Anna Vyrubova, the Empress's closest friend. Pages of my life. Anna Taneyeva (Vyrubova). Autocratic Rus'
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Anna Taneyeva was the great-great-great-granddaughter of the great Russian commander Kutuzov. Her father, Alexander Sergeevich, for 20 years held the important state post of Secretary of State and Chief Manager of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery - a position that was practically inherited in the Taneyev family. In January 1904, young Anna Taneyeva was “granted a code,” that is, she received a court appointment to the position of maid of honor to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The maid of honor with a monogram was a brooch in the form of a monogram of the empress or two intertwined initials of the current and dowager empress. The picturesque composition was crowned with a stylized imperial crown. For many young aristocrats, receiving a maid of honor was the fulfillment of their dream of court service. Note that the tradition of handing over the maid of honor cipher by the ruling and dowager empresses was strictly observed until the beginning of the 20th century - Alexandra Feodorovna refused this right, which deeply offended the Russian aristocracy and completely undermined her reputation at court. By the way, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, until the beginning of 1917, conscientiously fulfilled this duty, which her daughter-in-law so frivolously refused.
On April 30, 1907, the 22-year-old maid of honor of Empress Taneyeva got married. As a spouse, the choice fell on naval officer Alexander Vyrubov. A week before the wedding, the Empress asks her friend, the Montenegrin Princess Milica, the wife of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich (grandson of Nicholas I), to introduce her maid of honor to the healer and seer Grigory Rasputin, who was then gaining popularity. Together with her sister Anastasia, with whom her Montenegrin friend was inseparable, Milica wanted to use the “elder” as an instrument of influence on Nicholas II to fulfill personal desires and help her native country. The first acquaintance with Rasputin makes a very strong impression on the girl, which will later develop into real worship: “Thin, with a pale, haggard face; His eyes, unusually penetrating, immediately struck me.”
The Empress called Vyrubova “big baby”
The wedding of the maid of honor Taneyeva takes place in Tsarskoye Selo, and the entire royal family comes to the wedding. The family life of the young couple is not immediately established: perhaps because, according to rumors, on the first wedding night the groom got very drunk, and the bride was so scared that she tried by any means to avoid intimacy. According to Vyrubova’s memoirs, her husband’s experiences after the disaster in Tsushima left their mark on the unsuccessful marriage. Soon (probably not without the help of Alexandra Fedorovna) the husband leaves for treatment in Switzerland, and a year later Vyrubova asks him for a divorce. Thus, the 23-year-old maid of honor becomes the closest friend of the 36-year-old empress, her faithful adviser. Now it was she who would become the source of Alexandra Feodorovna’s acquaintance with all the city rumors and gossip: the empress was afraid to go out into the world and preferred to lead a solitary life in Tsarskoe Selo, where the lonely Vyrubova would settle.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Vyrubova, together with imperial family begins working as a nurse in the infirmary set up in Tsarskoe Selo. Vera Gedroits, the most famous female doctor in Russia, operates on the wounded in this hospital. Being in voluntary isolation, Alexandra Fedorovna receives almost all the news from the capital from her faithful friend, who often gives her not the best good advice. The officers, the hospital patients, are accustomed to constant visits from the Empress, and therefore allegedly no longer show proper attitude towards her - Vyrubova advises visiting the infirmary less often in order to teach disrespectful subjects a lesson.
At the age of 18, Vyrubova suffered from typhus, but was saved
On January 2, 1915, Vyrubova set off by train from Tsarskoe Selo to Petrograd, however, before reaching only 6 miles to the capital, the train met with an accident. The Empress's adviser is discovered under the rubble with virtually no chance of survival. In her memoirs, Vyrubova carefully describes all the details of what happened to her. terrible disaster: She lies alone for 4 hours without help. The doctor arrived and said: “She’s dying, don’t touch her.” Then Vera Gedroits arrives and confirms the fatal diagnosis. However, after the identity and status of the victim becomes publicly known, she is urgently taken to Tsarskoe Selo, where the empress and her daughters are already waiting on the platform. Despite all the doctors’ assurances that nothing could help the unfortunate woman, Rasputin, who urgently arrived at the request of the Empress, prophetically announced that Vyrubova “will live, but will remain crippled.”
