St. Elizabeth the Royal Martyr

Joyous feast! Today we commemorate the martyrdom in Alpayevsk of St. Elizabeth the Royal Martyr and her companions, the Royal Martyrs Sergius, John, Constantine, Igor, and Vladimir and the New Martyr Barbara.

St. Elizabeth, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England and the older sister of St. Alexandra the Royal Martyr, was a German princess who converted to Orthodoxy after her marriage to a member of the Russian imperial family. Following her husband's assassination she withdrew from the world to found the women's Community of Sts. Mary and Martha, which was dedicated to caring for the sick and poor.

During the October Revolution St. Elizabeth was arrested by the Bolsheviks and exiled to the Ural Mountains, where she together with her companions in martyrdom were killed by being thrown down into an abandoned mine shaft. The survivors were finished off with grenades through into the shaft by their murderers. St. Elizabeth could be heard singing the Cherubicon as she died.

More on St. Elizabeth's life can be found here. May her blessing and prayers be with us all!