24. The Virgin Mary is described by Livy as the Roman Lucretia, then as Larentia and the She-Wolf (who raised Romulus and Remus), and also as Rhea Sylvia (mother of Romulus and Remus) 24.1. Livy's story about the legendary beauty Lucretia We have already said that the Virgin Mary was reflected in the "History" of Titus

March 31, 1945, on the eve of Easter, in fascist concentration camp nun Maria (Skobtsova) died. On May 1, 2004, the Orthodox Church of Constantinople canonized the Russian nun Maria (Skobtsova) as a saint.

“At the Last Judgment, they will not ask me if I successfully practiced ascetic exercises
and how many earthly and waist bows I put,
and they will ask:
Have I fed the hungry, have I clothed the naked, have I visited the sick and the prisoner in prison?

(mother Mary) .

First friends

Elizaveta Pilenko - this is the maiden name of mother Maria (Skobtsova) - was born on December 8 (20), 1891 in Riga. Her childhood years were spent in Anapa, where the family moved after the death of her grandfather. In 1906, after the sudden death of his father, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where there were many relatives and friends.

Lisa was proud of one such friendship for many years. She was five years old when Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, first saw her at her grandmother's, who lived opposite his apartment and with whom they had an old friendship. Pobedonostsev was very fond of children and was able, as few adults are, to understand them. Even when Lisa was in Anapa, she received letters from an older friend. While she was little, the letters were simpler; over time, the correspondence became more serious and moralizing. In one of the letters to K.P. Pobedonostsev wrote: “I heard that you study well, but, my friend, this is not the main thing, but the main thing is to keep a high and pure soul, capable of understanding everything beautiful.” “I remember,” Mother Maria recalls, “that in moments of all sorts of childhood troubles and sorrows, I sat down to write to Konstantin Petrovich, that my letters to him were the most sincere exposition of my childhood philosophy ... I remember how adults were surprised: why did Pobedonostsev need this correspondence with a little girl ? I had an exact answer to this: because we are friends.” 1899 Lisa and her brother at the holiday This friendship lasted for seven years. But came difficult years for Russia, first Japanese war, then the events of 1905, student unrest. “A great struggle has begun in my soul. On the one hand, the father, who defends all this revolutionary-minded and seemingly sympathetic youth, on the other hand, in the reserved table of Pobedonostsev's letters. And Lisa decided: to find out everything from Pobedonostsev himself. Not without emotion, she came to him and asked one single question - "What is truth?" He, an old friend, understood what doubts tormented her and what was going on in her soul.

“My dear friend Lizanka! Truth in love, of course. But many people think that the truth is in love for the distant. Love for the distant is not love. If everyone loved his neighbor, the real neighbor, who is really near him, then love for the distant would not be needed. So it is in business: distant and big things are not things at all. And real deeds are close, small, imperceptible. The feat is always imperceptible. The feat is not in a pose, but in self-sacrifice, in modesty ... ”, - such was the answer of Pobedonostsev. But at that moment he did not satisfy her restless soul, many years of friendship came to an end. And yet the seed fell on good ground and brought forth fruit that sprang up and grew.

In St. Petersburg, as in many large cities of Russia, a movement was emerging at that time, which was later called the Russian Religious and Intellectual Revival. The young, progressive-minded intellectual is clearly striving for the search for the absolute. In search of herself, she begins to write poetry and often visits fashion salons. At the age of fifteen, Lisa met the symbolist poet Alexander Blok, who dedicated the poem "When you stand in my way ..." to her. At eighteen, she marries Dmitry Kuzmin-Karavaev, a young lawyer who introduces her to literary circles. However, Lisa soon begins to understand the futility of the discussions that take place at these meetings.

At the beginning of 1913, Elizabeth and Dmitry part ways. Bohemian literary gatherings fade into the background, the young woman continues her journey in search of faith. With the blessing of the ruling Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, she, the first woman, attends theological courses at the Theological Academy, after which she successfully passes exams.

Mayor

When the revolution broke out, Lisa joined the Social Revolutionary Party. The idealistic views of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were trying to combine Western democracy with Russian populism, at that moment were closest to her moods. In 1918, at the height civil war, Liza lives with her mother and daughter Gayana Kuzmina-Karavaeva in Anapa. As always, she is in the center political events. There is confusion with the authorities in the city, and life problems remain, so when the elections start in City Council, Lisa takes an ardent part in them, and she is elected a member of the municipal council - responsible for education and medicine. Soon, circumstances develop in such a way that she becomes the mayor. Now she has to find a way out of the most incredible situations that arise in connection with the difficulties of the civil war and the constant change of power. So, under the Reds, she, defending order in the city, fearlessly opposed the Red Army sailors, saving the cultural values ​​of the city. When the city was captured by the Whites, she was arrested, accused of collaborating with local councils. The case was referred to a military tribunal. Fortunately, everything worked out with two weeks of house arrest. The successful outcome of the court case was largely influenced by Daniil Ermolaevich Skobtsov, a prominent figure in the Kuban Cossack movement. Shortly after the trial, Elizaveta Yurievna became his wife.

