In Honor of my Name's Day

Image from the St. Elizabeth Convent in Minsk

​I love my patron saint, and today is the day we commemorate her martyrdom. A couple of years ago,
​I composed music for the Canon to Saints Elizabeth and Barbara, and wrote a longer entry in her honor.

Today, though, I will simply share a few tidbits and quotes related to the Grand Duchess.

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​“Always be guided by your heart rather than by your head, and your life will be transformed. Happiness does not consist in living in a palace or enjoying a large fortune; these can be lost. True happiness is something that neither men nor events can take from you. You will find it in Faith, in Hope and in Charity. Try to make those around you happy, and you will be happy yourself.” - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

​When Vladimir Lenin ordered the arrest and execution of Saint Elizabeth together with her companion, Saint Barbara, he said the following: “Virtue with the crown on it is a greater enemy to the revolution than a hundred tyrant tsars.” The Duchess, a beacon of light, love, and faith in her country, necessarily had to die at the pagan alter of communism.

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When the bolshevik Revolution erupted in 1918, the year of Elizabeth's martyrdom, she wrote the following in a letter to her friend:

“One must fix one's thoughts on the heavenly country in order to see things in their true light, and to be able to say "Thy will be done," when one sees the complete destruction of our beloved Russia. Remember that Holy Russia, the Orthodox Church "against whom the Gates of Hell shall not prevail," still exists, and will always exist. Those who can believe this without a doubt will see the inner light shining through the darkness in the midst of the storm. I am not exaltee, dear friend, I am only certain that the God who chastises is the same God who loves. I have been reading the Bible a good deal lately, and if we believe in the sublime sacrifice of God the Father in sending His Son to die and rise again for us, we shall feel the Holy Spirit lighting our way, and our joy will become eternal, even if our poor human hearts and earthly minds pass through moments which seem terrible. Think of a storm; there are some things sublime in it, some things terrifying; some are afraid to take shelter, some are killed by it, and some have their eyes opened to the greatness of God; is not this a true picture of the present times? We work, we pray, we hope and each day we feel more and more the divine compassion. It is a constant miracle that we are alive. Others are beginning to feel the same, and they come to our Church to seek rest for their souls. Pray for us, dear heart. Always your old and faithful friend.”

​This is how the amazing saint lived in peace during a time when peace sounds completely unattainable; she discerned what was temporal from what is eternal. Holy Saint Elizabeth, pray to God for us!

Image from the OCA website