Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna decided to have the book ‘Beneath the Blessed Heaven’ printed when she was setting up a dormitory for teenagers.
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Beneath the Blessed Heaven
Creation period
1915
Dimensions
22x14,5 cm
Technique
Soft cover, color illustrations, letterpress printing
0
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A publication sponsored by Elizabeth Feodorovna
Beneath the Blessed Heaven
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During World War I, boys and youths aged 10 years and up often ran away from home to the front, some made it to the frontline, while others enlisted as volunteers with field forces. Young, inexperienced, and dreaming of feats and heroism, they frequently got into the thick of battles, risked their lives and ended up badly wounded. Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was a philanthropist during her whole life, took such young soldiers under her wing. Upon her initiative, a charity was founded in Moscow for teenagers who had run away to the front and now needed special care.
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Child Dmitri, the future metropolitan of Rostov. A drawing by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
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The dormitory was sponsored by Elizabeth Feodorovna personally and by other benefactors, ministries, and private donations. The dormitory was sponsored by Elizabeth Feodorovna personally and by other benefactors, ministries, and private donations.
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The book Elizabeth Feodorovna decided to publish was intended to educate young readers in layman’s terms on the saints whose lives were described since very young age. The book is a compilation of the lives of Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov, Sergius of Radonezh and many others. The Duchess dedicated the book to her nephew Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Emperor Nicholas II.
Elizabeth Feodorovna invited several famous painters to work on the book: the artist Mikhail Nesterov, Vasily Polenov, a landscapist associated with the Peredvizhniki movement, and Nicholas Roerich to work on the cover. The members of the Imperial family contributed their drawings for the book, too, along with the Grand Duchess herself. She painted child martyr Vasilissa and child Dmitri, the future metropolitan of Rostov. The sales proceeds were used towards charity in favor of children soldiers.
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The book “Beneath the Blessed Heaven” is dedicated to Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, heir apparent to the throne.
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The initial intention was to publish a series of similar books. The first book consisted of martyrologies and lives of saints remembered by the Russian Orthodox Church during the autumn months. However, no further books were published because of the continuing war.
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Sergei Yesenin as a corpsman with the medical train based in Tsarskoye Selo, 1916.
Elizabeth Feodorovna presented a copy of the book that was published to the poet Sergei Yesenin. In 1916, Yesenin had not yet made it in the limelight, but the Duchess attended his poetry reading at Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow. Elizabeth Feodorovna enjoyed his poetry, and they talked for a long time after the end of the reading. Later, on the poetry day, she gave Yesenin the book “Beneath the Blessed Heaven” and an icon of Sergius of Radonezh.
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Sverdlovsk Regional Ethnography Museum
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Beneath the Blessed Heaven
Creation period
1915
Dimensions
22x14,5 cm
Technique
Soft cover, color illustrations, letterpress printing
0
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