Emigration

Reds actively occupied southern territories Russia, the white movement was coming to an end, some more attempts were made to keep the South. D.E. Skobtsov, who continued active political activity as a member of the Kuban government, insisted on the evacuation of the family. Elizabeth, expecting a child, her mother S.B. Pilenko and daughter Gayana sailed from Novorossiysk towards Georgia. The journey proceeded in the most difficult conditions. Fortunately, the son of Yura was born safely in Tiflis.

After some time, continuing the difficult path of flight, the family moved to Constantinople, where they were reunited with D.E. Skobtsov, and then to Serbia, where in 1922 their daughter Anastasia was born. The children were baptized on the same day. Following the wave of Russian refugees, in 1923 they moved to Paris, which became the capital of Russian emigration.

At the same time, the young woman approaches the Russian student Christian movement, participates in youth meetings, where she talks a lot and vividly about the grandiose events recently experienced in Russia, and thanks to her humor and gift of communication, she quickly finds universal recognition.

In 1926, she attended theological courses at the St. Sergius Compound in Paris, where she became intimately acquainted with outstanding theologians of her time. Much connects her with N.A. Berdyaev, G.P. Fedotov, K.V. Mochulsky and I.I. Fondaminsky. By this time, her spiritual rapprochement with Father Sergius Bulgakov dates back, and soon she becomes his spiritual daughter.

From 1930 she was the traveling secretary of the RSHD. She was entrusted with the work of providing spiritual and social assistance to Russian emigrants, like her and her family, scattered throughout France. During her travels in France, she sees Russians suffering from chronic diseases, tuberculosis, drunk, lost their way. She visits insane asylums and finds Russians there who, not knowing French, cannot communicate with doctors. She understands more and more clearly that her vocation is not to read brilliant reports, but to listen, console, and provide concrete assistance. This is her diaconal ministry. After her speeches, people rush to talk to her in private. It happened that in front of the room where she was talking, a queue gathered, as before a confession. But the main thing she strives for is to give all her gifts to God and people.

Thus comes the decision to consecrate oneself to God through monasticism. Her desire runs into numerous obstacles. For many Orthodox, Elizaveta Yurievna's past, her political convictions, and especially her two failed marriages, are incompatible with entering the monastic life. Others, like N.A. Berdyaev, feared that monastic vestments would be more of an obstacle to the fulfillment of her own vocation. But Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), head of the Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe, graciously accepted the desire of Elizabeth. He also finds a canonical solution: the nomocanon, recognizing and applying the 22nd and 17th short stories of Emperor Justinian, allows divorce if one of the spouses is eager to enter the monastic life. The rite of tonsure took place on March 16, 1932, at the Sergius Compound in Paris, Metropolitan Evlogy admonished her: “I name you in honor of Mary of Egypt: how she went into the wilderness to wild animals so I send you to the world to people, often evil and rude, to the desert of human hearts.

Monasticism in the world

After her tonsure, Mother Maria spends the summer traveling to Orthodox convents in the then independent Baltic states. She returns from this journey, convinced of the inconsistency of traditional forms of monasticism with the modern historical situation. To her, they seem outdated, moreover, infected with the spirit of "bourgeoisness" - the antipode of a true monastic vocation.

Mother Mary literally takes the words of the gospel parable of the Last Judgment: “Let homeless thieves outside your walls, break your beautiful statutory way of life with the whirlwinds of external life, humble yourself, devastate, diminish - and no matter how you diminish, no matter how devastated, is it really can be compared with the belittling, with the self-abasement of Christ. Take a vow of non-possession in all its devastating severity, burn every comfort, even a monastery, burn your heart so that it refuses comfort, then say: “My heart is ready, ready.”

A house open to all

The beginning of the 1930s was marked in France by severe economic crisis. Unemployment among Russian emigrants has assumed the dimensions of a real disaster. Mother Mary decided to open a house where everyone, whoever he was, would be accepted as brother and sister, while there was still at least a little space left. She had no money for this undertaking, but boundless faith in God's help inspired her. With the support of Anglican friends, she rented a house in the Villa des Saxes in Paris. But very quickly it becomes too crowded in it, and she moves to a large dilapidated house on the Rue Lourmel in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

An energetic nun with a wide smile, somewhat casually dressed in a cassock with traces of paint, ready to help anyone who calls her, she quickly becomes famous. Among the inhabitants of Lurmel are two or three nuns; the chef is a jack of all trades; several families with no means of subsistence; the mentally ill who were once rescued by mother Maria from psychiatric hospitals. The unemployed, delinquents, the homeless, young women of easy virtue, and drug addicts find shelter and comfort here.

Together with mother Maria, sharing all the hardships of everyday worries, members of her family work: mother - Sofya Borisovna, son Yuri and daughter Gayana; they help her both in the dining room and in the church, which has been converted from an old garage. The church was decorated with icons painted and embroidered by Mother Mary herself; she was a master of the art of ancient facial sewing. In the church on Lurmel, services and services were performed by the appointed parish priest, these were successive fathers: Evfimy (Wendt), Lev Gillet, Cyprian (Kern) and Dmitry Klepinin.

