Marfo-Mariinsky Monastery of mercy and love

The Marfo-Mariinsky Monastery of mercy and love is founded by the Grand duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna in 1907. After tragic death of the husband, the Grand duke Sergey Aleksandrovich Elizabeth Feodorovna moved away from a social life. She spent the whole days in a prayer. "… The father of mercy and God of any consolation consoling us in any our grief that also we could console being in any grief that consolation in which God consoles ourselves!" — these words of the Saint apostle Pavel (2 Buildings 1.3 — 5) strengthened it in the solution to entirely devote themselves to God and neighbors.

The Grand duchess saw a prototype of activity of future Monastery in service of the toiler Marfa and Maria's molitvennitsa — just sisters of Lazar revived with Jesus Christ. "Help patients and the poor, to console being in a grief and grief" — these lines the Charter drafted by the Most august founder begins.

Two years left on creation of Monastery. On money from sale of personal property and jewelry Elizabeth Feodorovna purchased the estate on Bolshaya Ordynka with a garden. Buildings were converted into the corresponding needs. In the two-storeyed house with an exit to the street equipped hospital with chambers, operational, dressing and bathing. Here consecrated house church — for the sake of St. Righteous Marfa and Maria. This first temple was called still the sick-list. The second will appear later — construction of cathedral for the sake of the Intercession of the Theotokos ended in 1912. The temple will decorate not only the Monastery — for many years it will remain a sight of Moscow.

The house of the mother superior adjoined the hospital body. On the other hand to hospital attached drugstore and out-patient clinic. Over them, as well as in the mezzanine, there were rooms of sisters.

The building in the yard was allocated to Sunday school. Here both girls, and adult women studied. Classes of school occupied all first floor, on the second lodged the priest. Before the arrest (in 1924) the archpriest father Mitrofan Srebryansky (in 2000 it is canonized in the Community of Saints of new martyrs and confessors Russian) was a permanent confessor of monastery.

On February 10, 1909 — date of official opening of Marfo-Mariinsky Monastery of mercy. By this moment there lived six nuns here, by the end of their year became thirty, and the number continued to increase. Elizabeth Feodorovna bought still section in the neighbourhood on which one more body to three floors was constructed.