After the abdication, the imperial family lives under arrest in Tsarskoe Selo, Vyrubova remains with them. However, on March 21, they are visited by the Minister of Justice of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, who arrests the empress’s friend on suspicion of an anti-government conspiracy, despite all persuasion and complaints. The guard soldiers are quite surprised that the famous Vyrubova is not a depraved social diva at all, but a disabled person on crutches, looking much older than her 32 years.
The investigation denied rumors about her connection with Rasputin
After spending several days in a pre-trial detention cell, Vyrubova finds herself in the most terrible prison for political criminals - in the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where, in addition to the empress’s friend, other enemies of the new government are also imprisoned, with whose names all the most terrible crimes former regime: leader right party“Union of the Russian People” Alexander Dubrovin, former Minister of War Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Prime Ministers Boris Sturmer and Ivan Goremykin, Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Alexander Protopopov. Tsarist officials are kept in appalling conditions. When Vyrubova is brought to her cell, the soldiers take the straw bag and pillow from the bed and tear it off gold chain, on which the cross hangs, they take away the icons and decorations: “The cross and several icons fell into my lap. I screamed in pain; then one of the soldiers hit me with his fist, and, spitting in my face, they left, slamming the iron door" From Vyrubova’s memoirs, it becomes clear how inhumane the attitude towards the prisoners was: from the dampness and constant cold, she begins to develop pleurisy, her temperature rises, and she finds herself practically exhausted. There is a huge puddle on the floor in the middle of her cell; sometimes she falls out of her bed there in delirium and wakes up completely wet. The prison doctor, according to Vyrubova’s memoirs, mocks the prisoners: “I was literally starving. Twice a day they brought half a bowl of some kind of mud, like soup, into which the soldiers often spat and put glass. He often smelled like rotten fish, so I covered my nose, swallowing a little, just so as not to die of hunger; I poured out the rest.” However, after several months, a thorough investigative check is finally carried out, and on July 24, Vyrubova is released due to the lack of evidence of a crime.
Vyrubova lives quietly in Petrograd for a month, until on August 25 she is declared an extremely dangerous counter-revolutionary and deported to the Finnish fortress of Sveaborg. The convoy departs for its destination on a yacht " polar Star“, which used to be the property of the royal family, Vyrubova often visited it: “It was impossible to recognize the wonderful dining room of Their Majesties in the spit-stained, dirty and smoke-filled cabin. At the same tables sat about a hundred “rulers”—dirty, brutal sailors.” By the way, their hatred of each other was mutual - the majority associated the figure of Vyrubova with the most sinister crimes of the tsarist government. Leon Trotsky unexpectedly comes to her aid and orders the immediate release of the “prisoner of Kerensky” (not without the patronage of Vyrubova’s mother, Nadezhda Taneyeva). On October 3, Vyrubova is brought to a reception in Smolny, where she is met by Lev Kamenev and his wife Olga, sister Trotsky. Here she is even fed dinner and then released.
Fearing re-arrest, Vyrubova hid with friends for another year, finding refuge in “the basements and closets of the poor people whom she had once rescued from poverty.” At the end of 1920, the devoted friend of the former empress managed to illegally enter Finland, where she would live for another 40 years, taking monastic vows under the name Maria Taneyeva in the Smolensk monastery of the Valaam Monastery.
Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova (nee Taneyeva) was born in 1884 in St. Petersburg. By maternal line she was the great-great-granddaughter of commander Kutuzov. The Taneyev family was close to the court; the girl’s father, Alexander Sergeevich, served as secretary of state and chief executive of the imperial chancellery. The girl received an excellent home education, and then passed the exam and received the right to teach independently. In 1904, young Anna was received at court as a maid of honor to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
At the age of 22, Anna married Alexander Vyrubov, a nobleman and naval officer with excellent career prospects. However family life from the very beginning it was unsuccessful - later Vyrubova assured that she remained a girl, since the husband managed to get drunk before their wedding night and forever instilled in the young wife an aversion to the intimate side of marriage. A year later, Anna asked her husband for a divorce and soon received it.