Mother Mary with big love painted the chapel, but did not participate in the services regularly. The sheer number of urgent matters distracted her. She bought food herself, for which she set off at dawn on foot with a large bag on her back and an invariable cart through all of Paris to the central market (the Womb of Paris). Vendors who knew this strange nun gave her at low prices, and often for free, the remains of some unsold and perishable products. It happened that she spent the whole night around the central market, moving from one cafe to another, where, leaning on the counter, vagabonds dozed. She quickly recognized the Russians, spoke to them, invited them "to Lurmel" to try to resolve their difficulties.

Among all her worries, Mother Maria finds time to write articles on topics that concern her, she again began to compose poetry, and, following the example of Dostoevsky's heroes, she likes to discuss theological and philosophical problems, often until late at night. The Religious-Philosophical Academy, founded by N.A. Berdyaev, meets in the dining room of her house on Lurmel, and Mother Maria makes presentations and takes the most ardent part in discussions.

Recalls a close friend of mother Maria K.V. Mochulsky: “Mother knows how to do everything: carpentry, carpentry, paint, sew, embroider, knit, draw, paint icons, wash floors, knock on a typewriter, cook dinner, fill mattresses, milk cows, weed a garden. She loves physical labor and despises white-handed women. Another feature: she does not recognize the laws of nature, does not understand what cold is, can not eat or sleep for days, denies illness and fatigue, loves danger, does not know fear and hates all kinds of comfort - material and spiritual.

In 1935, with the active support of like-minded friends, she founded the Orthodox Cause association. Metropolitan Evlogy becomes the honorary chairman of the association. "Orthodox Cause" develops an extensive social activities: creates two hostels for the poor; a home for convalescent tuberculosis patients at Noisy-le-Grand; on Rue Lurmel opens a parochial school, courses for psalm-readers, as well as missionary and lecture courses; publishes a magazine of the same name.

Resistance

World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, after the defeat of 1940, the German occupation came. Hard times, the onset of famine - did not take Mother Mary by surprise. With practical acumen, which reflects the experience of the past, she not only organizes food supplies, but also establishes contact with the mayor's office of the XV arrondissement, which takes under its protection the house on Rue Lurmel, declaring it a municipal canteen, issues ration cards and the products themselves to Maria's mother.

Soon the persecution of the Jews begins. Mother Mary does not doubt for a second how to act. She had long foreseen the danger of Hitler's ideology. Now she shares with Mochulsky: “There is no Jewish question, there is a Christian question. Do you really not understand that the struggle is against Christianity?... Now the time has come for confession.”

The house on Lurmel is quickly becoming known as a haven. Those who are in danger are hidden there, forged documents are obtained for them, they are transferred to “ free zone". Mother Mary is closely associated with the Resistance. Friends of the "Orthodox Cause" compile a list of imprisoned Russians and Jews and organize the forwarding of letters and parcels. Father Dmitry issues baptismal certificates to those who ask. Meanwhile the horrors German occupation continue: on the night of July 4-5, 1942, 13,000 Jews were arrested and taken to the winter velodrome, a stone's throw from Lurmel. Mother Mary enters there and spends three days comforting a Jewish friend and helping Red Cross volunteers to help the sick. In these incredible conditions, she fearlessly saves three children by hiding them in a trash box.

After lengthy interrogations, the entire group was taken to Fort Romanville, then to the Compiègne transit camp, where mother Maria was able to see her son for the last time. The memoirs of her colleague I.N. Webster, an unwitting witness to this meeting, have been preserved: “The next morning, at five o’clock, I left my stable and, passing through the corridor, the windows of which faced east, suddenly froze in place in indescribable admiration from what I saw. It was dawning, from the east some kind of golden light fell on the window, in the frame of which stood Mother Mary. All in black, monastic, her face shone, and the expression on her face is such that you cannot describe, not all people even once in their lives are transformed like that. Outside, under the window, stood a young man, thin, tall, with golden hair and a beautiful clear transparent face. On the background rising sun both mother and son were surrounded by golden rays ... Neither mother nor son knew that this was their last meeting in this world. From Compiègne, the men were sent to Buchenwald, and mother Maria to the Ravensbrück women's camp.

On February 8, 1944, Father Dmitry died in the Dora concentration camp. What happened to Yura Skobtsov is unknown; in all likelihood, he died in the gas chamber.

Many testimonies of fellow prisoners have been preserved about the behavior of Maria’s mother in custody, among which the most striking belongs to the niece of Charles de Gaulle, Genevieve de Gaulle-Antognose: “On her mattress she arranged real circles, where she talked about the Russian revolution, about communism, about her political and social experience and sometimes, more deeply, about their religious experience. Mother Mary read passages from the Gospels and Epistles from the ‘Christian’s Handbook’, which was kept by one of the prisoners during the search. She interpreted what she had read in a few words. Beside her we prayed and sometimes sang in a low voice. Mother Maria often visited the block of Russian girls "soldiers", who received her with love. She told us with admiration of their courage. Perhaps in these young faces she found the face of her daughter Gayana, who married a Soviet student and died in Russia.

