05/01/2026
On this day - 1st May 1982 - the relics of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna were solemnly transferred to the Church of Mary Magdalene, located on the Mount of Olives, near the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. ☦️
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In 1921, the bodies of Elisabeth and of Sister Barbara (Varvara Yakovleva), one of her nuns, were taken to Jerusalem, thanks to the efforts and unshakable will of Abbot Seraphim (Kuznetsov). The Grand Duchess had personally asked him to take care of her after her death. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, the bodies of the martyrs were buried in a tomb next to the Church of Mary Magdalene.
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In 1981, after the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia canonized the Grand Duchess and Sister Barbara, the solemn transfer of the relics from the crypt-tomb to the Church of Mary Magdalene, built by her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, took place.
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It was not until 1992, that Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna was canonized by the Moscow Patriarchate as Holy Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna.