After failures in her personal life, the young lady-in-waiting focused on her service, becoming a helpful, respectful, dutiful confidante of the empress. She introduces the patroness to city gossip and rumors, entertains and consoles Alexandra Fedorovna. Together with royal family th Vyrubova moves to Tsarskoe Selo and soon becomes the closest and, perhaps, only friend of the crowned person.
At this time, the young maid of honor met Grigory Rasputin. Imbued with the magnetism of this controversial personality, Vyrubova became one of the most devoted adherents of the “holy elder.” It was she who introduced Rasputin to the empress and contributed to his penetration into the closest circle of the imperial family.
Life after the revolution
At the beginning of the First World War, Anna returns to Petrograd and works as a nurse in the infirmary along with the Empress and the Grand Duchesses. In 1915, she was involved in a train accident and received severe injuries, which doomed her to life forever. wheelchair and then onto crutches.
After the arrest of the royal family, Vyrubova, together with the imperial family, was installed in Tsarskoe Selo, but soon was arrested on charges of anti-government conspiracy. The investigation tried to prove her connection with Rasputin, but the case fell apart and Vyrubova was acquitted. She had to spend several months in the Trubetskoy casemate in absolutely unbearable conditions.
Anna returns to Petrograd, but within a few weeks she is again arrested. Leon Trotsky personally contributed to her release. Fearing further persecution, the demoted lady-in-waiting hides with friends for some time, and a year later she finally leaves Russia. She will spend the next 40 years of her life in Finland, taking monastic vows in one of the Orthodox monasteries. Anna Vyrubova wrote a biography, “Pages of My Life,” published in one of the Parisian publishing houses. There are also fake diaries written in her name, but their authorship has been refuted by Vyrubova herself.
The last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna ( German princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) had quite a few both true friends and people whom they completely trusted. But there were some. The role of the closest person to the royal couple was played by Her Majesty's maid of honor Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova.
The enemies of Nicholas II and his family hated Anna Vyrubova almost more than the Russian emperor himself and his wife. Today, fans of the last Russian Tsar, on the contrary, have raised not only the royal couple, but also Vyrubova, who remained faithful to them until their last days. The truth, as is almost always the case, is located somewhere in the middle.
Anna Vyrubova belonged to the type of people who can be called eternal helpers, companions, servants powerful of the world this. Many doubted her sincerity. But in vain. Creatures of this type are distinguished by absolutely canine devotion towards those whom they have chosen as their “masters”. And they completely subordinate their lives to their interests. One should not, of course, ignore the fact that the maid of honor chose not just anyone but the emperor and empress as her master Russian Empire. But one should doubt rather not her sincerity, but her intelligence.
Anna Taneyeva was born in 1884 into the family of the manager of the imperial chancellery. Her mother was the great-great-granddaughter of the great commander Kutuzov. The girl was distinguished by meekness and... clumsiness: chubby, heavyset, with gentle blue eyes, Anna belonged to those who, figuratively speaking, are not appointed first violins in orchestras.
And God knows what kind of education she received: at the beginning of the 20th century, the girl Taneyeva became the owner of a diploma as a home teacher. Her finest hour struck in 1904, when the nineteen-year-old aristocrat was taken as a maid of honor by Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Emperor Nicholas II. By that time, the queen had been living in Russia for ten years. She accepted Orthodoxy, not only officially, but also in her soul: the Tsar’s wife observed the rituals and spoke and wrote a lot about her devotion to the new faith.
The queen loved her husband no less than the new religion. Their marriage was happy: each spouse became best friend for another. But somehow the empress could not find particularly close friends before meeting Vyrubova. She was not loved either at court, much less outside of it - because she was a German, because she behaved arrogantly, coldly and primly, because she was hysterical, because she was limited: she viewed people’s actions exclusively from a religious perspective. point of view - what is sin and what is not. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, Count Sergei Witte, directly called the queen “abnormal” and believed that it was the alliance with her that aggravated the shortcomings of the weak-willed king.