Gifted with exceptional vitality and unshakable faith, Mother Mary possessed many qualities that help her survive even in the terrible conditions of a concentration camp. “Everyone in the bloc knew her well,” recalls one of her friends Jacqueline Peyrie, “she got along well with both young people and the elderly, with people of different political views and with people of completely different faiths. She told us about her social experience in France. We asked her about the history of Russia, about its future... These discussions were a way out of our hell for us. They helped us restore our lost spiritual strength, they rekindled the flame of thought in us, barely smoldering under the heavy oppression of horror. ”Allegorical depiction of the landing of the Allies. Mother Mary embroidery, Revensbrück camp

She, who has comforted others so many times, is now silent. It is difficult to say something definite about the death of mother Mary. Separated from her fellow prisoners, she was transferred to the Yugendlager and became a victim of the last selection. On March 30, on Good Friday, mother Maria was selected by the commandant Schwarzguber "to the left" - to the group of suicide bombers, among those who could no longer move. According to other testimonies, she herself joined the selected group, and thereby voluntarily went to martyrdom.

"From brushwood smoke is drawn,

The fire appeared at the feet

And the funeral chant is louder.

And the darkness is not dead, not empty,

And in it is the inscription of the cross -

My end, the fiery end!

The illustrations for the article are taken from the site dedicated to Mother Mary

For others...

It is no secret that the identity of Maria's mother (Skobtsova) causes serious discussions. In particular, her journalistic statements about monasticism are subjected to well-founded criticism, and her theological opinions are highly controversial. In this regard, how should one treat her canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate?

On May 1 of this year, the Orthodox Church of Constantinople canonized the Russian nun Maria (Skobtsova)

First friends
Elizaveta Pilenko - this is the maiden name of mother Maria (Skobtsova) - was born on December 8 (20), 1891 in Riga. Her childhood years were spent in Anapa, where the family moved after the death of her grandfather. In 1906, after the sudden death of his father, the family moved to St. Petersburg, where there were many relatives and friends.
Lisa was proud of one such friendship for many years. She was five years old when Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, first saw her at her grandmother's, who lived opposite his apartment and with whom they had an old friendship. Pobedonostsev was very fond of children and was able, as few adults are, to understand them. Even when Lisa was in Anapa, she received letters from an older friend. While she was little, the letters were simpler; over time, the correspondence became more serious and moralizing. In one of the letters to K.P. Pobedonostsev wrote: “I heard that you study well, but, my friend, this is not the main thing, but the main thing is to keep a high and pure soul, capable of understanding everything beautiful.” “I remember,” Mother Maria recalls, “that in moments of all sorts of childhood troubles and sorrows, I sat down to write to Konstantin Petrovich, that my letters to him were the most sincere exposition of my childhood philosophy ... I remember how adults were surprised: why did Pobedonostsev need this correspondence with a little girl ? I had an exact answer to this: because we are friends. This friendship lasted for seven years. But difficult years came for Russia, first the Japanese war, then the events of 1905, student unrest. “A great struggle has begun in my soul. On the one hand, the father, who defends all this revolutionary-minded and seemingly sympathetic youth, on the other hand, in the reserved table of Pobedonostsev's letters. And Lisa decided: to find out everything from Pobedonostsev himself. Not without emotion, she came to him and asked one single question - "What is truth?" He, an old friend, understood what doubts tormented her and what was going on in her soul.
“My dear friend Lizanka! Truth in love, of course. But many people think that the truth is in love for the distant. Love for the distant is not love. If everyone loved his neighbor, the real neighbor, who is really near him, then love for the distant would not be needed. So it is in business: distant and big things are not things at all. And real deeds are close, small, imperceptible. The feat is always imperceptible. The feat is not in a pose, but in self-sacrifice, in modesty ... ”, - such was the answer of Pobedonostsev. But at that moment he did not satisfy her restless soul, many years of friendship came to an end. And yet the seed fell on good ground and brought forth fruit that sprang up and grew.
In St. Petersburg, as in many large cities of Russia, a movement was emerging at that time, which was later called the Russian Religious and Intellectual Revival. A young, progressive-minded intellectual is clearly striving for the search for the absolute. In search of herself, she begins to write poetry and often visits fashion salons. At the age of fifteen, Lisa met the symbolist poet Alexander Blok, who dedicated the poem "When you stand in my way ..." to her. At eighteen, she marries Dmitry Kuzmin-Karavaev, a young lawyer who introduces her to literary circles. However, Lisa soon begins to understand the vanity of the discussions that take place at these meetings.
At the beginning of 1913, Elizabeth and Dmitry part ways. Bohemian literary gatherings fade into the background, the young woman continues her journey in search of faith. With the blessing of the ruling Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, she, the first woman, attends theological courses at the Theological Academy, after which she successfully passes exams.

