Maria Skobtsova
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Maria Skobtsova | |
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Born | Elizaveta Yurievna Pilenko 20 December 1891 |
Died | 31 March 1945 (aged 53) |
Cause of death | Poison gas |
Title | Mayor of Anapa |
Political party | Socialist-Revolutionary Party |
Spouse(s) | Dmitry Kuzmin-Karavayev (m. 1910-19??; divorced) Daniil Skobtsov (dissolved 1932)[1] |
Children | 3 |
Awards | Righteous among the Nations |
Old Calendar ] |
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Maria Skobtsova (20 [8
Life
Born to an aristocratic family in 1891 in
Through a look at the humanity of
Soon, the political tide was turning again. In order to avoid danger, Elizaveta, Daniil, 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. Gaiana was sent away to Belgium to boarding school. Soon, Daniil and Elizaveta's marriage was falling apart. Yuri ended up living with Daniil, 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 Daniil Skobtov's permission, an ecclesiastical divorce was granted, and she took monastic vows. She took the religious name "Maria". Her confessor was Father Sergei Bulgakov. Later, Fr. 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.
Death
After the
Mother Maria was sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. On Holy Saturday, 1945, she was sent to the gas chamber.
Canonization
Mother Maria was
Legacy
On June 24, 2020, a memorial plaque to Skobtsova was unveiled at the famous Sainte Genevieve de Bois cemetery, on the territory of the Russian necropolis.[9]
Skobtsova is also commemorated in the American Episcopal Church's calendar, with a lesser feast on July 21.[10][11]
Mother Maria was designated as Righteous among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Israel.[12]
Example of poetry
In July, 1942, when the order requiring Jews to wear the yellow star was published, she wrote a poem entitled "Israel":
- Two triangles, a star,
- The shield of King David, our forefather.
- This is election, not offense.
- The great path and not an evil.
- Once more in a term fulfilled,
- Once more roars the trumpet of the end;
- And the fate of a great people
- Once more is by the prophet proclaimed.
- Thou art persecuted again, O Israel,
- But what can human malice mean to thee,
- who have heard the thunder from Sinai?
Publications
- Skobtsova, E. (1929). А. Хомяковъ [A. Khomyakov] (in Russian). Paris: YMCA Press.
- Skobtsova, E. (1929). Достоевский и современность [Dostoyevsky and Modernity] (in Russian). Paris: YMCA Press. OCLC 493551629.
- Skobtsova, E. (1929). Миросозерцание Вл. Соловьева [The World-Concept of Vl. Solov'ev] (in Russian). Paris: YMCA Press.
- Skobtsova, Maria (1947). Zeluck, Oreste (ed.). Стихотворения, поэмы, мистерии, воспоминания об аресте и лагере в Равенсбрюк [Poems, narrative poems, mysteries, memoirs of the arrest and camp in Ravensbrück] (in Russian). Paris: La Presse Française et Étrangère. OCLC 491729129.
- Skobtsova, Maria (2003). Mother Maria Skobtsova: Essential Writings. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, introduction by OCLC 49610914.
- Skobtsova (Mother Maria), E. (2016). The Crucible of Doubts: Khomyakov, Dostoevsky, Vl. Solov'ev, In Search of Synthesis, Four 1929 Works. Translated and commentary by Fr. S. Janos. frsj Publications. ISBN 978-0-9963992-3-4.
References
- ^ "A Remarkable Life", languagehat.com. Accessed December 7, 2022.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Righteous Martyr Maria (Skobtsova)".
- ^ Koulomzin, Sophie. "Mother Mary" (PDF). Upbeat. 12 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- ^ "Вселенство - новости Кафолического Православия". 2009-12-26. Archived from the original on 2009-12-26. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
- OCLC 231868099.
- ^ "A REMARKABLE LIFE. : languagehat.com". languagehat.com. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Мать Мария, Mère Marie: Un livre " La Beauté salvatrice ", la vie et l'exploit de la sainte mère Marie (Skobtsov) publié en Bulgarie". mere-marie.com. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ "Maria Skobtsova". satucket.com. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
- ^ "Lesser Feasts and Fasts". lectionarypage.net. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
- ^ Righteous among the Nations, yadvashem.org. Accessed December 7, 2022.
Sources
- Plekon, Michael (2009). Hidden Holiness. University of Notre Dame Press. OCLC 276818992.
Biographies
- Target, G.W. (1974). The Nun in the Concentration Camp : The Story of Mother Maria [Elizabeth Pilenko]. ISBN 978-0-08-017610-9.
- Smith, T. Stratton. The Rebel Nun. London: Souvenir Press.
- Hackel, Fr. Sergei. Pearl of Great Price.
- Men', Fr Aleksandr (2015). "Mother Maria (Skobtsova)". Russian Religious Philosophy: 1989-1990 Lectures. frsj Publications. ISBN 9780996399227.
External links
- Maria Skobtsova – her activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashemwebsite