Martyr Elizabeth was born in 1877 in the city of Serpukhov, Moscow province, in a working-class family. Her father was dying, and her mother, working as a laundress, was forced to place Elizabeth in an orphanage. Until 1917, she lived in the orphanage, working as a seamstress, and after 1917, she lived with her brother, who was disabled. Elizabeth maintained connections with the Alekseevsky Monastery, where she prayed and assisted the nuns.
On May 19, 1931, she was arrested along with more than thirty clergymen and nuns, accused of anti-Soviet activities. During the interrogation, she stated that she disagreed with the policy of the Soviet government. On July 16, 1931, the OGPU troika sentenced her to three years of exile.
Elizabeth returned to Serpukhov in 1934. On October 2, 1937, she was arrested during the height of the persecution of the Church and imprisoned in the Serpukhov prison. During the investigation, a hieromonk falsely accused her of engaging in anti-Soviet activities. Elizabeth was sixty years old, and doctors indicated her incapacity for work.
On October 17, 1937, the NKVD troika sentenced her to execution. Elizabeth Nikolaevna Krymova was shot on October 31, 1937, at the Butovo firing range and buried in an unknown common grave.