Mayor
When the revolution broke out, Lisa joined the Social Revolutionary Party. The idealistic views of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were trying to combine Western democracy with Russian populism, at that moment were closest to her moods. In 1918, at the height of the civil war, Liza lives with her mother and daughter Gayana Kuzmina-Karavaeva in Anapa. As always, she is at the center of political events. There is confusion with the authorities in the city, but life's problems remain, so when the elections to the city duma begin, Liza takes an ardent part in them, and she is elected a member of the municipal council - responsible for education and medicine. Soon, circumstances develop in such a way that she becomes the mayor. Now she has to find a way out of the most incredible situations that arise in connection with the difficulties of the civil war and the constant change of power. So, under the Reds, she, defending order in the city, fearlessly opposed the sailors of the Red Army, saving the cultural values ​​of the city. When the city was captured by the Whites, she was arrested, accused of collaborating with local councils. The case was referred to a military tribunal. Fortunately, everything worked out with two weeks of house arrest. The successful outcome of the court case was largely influenced by Daniil Ermolaevich Skobtsov, a prominent figure in the Kuban Cossack movement. Shortly after the trial, Elizaveta Yurievna became his wife.

Monasticism in the world
After her tonsure, Mother Maria spends the summer traveling to Orthodox convents in the then independent Baltic states. She returns from this journey, convinced of the inconsistency of traditional forms of monasticism with the modern historical situation. To her, they seem outdated, moreover, infected with the spirit of "bourgeoisness" - the antipode of a true monastic vocation. Mother Mary literally takes the words of the gospel parable of the Last Judgment: “Let homeless thieves outside your walls, break your beautiful statutory way of life with the whirlwinds of external life, humble yourself, devastate, diminish - and no matter how you diminish, no matter how devastated - is this can be compared with the belittling, with the self-abasement of Christ. Take a vow of non-possession in all its devastating severity, burn every comfort, even a monastery, burn your heart so that it refuses comfort, then say: “My heart is ready, ready.”

A house open to all
The beginning of the 1930s was marked by a severe economic crisis in France. Unemployment among Russian emigrants has assumed the dimensions of a real disaster. Mother Mary decided to open a house where everyone, whoever he was, would be accepted as brother and sister, while there was still at least a little space left. She had no money for this undertaking, but boundless faith in God's help inspired her. With the support of Anglican friends, she rented a house in the Villa des Saxes in Paris. But very quickly it becomes too crowded in it, and she moves to a large dilapidated house on the Rue Lourmel in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. An energetic nun with a wide smile, somewhat casually dressed in a cassock with traces of paint, ready to help anyone who calls her, she quickly becomes famous. Among the inhabitants of Lurmel are two or three nuns; the chef is a jack of all trades; several families with no means of subsistence; the mentally ill who were once rescued by mother Maria from psychiatric hospitals. The unemployed, delinquents, the homeless, young women of easy virtue, and drug addicts find shelter and comfort here. Together with mother Maria, sharing all the hardships of everyday worries, members of her family work: mother - Sofya Borisovna, son Yuri and daughter Gayana; they help her both in the dining room and in the church, which has been converted from an old garage. The church was decorated with icons, written and embroidered by Mother Mary herself, she was well versed in the art of ancient facial sewing. In the church on Lurmel, services and services were performed by the appointed parish priest, these were successive fathers: Evfimy (Wendt), Lev Gillet, Cyprian (Kern) and Dmitry Klepinin.
Mother Maria painted the chapel with great love, but she did not regularly participate in the services. The sheer number of urgent matters distracted her. She bought food herself, for which she set off at dawn on foot with a large bag on her back and an invariable cart through all of Paris to the central market (the Womb of Paris). Vendors who knew this strange nun gave her at low prices, and often for free, the remains of some unsold and perishable products. It happened that she spent the whole night around the central market, moving from one cafe to another, where, leaning on the counter, vagabonds dozed. She quickly recognized the Russians, spoke to them, invited them "to Lurmel" to try to resolve their difficulties.
Among all her worries, Mother Maria finds time to write articles on topics that concern her, she again began to compose poetry, and, following the example of Dostoevsky's heroes, she likes to discuss theological and philosophical problems, often until late at night. The Religious-Philosophical Academy, founded by N.A. Berdyaev, meets in the dining room of her house on Lurmel, and Mother Maria makes presentations and takes the most ardent part in discussions.
Recalls a close friend of mother Maria K.V. Mochulsky: “Mother knows how to do everything: carpentry, carpentry, paint, sew, embroider, knit, draw, paint icons, wash floors, knock on a typewriter, cook dinner, fill mattresses, milk cows, weed a garden. She loves physical labor and despises white-handed women. Another feature: she does not recognize the laws of nature, does not understand what cold is, can not eat or sleep for days, denies illness and fatigue, loves danger, does not know fear and hates all kinds of comfort - material and spiritual.
In 1935, with the active support of like-minded friends, she founded the Orthodox Cause association. Metropolitan Evlogy becomes the honorary chairman of the association. "Orthodox Cause" develops extensive social activities: it creates two hostels for the poor; a home for convalescent tuberculosis patients at Noisy-le-Grand; on Rue Lurmel opens a parochial school, courses for psalm-readers, as well as missionary and lecture courses; publishes a magazine of the same name.

