himself, which she wore her entire life. Both she and her husband performed multiple works of charity during the famine of the years 1891-2. They took care of the education of the children of the Grand Duke Sergei, who had lost his wife. Moreover, the example and words of St. John of Cronstadt gave cause to visits to hospitals and donations of all kinds. Both spouses took part in the consecration of the Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene on the Mount of Olives, dedicated to the memory of Mary, the Tsarina. After the ceremony, she manifested her desire to be buried there. This was done once WWI was over and after much turmoil. During the Russian-Japanese war, she showed a vivid interest for those who became orphans or widows as a result of that conflict. This notwithstanding, the political upheaval of those years turned against her. Her husband, who was the Governor of Moscow at the time, was assassinated by a bomb on February 17, 1905. The Grand Duchess, exhibiting great courage and serenity, collected her husband’s remains and deposited them in the Chudov Monastery next to the tomb of St. Alexius. Later she visited the perpetrator, Ivan Kalyayev, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party’s Combat detachment. She gave him an icon and the Gospels. Widowhood transformed the Grand Duchess’ life. She retired from social life, gave away her possessions, and turned her room into a monastic cell. The reading of Luke 10, 38-42, moved her interiorly to found an institution without precedent in Russia: the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy. This would not only be a work of charity, but a religious community united by faith and love for one’s neighbor. Her project was subjected to the Holy Synod, which after much incredulity approves it. Then building began for the place that would house such a noble idea, but the church would not be consecrated until 1912. The third part of the book is dedicated to the organisation, both material and spiritual, of this new religious charisma. Its statutes, activities, and spiritual foundations witnessed to the strength Divine Providence bestowed on them in so short a time. Its members are popularly called the new deaconesses. WWI turns Elizabeth and her fellows into nurses. But the Revolution will alter everything. She is accused of being a German spy. During Easter of 1918 she is arrested. She will finally be led into martyrdom by
being thrown into a mine along with others. They will die singing psalms and hymns. The Orthodox Church celebrates her feast Day on July 18. Bernardo Álvarez O.S.B. Purchase via the internet on http://www.editionslessius.be/
Cluny: 910-2010. Eleven Centuries of Splendor Cluny: 910-2010. Onze siècles de rayyonnement Edited under the direction of Neil Stratford Editions du Patrimoine Centre de Monuments Nationaux 487 pp.
Eleven centuries have passed since the foundation of this great abbey – Cluny – in French Burgundy. In this delicate and beautiful edition, forty specialists, under the direction of Neil Stratford, develop this renowned abbey’s history and influence on the whole of Europe. The thick volume, garnished with high-quality photographs, reproductions of drawings and documents that mark the history and expansion of Cluny on the old continent, is divided into five parts (each one with chapters written by different specialists): The History of Cluny; the Roman Period; Cluny outside France (the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, and England) during the Roman Period; the Gothic Period; and After the Middle Ages. The reform underwent by Cluny in the tenth and eleventh centuries is one of the landmarks of medieval history, given its theological and social repercussions upon the world of that time. However, Cluniac monasticism is quite a flexible movement, for it could mean either of two things: a direct belonging to the cloister
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