In such a situation and with such a set of personal qualities, the queen really needed a close friend who would accept her for who she is, listen to her, agree with her and would always be devoted to her. Alexandra found such a person in Anna Taneyeva. Here the maid of honor's shortcomings turned out to her advantage. The Empress did not need a beauty, a clever girl, or a socialite as a confidante. The queen herself did not grab stars from the sky and surrounded herself with her own kind.
In addition, Alexandra Feodorovna and her closest friend had a common passion: an attachment to mysticism. In the queen, this passion blossomed especially strongly after it became clear: the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from hemophilia.
So, 1904 became a turning point for the court: that year a sick heir was born, and Vyrubova turned out to be the closest to the imperial family.
The following year, another significant event happened in the emperor's family: Militsa Nikolaevna, the wife of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich, introduced the king and his wife to Grigory Rasputin. The “elder” said that he cures all diseases, including hemophilia. According to rumors, Rasputin actually “charmed” the bleeding of young Alexei.
In addition to Milica, who is insanely prone to mysticism, in “ advertising campaign"The magician and Taneyeva also took an active part. In 1907 she was married to officer Vyrubov. But the marriage, without lasting even a year, broke up. It was then that Anna remembered the “elder’s” prediction. This is how she wrote about it in her memoirs: “I asked him (Rasputin - author's note) to pray so that I could devote my whole life to serving Their Majesties. “So it will be,” he replied, and I went home. A month later I wrote Grand Duchess, asking her to ask Rasputin about my wedding. She answered me that Rasputin said that I would get married, but there would be no happiness in my life.” Gregory reminded her of her idol John of Kronstadt, who, in her opinion, healed her of typhoid fever in 1902.
In general, after the divorce, Vyrubova shared the queen’s passion for the “elder” with even greater fervor. Now alone and devoted to the royal family, Anna Alexandrovna always lived close to the august family. She embroidered with the empress and her daughters, had everyday conversations, and read religious books. Grigory Rasputin called her Annushka in his own way. The maid of honor successfully served as a mediator between the “elder” and the queen, sending for him when Alexandra or the heir needed him.
The strange “quartet” - the Tsar, the Tsarina, Rasputin and Vyrubova - unbalanced not only representatives of the liberal and highly educated Russian intelligentsia. The court nobility and members of the royal family did not understand this friendship. The other ladies-in-waiting were openly jealous of the queen for her best friend and confidante.
Russia was full of terrible rumors: that the “elder” was in intimate relationships with Vyrubova, and with the queen, and even with her daughters. The country was shaken by various cataclysms: the revolution of 1905, the war of 1914, and constant social unrest.
But the cozy world of the quiet palace in Tsarskoe Selo seemed to know no shocks. And his stronghold was in many ways the meek and blue-eyed Annushka Vyrubova. However, years later she wrote: “When I remember all the events of that time, it seems to me as if the Court and high society were like a big madhouse, everything was so confusing and strange.”
In 1914, Vyrubova, together with the Tsarina and her daughters, worked as a nurse in a hospital for the wounded. But even this humane and selfless work did not raise the prestige of the Romanov court in the eyes of the public. The reputation of the august family and their favorite was irrevocably undermined.
At the beginning of 1915, Anna Alexandrovna, on her way from Tsarskoe Selo to the capital, was involved in a terrible train accident. She, seriously injured and bleeding, was pulled out of the crumpled train. The treatment took several months. Now Vyrubova moved in a wheelchair or on crutches. The railway paid the imperial favorite a huge compensation. With this money, Anna organized a hospital for the military.
During his illness, the Tsar and especially the Tsarina spent hours every day at the bedside of their beloved Annushka. Gradually she felt better...
But the cozy little world was crumbling before our eyes. In December 1916, a group of noble conspirators, dissatisfied active work energetic "elder" at court, they killed him. This became something of a signal for the beginning of the revolution in Russia.
After the February events of 1917, Vyrubova was arrested. In parting, she only had time to exchange icons with the Tsar and Tsarina. She remembered their tear-stained faces well - Anna Alexandrovna never saw her closest friends again.