Resistance
World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, after the defeat of 1940, the German occupation came. Hard times, the onset of famine, did not take Mother Mary by surprise. With practical acumen, which reflects the experience of the past, she not only organizes food supplies, but also establishes contact with the mayor's office of the XV arrondissement, which takes under its protection the house on Rue Lurmel, declaring it a municipal canteen, issues ration cards and the products themselves to Maria's mother.
Soon the persecution of the Jews begins. Mother Mary does not doubt for a second how to act. She had long foreseen the danger of Hitler's ideology. Now she shares with Mochulsky: “There is no Jewish question, there is a Christian question. Do you really not understand that the struggle is against Christianity?... Now the time has come for confession.”
The house on Lurmel is quickly becoming known as a haven. Those who are in danger are hidden there, they receive fake documents for them, they are transferred to the “free zone”. Mother Mary is closely associated with the Resistance. Friends of the "Orthodox Cause" compile a list of imprisoned Russians and Jews and organize the forwarding of letters and parcels. Father Dmitry issues baptismal certificates to those who ask. Meanwhile, the horrors of the German occupation continue: on the night of July 4-5, 1942, 13,000 Jews were arrested and taken to the winter velodrome, a stone's throw from Lurmel. Mother Mary enters there and spends three days comforting a Jewish friend and helping Red Cross volunteers to help the sick. In these incredible conditions, she fearlessly saves three children by hiding them in a trash box.

On February 8, 1943, the Gestapo raided Lurmel and arrested Yura Skobtsov (the son of Maria's mother, who, despite his 20 years, also actively participated in the Resistance), Dmitry Klepinin's father, and several other people. Maria's mother, who was not in Paris at the time, was told that her son would be released if she herself reported to the Gestapo. When she arrived there, she was immediately arrested without releasing anyone. According to the stories of S.B. Pilenko, the Gestapo man Hoffman shouted to her: “You raised your daughter badly, she only helps the Jews!” Human. She helped the tuberculosis and the mad and all the unfortunate. If you were in trouble, I would help you too.” Mother Mary smiled and said, "Perhaps I could help."
After lengthy interrogations, the entire group was taken to Fort Romanville, then to the Compiègne transit camp, where mother Maria was able to see her son for the last time. The memoirs of her colleague I.N. Webster, an unwitting witness to this meeting, have been preserved: “The next morning, at five o’clock, I left my stable and, passing through the corridor, the windows of which faced east, suddenly froze in place in indescribable admiration from what I saw. It was dawning, from the east some kind of golden light fell on the window, in the frame of which stood Mother Mary. All in black, monastic, her face shone, and the expression on her face is such that you cannot describe, not all people even once in their lives are transformed like that. Outside, under the window, stood a young man, thin, tall, with golden hair and a beautiful clear transparent face. Against the backdrop of the rising sun, both mother and son were surrounded by golden rays ... Neither mother nor son knew that this was their last meeting in this world. From Compiègne, the men were sent to Buchenwald, and mother Maria to the Ravensbrück women's camp.
On February 8, 1944, Father Dmitry died in the Dora concentration camp. What happened to Yura Skobtsov is unknown; in all likelihood, he died in the gas chamber.
Many testimonies of fellow prisoners have been preserved about the behavior of Maria’s mother in custody, among which the most striking belongs to the niece of Charles de Gaulle, Genevieve de Gaulle-Antognose: “On her mattress she arranged real circles, where she talked about the Russian revolution, about communism, about her political and social experience and sometimes, more deeply, about their religious experience. Mother Mary read passages from the Gospels and Epistles from the ‘Christian’s Handbook’, which was kept by one of the prisoners during the search. She interpreted what she had read in a few words. Beside her we prayed and sometimes sang in a low voice. Mother Maria often visited the block of Russian girls "soldiers", who received her with love. She told us with admiration of their courage. Perhaps in these young faces she found the face of her daughter Gayana, who married a Soviet student and died in Russia.
Gifted with exceptional vitality and unshakable faith, Mother Mary possessed many qualities that help her survive even in the terrible conditions of a concentration camp. “Everyone in the bloc knew her well,” recalls one of her friends Jacqueline Peyrie, “she got along well with both young people and the elderly, with people of different political views and with people of completely different faiths. She told us about her social experience in France. We asked her about the history of Russia, about its future... These discussions were a way out of our hell for us. They helped us restore our lost spiritual strength, they rekindled the flame of thought in us, which was barely smoldering under the heavy yoke of horror.

