St. Dorotheos of Gaza (6th c.)

THOMAS KITSON

We know Dorotheos primarily from his own Discourses and from his correspondence with the “Old Men” of Gaza, Sts. Barsanuphius and John. He was born wealthy in early 6th-century Antioch and probably studied rhetoric at Gaza before entering the Monastery of Abbot Seridos at Tawatha, not far from the city. Seridos charged him with supervising the monastery’s guest house and then, because he had medical knowledge, its infirmary, which was a donation of Dorotheos’ brother. Dorotheos handled John’s corre­spondence for nine years preceding the recluse’s death in 543, when Barsanuphius decided to forego all human contact. Little is known of Dorotheos’ subsequent life and whether or not he succeeded Seridos as abbot. He may have sought a more solitary contemplative life by moving from Tawatha’s coenobium to the Lavra. John Moschos mentioned Dorotheos briefly in his Spiritual Meadow.

Dorotheos’ Discourses may have been compiled before the 7th century, soon after his death. The earliest extant manu­scripts of his work are in Arabic and Georgian (9th century), while the first Greek manuscript, including the Studite preface, dates to the 10th century. Dorotheos’ main sources are scripture, especially the gospels and Psalms, and the Apophthegmata of the desert fathers, which he imbibed from Barsanuphius and John. He also cites liberally from the Cappadocian fathers, from Evagrios Pontike, and, it seems, from an early Greek translation of St. John Cassian’s Conferences. Thus, he crucially combines the experience of the Egyptian desert with Syrian practices and the sophisticated theology of the Cappadocians to shape the ascetic life. Dorotheos exhorts listeners to cut off the will through humility and obedience, frequently citing Christ’s injunction: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11.29). These themes ground the Life of Dositheos, Dorotheos’ young disciple. They are also exemplified by Dorotheos’ plain-spoken use of anecdotes from his own life, his willingness to risk losing the respect of his listeners by giving sometimes unseemly evidence against himself.

The christological and Origenist contro­versies that raged in Palestine during the 6th century colored the Discourses’ initial reception. St. Theodore the Studite attested to their orthodoxy in the late 8th century, although it is possible that St. John Klimakos had already written the Ladder of Divine Ascent with them in mind. Dorotheos’ influence spread with the Studite monastic reforms, especially to Mount Athos, and his works were read in refectories throughout the Greek East, along with those of St. Ephrem and the desert Apophthegmata. St. Nil Sorskii par­tially translated Dorotheos into Church Sla­vonic in the 15th century. Since Dorotheos’ writings also indicate early traditions of the Jesus Prayer, they were incorporated into St. Paisy Velichovsky’s hesychast renewal movement. St. Theophan the Recluse accordingly appended Dorotheos’ works, which had been translated and published separately by the Optina Hermitage in the 1850s, to the 19th-century Russian transla­tion of the Philokalia.

SEE ALSO: Cappadocian Fathers; Desert Fathers and Mothers; Hesychasm; Jesus Prayer; Optina; Philokalia·; Non-Possessors (Nil Sorskii); Pontike, Evagrios (ca. 345–399); St. John Klimakos (ca. 579-ca. 659); St. Paisy Velichovsky (1722–1794); St. Theophan (Govorov) the Recluse (1815–1894); Sts. Barsanuphius and John (6th c.)

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Chryssavgis, J. (trans.) (2003) Barsanuphius and John, Letters from the Desert: A Selection of Questions and Responses. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

Wheeler, E. (trans.) (1977) Dorotheos of Gaza: Discourses and Sayings. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications.

St. Elizaveta Feodorovna (1864–1918)

KONSTANTIN GAVRILKIN

Born as Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Luise Alice of Hesse, she was the older sister of Alexandra of Hesse, the future wife of Tsar Nicholas II (1872–1918). In 1884 Elizabeth became Orthodox and married Grand Duke Sergei (1857–1905), the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II (d. 1881). She assumed the name of Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna of Russia and quite soon became actively involved in various charities, especially for women and children from poor and destitute families, creating for them jobs, hospitals, schools, and afford­able housing. In 1891 the couple moved to Moscow, where her husband was to serve as governor general. In 1905 the terrorist Ivan Kaliaev assassinated Grand Duke Sergei by throwing a bomb at his carriage.

GRAND DUCHESS ELIZABETH FEODOROVNA

Plate 64 Portrait of St. Elizaveta Feodorovna as Princess “Ella” before her widowhood and monas­tic profession. Topham Picturepoint/Topfoto.

Widowed, Elizaveta decided to stay in Moscow and dedicate her life to poor and sick women and children through personally supervised charities in a convent she founded in 1907. The Marfo-Mariinskaia Obitel’ Miloserdiia (Mercy Convent of Saints Martha and Mary) was established on the territory of the estate near the Kremlin, pur­chased with the funds raised from the sale of the Duchess’s personal items and jewelry. It was rebuilt to include a hospital, pharmacy, and soup kitchen for the poor, a library, and school for girls and women, and was offi­cially opened in 1909. In 1910 Grand Duch­ess Elizaveta became a nun herself. According to the statute of the convent, approved by the holy synod in 1911 (and revised in 1914), she was to remain the head of the convent for life. During World War I, Elizaveta helped with creating moveable hospitals, medical emergency teams, and commissions for accommodating the wounded who returned from the war zone and for helping the fami­lies of military personnel. Her convent was reorganized to accommodate a military hos­pital where 150 nuns worked under her direct supervision.

In addition, after the death of her husband who had chaired the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society since its estab­lishment in 1882, Elizaveta assumed his post and held it until her resignation after the February Revolution of 1917. The society supported Orthodox institutions in the Holy Land (churches, monasteries, hospitals, and schools), pilgrimages, and scientific studies of the region.

She refused to leave Russia after the Bolshevik coup in October 1917. Arrested in the spring of 1918 with the nun Barbara, her assistant, she was sent to Siberia, where other members of the Romanov family had also been imprisoned. In July 1918 she and others were thrown alive into a mine shaft a few miles from Alapaevsk. Their bodies were recovered in the fall of the same year by the White Army, which advanced to the region in October 1918. Eventually, the bodies of Elizaveta Feodorovna and the nun Barbara were taken to Jerusalem and buried in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, according to the will of the Grand Duchess expressed in 1888 during her visit to Jerusalem. In 1992 the Moscow patriarchate canonized her and Barbara as new martyrs of Russia.

SEE ALSO: New Martyrs; Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of; Women in Orthodoxy

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Mager, H. (1998) Elizabeth, Grand

Duchess of Russia. New York: Carroll and Graf. Miller, L. (1991) Grand Duchess Elizabeth of

Russia. Redding, CA: Nikodemos Orthodox

Publication Society.

Tsitriniak, A. and Khemlin, M. (2009) Velikaia kniaginia Elizaveta Fedorovna. Moscow: Tsentr knigi VGBIL im. M. I. Rudomino. Warwick, C. (2006) Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.