She was released for a short time. But after the October Revolution, the maid of honor was taken into custody by the Bolsheviks.
In prison, everyone's curiosity was satisfied: Vyrubova was checked for connections with Rasputin. The suspicions turned out to be false: the maid of honor was a virgin.
She managed to escape from arrest. For many months, the “eternal shadow” of the empress hid among strangers. In 1920 faithful people helped the former maid of honor and her mother escape to Finland across the ice of the Gulf of Finland.
Anna Alexandrovna spent the rest of her long life - until 1964 - in Helsinki. After the death of her mother, Vyrubova took monastic vows and became nun Maria. She wrote memoirs in which she expressed her love for the royal couple. But at the same time, the queen’s best friend herself admitted: the cataclysms that occurred in Russia were largely provoked by the incorrect behavior of her best friends.
A slandered admirer of a slandered elder. Writer Igor Evsin about the fate of the righteous nun Maria (Anna Alexandrovna Taneyeva-Vyrubova).
At the beginning of the 20th century, Anna Taneyeva-Vyrubova, like Grigory Rasputin, found herself at the very center of a Masonic smear campaign to discredit the Russian monarchy, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsar Nicholas II.
And after the revolution of 1917, haters of the Tsarist power finally formed the slanderous myth about the “rotten monarchy,” “the debauchery of Rasputin” and his “selfish and loving friend” Vyrubova, who allegedly also had a passion for power.
However, today it is documented that special commissions conducted several official medical examinations of Taneyeva-Vyrubova, which stated the same thing: Anna Alexandrovna is a virgin.
And already during her lifetime it became clear that the statement about her intimate relations with Rasputin was slander.
As for self-interest and the imaginary millions accumulated by Vyrubova, the following must be said.
Having fled from Soviet power to Finland, she was denied Finnish citizenship due to lack of sufficient means of subsistence. And having received citizenship, she lived very modestly in Finland, almost becoming a beggar.
She did not have any accumulated millions, allegedly received for her petitions for certain people before Tsar Nicholas II.
This means that she did not have any self-interested influence on Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna.
This is how the comrade of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Prince N.D., characterized Anna Alexandrovna. Zhevakhov: “Having entered the fold of Orthodoxy, the Empress was imbued with not only the letter, but also the spirit of it, and, being a believing Protestant, accustomed to treating religion with respect, she fulfilled its demands differently than the people around her, who only loved to “talk about God.” ", but did not recognize any obligations imposed by religion.
The only exception was Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova, whose unhappy personal life early introduced her to those inhuman sufferings that forced her to seek help only from God.”
Let us note that Zhevakhov is talking here about the suffering that Taneyeva-Vyrubova endured after a terrible train accident.
This catastrophe practically killed her and only the prayers of Elder Grigory Rasputin resurrected Anna Alexandrovna to life.
Elder Gregory then performed a miracle that shocked all eyewitnesses.
However, Vyrubova remained permanently disabled and was forced to endure severe pain.
“The life of A.A. Vyrubova,” Prince Zhevakhov further writes, “was truly the life of a martyr, and you need to know at least one page of this life in order to understand the psychology of her deep faith in God and why only in communication with God A.A. Vyrubova found meaning and content in her deeply unhappy life. And when I hear condemnations of A. A. Vyrubova from those who, without knowing her, repeat vile slander created not even by her personal enemies, but by the enemies of Russia and Christianity, the best representative of which was A. A. Vyrubova, then I am surprised not so much human malice as human thoughtlessness...
The Empress became acquainted with the spiritual appearance of A. A. Vyrubova when she learned with what courage she endured her suffering, hiding it even from her parents. When I saw her lonely struggle with human malice and vice, a spiritual connection arose between Her and A. A. Vyrubova, which became stronger, the more A. A. Vyrubova stood out against the general background of smug, prim, not believing in anything nobility Infinitely kind, childishly trusting, pure, knowing neither cunning nor guile, striking with her extreme sincerity, meekness and humility, not suspecting intent anywhere, considering herself obligated to meet every request halfway, A. A. Vyrubova, like the Empress , divided her time between the Church and deeds of love for one’s neighbor, far from the thought that she could become a victim of the deception and malice of bad people.”