The spring of 1945 comes. These recent months before the release were very painful. Mother Maria asks one of the fellow prisoners, E.A. Novikova, to remember and convey her last message to Metropolitan Evlogy and Father Sergius Bulgakov: “My state now is that I have complete humility to suffering, and this is what should be me, and that if I die, in this I see a blessing from above.
She, who has comforted others so many times, is now silent. It is difficult to say something definite about the death of mother Mary. Separated from her fellow prisoners, she was transferred to the Yugendlager and became a victim of the last selection. On March 30, on Good Friday, mother Maria was selected by the commandant Schwarzguber "to the left" - to the group of suicide bombers, among those who could no longer move. According to other testimonies, she herself joined the selected group, and thereby voluntarily went to martyrdom.
Mother Maria dies on March 31, 1945. Anticipating this, she wrote back in 1938:

"From brushwood smoke is drawn,
The fire appeared at the feet
And the funeral chant is louder.
And the darkness is not dead, not empty,
And in it is the inscription of the cross -
My end, the fiery end!

Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh in his Sermon on Mother Mary said: “Mother Mary, like the ancient, long-suffering Job, did not succumb to the temptation to "attribute madness to God." She lived in the contradictions of compassion and the responsible bearing of her Christian name, tearing her soul and flesh: by love for the sake of Love, in dying for the sake of Life, in giving her life for the sake of the truth of the Kingdom of God. Her image will become brighter and brighter, her spiritual significance will grow for us as we begin to understand the ultimate meaning of Love incarnate and crucified.”

The illustrations for the article are taken from site dedicated to mother Mary

It is no secret that the identity of Maria's mother (Skobtsova) causes serious discussions. In particular, her journalistic statements about monasticism are subjected to well-founded criticism, and her theological opinions are highly controversial. In this regard, how should one treat her canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate?
For a comment, we turned to the rector of PSTGU, a member of the Synodal Commission for the canonization of saints, Archpriest Vladimir VOROBYOV.

– Saints canonized in one Local Orthodox Church are the saints of the whole Church. Therefore, as long as we have unity with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as long as there is Eucharistic communion between our Churches, the saints canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate are also our saints. Until the saint was canonized, there could be doubts, but after canonization, doubts should be put aside. When they want to ordain a person as a priest or bishop, we can also express our doubts about whether he will be a good bishop or priest, whether he will be able to fulfill his ministry. But if he is ordained, then we must come under the blessing, because the Church ordained him. The canonization of a saint is an act of church conciliar reason, and we cannot question the grace-filled power of this act. This is the principle of our church unity. So one should not say: Mother Mary was canonized there, but not canonized in our country. If there were doubts, it can be said in another way: we doubted the possibility of canonization, but now we must recognize it.
As for the doubts related to the publicistic statements of Maria’s mother, or her biography (participation in the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, second marriage), or with a way of life that is not quite similar to the traditional monastic one, with her freedom in relation to the hierarchy, with the fact that she did not really bind herself with obedience, then I want to remind you that these doubts do not relate to that side of her life for which she was canonized. She was canonized not for this life of hers, but for her martyrdom. She gave her life for her friends precisely as a nun, as a Christian. She was well aware that her work to save her neighbors at a very terrible moment of the occupation was mortally dangerous. And yet she went for it. She was arrested as a member of the Resistance, but she was not engaged in some kind of partisan sabotage activities, and, being a nun, she simply helped people in every possible way, saved people and thus fulfilled her Christian duty. That is why her suffering and her martyrdom became the basis for canonization. In the same way, we canonize very many new Russian martyrs and confessors, without particularly delving into the circumstances of their lives. Because, according to the ancient teaching of the Church, martyr's blood washes away all sins, and in the history of the Church there are cases when unbaptized people who confessed their faith in Christ and after that suffered martyrdom were venerated in the Church as holy martyrs. They were said to be baptized with their own blood. Therefore, even now we accept the feat of martyrdom, regardless of a person's life, as the basis for canonization. And there is no doubt about the martyrdom of Mother Mary.
As for the theologically dubious statements of Mother Mary, there is a text in the documents of our Canonization Commission that says that reckoning among the new martyrs does not mean the canonization of their literary, epistolary or other heritage. The canonization of a new martyr does not mean that everything that a person has written in his life is the work of the holy father. This canonization is not for a life feat, but for a feat in death, a feat that crowned a person's life. Mother Mary fulfilled the commandment of Christ: “There is no greater love than if a man lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is what we consider the basis for her canonization, and not her theology.
In general, it seems to me that it is wrong to perceive canonization as some kind of final judgment on a person, such a "ticket to the Kingdom of Heaven." Who are we to judge? Our task is much simpler. We want to serve the Church by glorifying new saints. There is great multitude people who have accomplished feats of confession of faith, feats of love for God and neighbor. Of these, we choose the most bright examples so that the Church looks at them and sees in them a certain image of achievement and faith. That's what canonization is. This is our witness here on earth about the deeds that people have accomplished, or about the miracles with which the Lord glorifies them, or about the teaching that was accepted by the Church, which confirmed faith in the people of God, and so on. It is in this sense that we classify certain people as saints and call them teachers, builders of the Church, saints, martyrs, confessors, reverends. At the same time, of course, a lot of saints remain uncanonized, unknown to the world, but they are known to God and in the Kingdom of God they will be where the Lord judged them to be.
We, of course, as sinners, can make mistakes. Errors are also possible in canonization, and then they are corrected by time. It happens that some decision is made, and then it turns out that the Church did not accept this decision, there is no church reception. For example, they canonized a saint, but the Church did not particularly revere him. They recognized the canonization as important, put the name of the saint on the calendar, made up a service, but no one serves it. And it happens the other way around - some saint was canonized in passing, among others, they didn’t make a service and didn’t open the relics, but crowds of people go to his grave and pray, and veneration grows, and amazing miracles happen. And then the Church corrects her mistakes: it turns out that this saint from among the locally revered must be glorified throughout the church. So the people are involved in this process. This does not happen as clearly and clearly as in accounting and is not as legally formalized as with Catholics, but this is the strength of Orthodoxy: we do not remove the mystery from canonization. We humanly do what we can, but we always remember that final decision belongs to God.
I think that over time the question will arise that the feat of mother Mary began in her compassionate service to the poor and miserable even before the war. Even then, she essentially abandoned any kind of “life for herself”, began to “deny herself” according to the Gospel. To deny herself, take up her cross and follow Christ to suffering and death is her conscious choice, this is the fulfillment of the commandment of Christ, the commandment of her deeply believing and loving Christ heart. Not in words, not in appearance, but in her heart, she became a Christian, and the Lord glorified her with a martyr's death.

