The holy and
glorious venerable-martyr Maria Skobtsova (also Saint Mary of Paris or
Mother Maria) was a nun and martyr in Paris in the early twentieth
century. She encouraged hospitality and love of one's neighbor,
often in the most uncompromising of terms. She considered this to be the
foundation of the Christian gospel, and she embodied it in her life. She
is often compared to Dorothy Day, an American Roman Catholic who founded
the Catholic Worker movement. Saint Mary died a
martyr in
Ravensbrück prison. She was glorified by the
Church of Constantinople
on January 16, 2004, along with her companions, Priest Dmitri Klepinin,
her son George (Yuri) Skobtsov, and Elie Fondaminsky.
Born to a well to do, upper-class family in
1891 in Latvia, she was given the name Elizaveta Pilenko. Her father
died when she was a teenager, and she embraced atheism. In 1906 her
mother took the family to St. Petersburg, where she became involved in
radical intellectual circles. In 1910 she married a Bolshevik by the
name of Dmitri Kuzmin-Karaviev. During this period of her life she was
actively involved in literary circles and wrote much poetry. Her first
book, Scythian Shards, was a collection of poetry from this
period. By 1913 her marriage to Dmitri had ended.
Through a look at the humanity of Jesus – “He
also died. The sweated blood. They struck his face” – she began to be
drawn back into Christianity. She moved – now with her daughter, Gaiana
– to the south of Russia where her religious devotion increased.
In 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution, she
was elected deputy mayor of the town of Anapa in Southern Russia. When
the White Army took control of Anapa, the mayor fled and she became
mayor of the town. The White Army put her on trial for being a
Bolshevik. However, the judge was a former teacher of hers, Daniel
Skobtsov, and she was acquitted. Soon the two fell in love and were
married.
Soon, the political tide was turning again. In
order to avoid danger, Elizaveta, Daniel, Gaiana, and Elizaveta’s mother
Sophia fled the country. Elizaveta was pregnant with her second child.
They traveled first to Georgia (where her son
Yuri was born)
and then to Yugoslavia (where her daughter Anastasia was born). Finally
they arrived in Paris in 1923. Soon Elizaveta was dedicating herself to
theological studies and social work.
In 1926, Anastasia died of influenza – a
heartbreaking event for the family. Gaiana was sent away to Belgium to
boarding school. Soon, Daniel and Elizaveta’s marriage was falling
apart. Yuri ended up living with Daniel, and Elizaveta moved into
central Paris to work more directly with those who were most in need.
Her bishop encouraged her to take vows as a
nun, something she did only with the assurance that she would not have
to live in a monastery, secluded from the world. In 1932, with Daniel
Skobtov’s permission, an ecclesiastical divorce was granted and she took
monastic vows. In religion she took the name Maria. Her confessor was
Father Sergius Bulgakov. Later, Father Dmitri Klepinin would be sent to
be the chaplain of the house.
Mother Maria made a rented house in Paris her
“convent.” It was a place with an open door for refugees, the needy and
the lonely. It also soon became a center for intellectual and
theological discussion. In Mother Maria these two elements - service to
the poor and theology – went hand-in-hand.
When the Nazis took Paris in World War II, Jews
soon approached the house asking for baptismal certificates, which
Father Dmitri would provide them. Many Jews came to stay with them. They
provided shelter and helped many escape. Eventually the house was closed
down. Mother Maria, Father Dmitri, Yuri, and Sophia were all taken by
the Gestapo. Father Dmitri and Yuri both died at the prison camp in
Dora.
Mother Maria was sent to the camp in
Ravensbruck, Germany. On Holy Saturday, 1945, Mother Maria was taken to
the gas chamber and entered eternal life. It is suggested that she took
the place of another who had been selected for that death.
Mother Maria was glorified by act of the Holy
Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on January 16, 2004. The
glorification of Mother Maria, together with Fr. Dmitri, Yuri, and Ilya
Fondaminsky took place at the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in
Paris on May 1 and
2, 2004. Their
feast day is July 20.