In fact, Prince Zhevakhov told us about the life of a righteous woman, a servant of God.
At one time, Investigator Nikolai Rudnev headed one of the departments of the emergency commission established by the Provisional Government of Kerensky.
The department was called “Investigation of the Activities of Dark Forces” and investigated, among others, the cases of Grigory Rasputin and Anna Vyrubova. Rudnev conducted the investigation honestly and impartially and came to the conclusion that the materials against Rasputin were slander.
And regarding Anna Vyrubova, he wrote the following:
“Having heard a lot about Vyrubova’s exceptional influence at the Court and about her relationship with Rasputin, information about which was published in our press and circulated in society, I went to interrogate Vyrubova at the Peter and Paul Fortress, frankly speaking, hostile to her.
This unfriendly feeling did not leave me in the office of the Peter and Paul Fortress, until Vyrubova appeared under the escort of two soldiers.
When Mrs. Vyrubova entered, I was immediately struck by the special expression in her eyes: the expression was full of unearthly meekness.
This first favorable impression was completely confirmed in my further conversations with her.
My guess about moral qualities Madame Vyrubova, learned from lengthy conversations with her in the Peter and Paul Fortress, in the prison quarters and, finally, in the Winter Palace, where she appeared at my summons, were fully confirmed by her manifestation of purely Christian forgiveness towards those from whom she had to endure a lot within the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
And here it is necessary to note that I learned about these abuses of Ms. Vyrubova by the serf guards not from her, but from Ms. Taneyeva.
Only after this did Mrs. Vyrubova confirm everything that her mother had said, declaring with amazing calmness and gentleness: “They are not to blame, they don’t know what they are doing.”
To tell the truth, these sad episodes of abuse of the personality of Vyrubova by prison guards, expressed in the form of SPITING IN THE FACE, REMOVING HER CLOTHES AND UNDERWEAR, ACCOMPANIED BY BEATING THE FACE AND OTHER PARTS OF THE BODY OF A SICK WOMAN WHO WAS BARELY WALKING ON CRUTCHES, AND THREATS S TAKE A LIFE " CONCUBINE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND GREGORY" prompted the investigative commission to transfer Ms. Vyrubova to a detention facility at the former Provincial Gendarmerie Department."
Here we see the real one Christian feat Martyr Anna. A feat that repeats the feat of Christ Himself.
"Her Majesty's Maid of Honor Anna Vyrubova."
However, although most of the original text is present there, the editorial changes led to its reduction by half!
Moreover, it includes fictitious paragraphs that Anna Alexandrovna never wrote. Thus, with Jesuitical sophistication, the work of discrediting the righteous martyr continues.
The publishers tried their best to distort Vyrubova’s moral character and create the reader’s impression of her as a person of limited intelligence.
The forged diary “The Diary of Anna Vyrubova” included in the book is especially aimed at this.
In essence, this is a continuation of the devil’s work to discredit both Anna Alexandrovna herself and Grigory Rasputin and the holy Royal Family.
This vile fake was written by the famous Soviet writer A.N. Tolstoy and historian P.E. Shchegolev, former member of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission of the Provisional Government.
Alas, alas and alas - the texts of the book “Her Majesty’s Maid of Honor Anna Vyrubova” and the fake diary contained in it are still reprinted in various reputable publications and passed off as originals.
However, archival documentary evidence about Vyrubova-Taneeva creates a true image of the righteous woman.
Based on them, modern historian Oleg Platonov writes:
“An example of the strictest life was one of Rasputin’s closest admirers, the Tsarina’s friend Anna Vyrubova. She dedicated her life to serving the royal family and Rasputin. She had no personal life. healthy, beautiful woman completely submitted to the strictest monastic requirements. In fact, she turned her life into a monastic service, and at this time slanderers in the left-wing press published the most vile details about her allegedly depraved intimate life. How great was the disappointment of these vulgar people when the medical commission of the Provisional Government established that Vyrubova had never been to intimate relationships not with any man. But she was credited with...dozens of love affairs, including with the Tsar. And with Rasputin. After a happy escape from Russia, where she was threatened with imminent death, Vyrubova became a nun, observing the strictest rules and leading a lonely life. She died as a nun in Finland in 1964.”