Maria Kuzmina-Karavaeva

Anna Andreevna Gumilyova:

Kolya had many hobbies in his life. But his most sublime and deepest love was his love for Masha. Under the influence of A.I.'s stories about the Slepnev family estate and about the large old library that was preserved intact there, Kolya wanted to go there to get acquainted with the books. At that time, Aunt Varya lived in Slepnev - Varvara Ivanovna Lvova, by her husband Lampe, the elder sister of Anna Ivanovna. In the winter, her daughter Konstantia Fridolfovna Kuzmina-Karavaeva came to her from time to time with her two daughters. Arriving at the Slepnevo estate, the poet was pleasantly surprised when, in addition to the old aunt Varya, two charming young ladies came out to meet him - Masha and Olya. Masha made an indelible impression on the poet at first sight.

Sergei Konstantinovich Makovsky:

Masha, a calm, quiet, blooming Russian beauty, with a wonderful complexion, and only a feverish blush that appeared in the evenings spoke of her sick lungs.

Anna Andreevna Gumilyova:

It was a tall thin blonde with big sad blue eyes, very feminine. Kolya was supposed to stay a few days in Slepnev, but put off his departure under all sorts of pretexts. The nanny of the Kuzmins-Karavaevs said: "Mashenka completely blinded Nikolai Stepanovich." Fascinated by Masha, Kolya deliberately rummaged through the library for longer than necessary and on the appointed day of departure said that the library "... dust is more zealous than a drug ...", that he had a severe headache, theatrically grabbed his head in front of Aunt Varya, and the horses were put off . The young ladies were very pleased: they had more fun with a young uncle. With Masha and Olya, the poet sat up for a long time in the evenings in the library, which greatly outraged the Karavaevs’ nanny, and she often violently flew into her pets, but the poet gently hugged and calmed the old woman, who later said that “it’s impossible to be angry with Nikolai Stepanovich for a long time, he disarms everyone with tenderness.

In the summer, the whole Kuzmin-Karavaev family and ours spent time in Slepnev. I remember that Masha was always dressed with great taste in pale purple dresses. She loved this color, which suited her. I was always touched by how touchingly Kolya protected Masha. She was weak in the lungs, and when we went to the neighbors or to ride, the poet always asked that their carriage go ahead, "so that Mashenka would not breathe dust." More than once I saw Kolya sitting by Masha's bedroom when she was resting during the day. He was waiting for her to come out, with a book in his hands, still on the same page, and his gaze was fixed on the door. Once Masha frankly told him that she had no right to love and bind anyone, since she had been ill for a long time and felt that she did not have long to live. This had a hard effect on the poet:

…When she was born, the heart

They chained her in iron,

And the one I loved

Will never be mine.

In the autumn, saying goodbye to Masha, he whispered to her: “Masha, I never thought that it was possible to love and be sad like that.” They parted, and fate separated them forever.

The poet dedicated many poems to Masha. In many, he mentions his love for her, such as in The Porcelain Pavilion, in The Roads.

Chapter Thirty Clip Kuzmin About why the clip maker was hit on the head and why Kuzmin and I froze The very first acquaintance with Vladimir Kuzmin was, as already mentioned, in absentia - he sang “Two Stars” to me with Pugacheva from an antediluvian tape recorder on a geological