Sister Varvara Yakovleva, a cross sister of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy, was one of the first to follow in the footsteps of Elizabeth Feodorovna. She was the cell attendant of the abbess and remained kind and accessible to all. On July 5 (18), 1918, nun Varvara was thrown into the shaft of an old mine along with Elizabeth Feodorovna and other members of the imperial family, making her sacrifice at the age of thirty-five.
Elizabeth Feodorovna, born on October 20, 1864, married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1884. She sought true religion and accepted Orthodoxy on April 13, 1891. The Grand Duchess actively helped the sick and suffering, establishing a convent of labor, mercy, and prayer in Moscow, named the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.
In the convent, founded on February 10, 1909, churches, a hospital, and an orphanage were created. Elizabeth Feodorovna led an ascetic life, sleeping on a wooden bed and often no more than three hours. From the beginning of World War I, she organized aid for the front.
After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne, Elizabeth Feodorovna was arrested in 1918 and taken to Alapayevsk. On July 5 (18), 1918, she and other prisoners were killed, and Elizabeth, praying, asked for forgiveness for her executioners. Her body was retrieved from the mine, where she and Varvara Yakovleva, like Grand Duke John, were found with their fingers crossed in the sign of the cross.
The memory of the venerable martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and nun Varvara is celebrated on July 5 (18) and on the day of the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