The ascetic was buried at the Ilyinsky cemetery in Helsinki. Parishioners of the Helsinki Church of the Intercession consider her a righteous woman and say: “Come to the Orthodox Ilinskoye cemetery to her grave, stand and pray. And you will feel how easy it is to pray here, how quiet and peaceful your soul becomes.”
In Russia, nun Anna (Taneeva-Vyrubova) is also considered a righteous martyr. Some priests even bless you to prayerfully turn to her for help in any need.
Let us also cry out in simplicity of heart - Lord Jesus Christ, with prayers Royal Martyrs, Martyr Gregory and Martyr Anna, save and have mercy on us sinners.
Biography and episodes of life Anna Vyrubova. When born and died Anna Vyrubova, memorable places and dates important events her life. Maid of Honor Quotes, Photo and video.
Years of Anna Vyrubova’s life:
born July 16, 1884, died July 20, 1964
Epitaph
“Faithful to God, the Tsar and the Fatherland. Anna Aleksandrovna Taneyeva (Vyrubova) - nun Maria."
From Anna Vyrubova’s book “Pages of My Life”
Biography
One day Anna Aleksandrovna Taneyeva received an invitation from Her Majesty Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova to accompany her to family trip. It so happened that one of the empress's ladies-in-waiting fell ill, and therefore she needed a replacement. As a result, Anna Alexandrovna became so beloved by the empress and the entire royal family that their fates did not separate until her death. “I thank God that I have a friend,” Romanova recalled about her acquaintance with her maid of honor Anna.
Some time later, when Anna Alexandrovna had finally established herself at court, the empress decided to find a good match for her friend. The choice fell on naval officer Alexander Vyrubov, who distinguished himself in an attempt to break through the blockaded harbor of Port Arthur. The young couple got married, but the marriage broke up after a year and a half. It turned out that Vyrubov was never able to survive the horrors of the war and was sent for treatment to Switzerland with severe psychosis.
Further more. In 1915, a turning point occurred in Vyrubova’s biography. Leaving Tsarskoe Selo for Petrograd, the girl got into a train accident and only miraculously survived. As a result of her injuries, Anna lost the ability to move independently, and only a few years later she managed to start walking using a stick. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna carefully looked after her sick maid of honor throughout her illness.
However, the real horrors in Vyrubova’s life began with February revolution. One of the first tasks of the Provisional Government was to discredit the royal family in order to strengthen its own image. And to accomplish this task, the employees of the specially created emergency commission stopped at nothing. In particular, the imperial family, including all the courtiers, were subjected to unprecedented slander, accusations of debauchery, betrayal, etc. Anna Vyrubova was arrested and, despite her disability, imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. There is evidence that, while under arrest, the maid of honor was repeatedly subjected to bullying, including physical beating. In the end, Vyrubova was released due to the lack of evidence of a crime. But the persecution did not end.
Finally, after three years of repression, Anna Vyrubova found a way to escape to Finland. There she fulfilled her long-standing promise to God, that if she managed to leave Russia, she would devote the rest of her life to serving the Lord. Vyrubova actually took monastic vows, but was never accepted into any monastic community for health reasons. For the rest of her days, Vyrubova lived as a lay nun, surrounding herself with strict austerities.
Vyrubova's death occurred on July 20, 1964, a few days after her birthday. The last month of Vyrubova’s life was spent in illness, and meanwhile the old lady-in-waiting managed to say goodbye to her few friends, confess and take communion. After the death of Anna Vyrubova, it turned out that she - the daughter of a noble family, maid of honor to Her Majesty - hardly had enough money for a coffin. And yet, thanks to the efforts of well-wishers, Anna Vyrubova’s funeral took place at an Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki. The monument at Vyrubova’s grave was erected by the church community of the Helsingfors parish.
