Marfo-Mariinsky Convent

Her vision was to begin a religious community, made up of women from all social strata, that would merge the ideals of saints Martha and Mary, dedicated both to prayer and to serving the needs of the poor.

From 1908 to 1912, Alexey Shchusev designed the Church of Saints Martha and Mary and the Holy Protection Cathedral, both structures being Russian Revival and Art Nouveau renderings of a medieval Novgorod architectural type.

At 7:30 they gathered in the hospital chapel for a common rule of prayer followed by the reading of a gospel, an epistle, a psalm, and perhaps a brief sermon by the priest serving that day.

Following morning prayers, the sisters would be found at their various obediences: some in the hospital awaiting the doctors making rounds, others in the clinic to provide treatment such as massages, injections, etc., for the ailing, others in the school, and yet others in the kitchen or other areas of the house.

Four times a week an akathist hymn was read during the evening prayer rule: on Sundays, to the Savior; Mondays, to Archangel Michael and all the Heavenly Hosts; Wednesdays, to Sts.

The sisters were also obliged to attend Vigil and Liturgy at the Chudov Monastery on the feast days of the holy hierarch St. Alexis of Moscow, February 12 and May 20.

The head covering of tonsured members was a white apostolnik cut in the monastic style with a grey woolen veil.

Sisters received this cross at their tonsure into the sisterhood, giving a vow to devote this specific period of their lives to God and neighbor, and to abide by the rules of the community.

In 1923, the convent tried to remake itself as the "Martha and Mary Community of Industry" in order to continue their works despite the civil war and official atheist position of the government.

Martha & Mary was closed, though the remaining nuns were able to remove over 200 icons and the "royal doors" from the cathedral by moving them to the Church of the Holy Protection.

Veneration of the Grand Duchess as a Saint and New Martyr had begun outside of Russia soon after her interment at Jerusalem, and her memory was honored secretly within the Soviet Union.

In 1999 the Educational Center of the SS Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy was founded, with the blessings of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, for the purpose of training Orthodox girls as certified nurses.

As a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Grand Duchess Elizabeth is closely related to the Greek, Danish, and British Royal families.

Elizabeth's older sister was Victoria, Marchioness of Milford-Haven, whose daughter Alice married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Princess Alice became the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and later founded a nursing order of Greek Orthodox nuns, the "Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary".

Princess Alice was buried near Grand Duchess Elizabeth in the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalen on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.