Life line
July 16, 1884 Date of birth of Anna Vyrubova.
1902 The maid of honor takes the exam for the title of home teacher at the St. Petersburg educational district.
1904 Anna Vyrubova “receives the code” of the city maid of honor and becomes close friend imperial family.
1907 Anna marries officer Alexander Vyrubov, but their union soon breaks up.
1915 Vyrubova gets into a train accident and, as a result, becomes crippled.
1917 Anna Vyrubova was arrested by the Provisional Government on suspicion of espionage and treason.
1920 Anna Vyrubova illegally leaves Russia and flees to Finland, where she takes monastic vows as a nun.
1922 The memoirs of the lady-in-waiting “Pages from My Life” are published in Paris, which became the subject of gross falsifications on the part of the Provisional Government.
July 20, 1964 Date of death of Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova.
Memorable places
1. The village of Rozhdestveno near Moscow, where Anna Vyrubova spent her childhood.
2. Tsarskoe Selo (now the city of Pushkin), where Anna Alexandrovna’s dacha was located.
3. Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, where Vyrubova was kept under arrest.
4. The city of Terijoki, where Vyrubova’s family dacha was located.
5. Vyrubova’s house in Vyborg, where the maid of honor lived with her mother in the 1930s.
6. Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki, where Vyrubova is buried.
Episodes of life
Having moved to Finland, maid of honor Anna began working on her diaries. As a result, in 1922 the first edition of the memoirs “Pages from My Life” was published in Paris. Since topics about the life of the royal family were very hot and relevant at that time, Vyrubova even managed to make a little money from the book. True, all the money went to support herself and her old mother, who lived with Anna in Helsinki. After the release of the memoirs, even during Vyrubova’s lifetime, attempts were made to create literary forgeries under her authorship. Until now, some of these fakes are in “scientific circulation.”
While Anna Vyrubova was under arrest, the hot-tempered and scandalous Doctor Serebrennikov was appointed her attending physician. He unconditionally encouraged all kinds of abuse of the prisoner and himself repeatedly took part in her beatings and humiliations. In front of the convoy, he could strip the maid of honor naked and, screaming that she was stupefied by debauchery, whip her on the cheeks. Note that Vyrubova was accused of espionage, interaction with dark forces, orgies with Rasputin and the royal family. At the same time, the results of a medical examination repeatedly confirmed the chastity of the maid of honor.
Testaments
“I am sure that in the future historical newspapers will research and write a lot about the life of the Family of the Last Tsar - and I feel that it is my duty to describe and preserve for history those circumstances among which, keeping pace with the life of the Royal Family, I had to fight for a life. The memories will remain with me forever."
“Both my mother and I had a soul full of inexplicable suffering: if it was hard in our dear Motherland, even now it is sometimes lonely and difficult without a home, without money. But we, along with all the expelled and remaining sufferers, in the tenderness of our hearts, cried out to the merciful God for the salvation of our dear Fatherland. The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man will do to me.”
A story about Anna Vyrubova from the series of programs “Women in Russian History”
Condolences
“The life of A. A. Vyrubova was truly the life of a martyr, and you need to know at least one page of this life in order to understand the psychology of her deep faith in God and why only in communication with God A. A. Vyrubova found the meaning and content of her deeply unhappy life. And when I hear condemnations of A. A. Vyrubova from those who, without knowing her, repeat vile slander created not even by her personal enemies, but by the enemies of Russia and Christianity, the best representative of which was A. A. Vyrubova, then I am surprised not so much human malice as human folly..."
Nikolai Zhevakhov, statesman and religious figure
“An example of the strictest life was one of Rasputin’s closest admirers, the Tsarina’s friend Anna Vyrubova. She dedicated her life to serving the royal family and Rasputin. She had no personal life. A healthy, beautiful woman was completely subject to the strictest monastic requirements. In fact, she turned her life into a monastery service..."
Oleg Platonov, historian
“Vyrubova is a gentle, kind person with a childish soul, faithful to his empress, not only in joy, but also in grief, ready to link his fate with her forever. If only for this alone she deserves full respect.”
Elsa Brandström, writer