Basement and cellar
The incredible fate of Anna Vyrubova - the maid of honor of the last Empress (6 photos). Anna Vyrubova's obituary The fate of Anna Vyrubova

The incredible fate of Anna Vyrubova - the maid of honor of the last Empress (6 photos). Anna Vyrubova's obituary The fate of Anna Vyrubova

History carried the name of Anna Vyrubova through the years. The memory of her was preserved not only because she was close to the imperial family (Anna was the maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), but also because her life was an example of selfless service to the fatherland and help to the suffering. This woman went through terrible torment, managed to avoid execution, gave all her money to charity, and at the end of her days devoted herself entirely to religious service.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Anna Alexandrovna (left)

The story of Anna Vyrubova is incredible, it seems that so many trials cannot befall one person. In her youth, she graduated from the courses of sisters of mercy and, together with the Empress, helped the wounded in the hospital at the beginning of the First World War. They, like everyone else, did hard work, helped the wounded, and were on duty during operations.

Portrait of Anna Vyrubova

After the execution of the imperial family, Vyrubova had a difficult time: the Bolsheviks put her in custody. As a conclusion, they chose cells with prostitutes or recidivists, where she had a very hard time. Anna also got it from the soldiers, they were ready to profit from her jewelry (although the maid of honor had only a chain with a cross and a few simple rings), they mocked and beat her in every possible way. Anna went to prison five times and each time she miraculously managed to free herself.

Anna Vyrubova walking in a wheelchair with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, 1915-1916.

Death, it seemed, was following Anna Vyrubova on the heels: in the last conclusion, she was sentenced to death. The torturers wanted to humiliate the woman as much as possible and sent her on foot to the place of execution, accompanied by only one guard. It is still difficult to understand how the exhausted woman managed to escape from this soldier. Lost in the crowd, she, as if by the will of providence, met someone she knew, the man gave her money in gratitude for her bright heart and disappeared. With this money, Anna was able to hire a cab and get to her friends, so that after many months she would hide in the attics from her pursuers.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her daughters Olga, Tatyana and Anna Alexandrovna (left) - sisters of mercy

Charity has always been Anna's real vocation: back in 1915, she opened a hospital for the rehabilitation of the wounded in the war. The money for this was found due to an accident: having got into an accident on a train, Anna received severe injuries, she herself remained an invalid. She gave the entire amount (80 thousand rubles!) of the paid insurance policy for the construction of a hospital, and the emperor donated another 20 thousand. After spending half a year chained to a bed, Anna realized very well how important it is to give disabled people the opportunity to feel needed again, to learn a craft that would help them occupy their free time and bring a minimal income.

Anna Vyrubova

Having escaped from prison, Anna wandered for a long time until she decided to become a nun. She took the tonsure on Valaam and lived a calm and blessed life. She passed away in 1964 and was buried in Helsinki.
Alexandra Feodorovna highly appreciated the merits of the maid of honor, calling her in her letters "her dear martyr."

Anna Vyrubova (Taneeva) - approximate last empress Russian Empire later a nun. For Alexandra, she was the first and closest friend, and the royal person called her "dear martyr."

How it all began

Born Taneeva, who lived the life of Vyrubova, Anna was a distant relative of the famous Kutuzov, or rather, great-great-great-granddaughter. For about two decades, the maid of honor's father worked at court as a secretary of state, ran the Imperial Chancellery as the most important person. However, this was not a surprise for Taneyev - his father worked in the same post before him, and earlier - his grandfather. The position belonged to the family under five emperors.

Surprisingly, many contemporaries, as is known from the book of Anna Vyrubova, considered her to be of simple origin. This stereotype was wrong and wrong. Having married, the woman lost her status as a maid of honor, however, she remained the closest friendly person for the reigning empress. This, by the way, is known from the terms that the royal person applied to her loved ones: she had two “babies”, the little one was a son, the big one was Anna.

Life and death are intertwined so closely

Former maid of honor, Anna Vyrubova was very different from the main imperial environment. When Alexandra, having married the Russian emperor, arrived in a new country for her, she immediately decided to accept the local faith. The woman showed responsibility, but soon noticed that people around love to talk about God, while they do not try to lead a life pleasing to the Lord. The only one who was fundamentally different from those around her was Anna, who soon became Alexandra's faithful friend for life. In many ways, this is why the Empress once called her friend "dear martyr." However, life path ladies-in-waiting fully justified such a name. Demonstrating the humility due to a true Christian, Anna faced a series of difficult trials, but all of them were endured with honor.

As is known from the biography of Anna Vyrubova, at the age of eighteen, the girl suffered from typhus. At that moment, she was literally on the verge of death. The maid of honor herself explained the fact that she was able to survive by the location of John of Kronstadt, her spiritual protector and intercessor.

Troubles do not recede

11 years after the serious illness of the maid of honor of the Empress, Anna Vyrubova was the victim of a disaster on the railway. It seemed that it would not be possible to save her: numerous fractures practically did not leave hope, the victim of the accident did not come to his senses. She fell into the hands of Rasputin, who, as eyewitnesses assured, revived her.

A few more years later, in the notorious 1918, when Anna was going to be shot under the supervision of a Red Army soldier, she met a friend in the crowd - they often ended up at the same time at the burial place of the holy remains of John of Kronstadt on Karpovka. In this monastery, both pious ladies offered prayers to the Lord. The woman asked Anna not to give herself into enemy hands, said that she would pray for her, and promised salvation - it was to come from St. John. As is known from the biography of Anna Vyrubova, soon she happened to get lost in the crowd, then she met an acquaintance who had previously received help from the former maid of honor. Now it was his turn to help, and the man gave the woman 500 rubles. It seemed that Anna was saved by a miracle.

Truth and Falsehood

Very difficult in national history find another woman who would be so carefully and diligently tried to denigrate in the eyes of the people. Many are convinced that in the biography of the lady-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova, one can find only multiple vicious stories about life situations. Rumors about this spread long before the revolutionary events, and ordinary people were firmly convinced that the imperial power only suffers from such an environment. It was said that thanks to Vyrubova, Rasputin got his place near the tsar, gossiped about the atrocities that they were organizing together. Moreover, it was said that Anna was seducing the imperial wife - and she was successful in this.

A book was published by Anna Vyrubova - "Pages of my life". In it, the former maid of honor told in detail how and where rumors were born in those days. For example, Anna's sister described to her how one day Lady Derfelden proudly told early in the morning that she was creating rumors: supposedly the imperial wife was drinking her husband. People around listen, literally with their mouths open - and everyone believes what they hear.

Rumors and their basis

Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova was slandered more than once - but people who knew her personally did not believe in the vicious rumors spread by ill-wishers. They said that just getting to know Anna could already change a person for the better. Surprising memories were preserved by Rudnev, who was chosen by the investigator in Anna's case. When he went for the first time to interrogate the former maid of honor, he was categorically unfriendly towards the woman - and this is not surprising, because he heard everything that others said about her. When he first saw her, he was impressed by her eyes, their expression - meek, literally unearthly. Further communication with the woman fully confirmed the impression formed at the first meeting.

Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova learned well in her life what bondage is - five times she ended up in places of forced detention. For the first time she got there under Kerensky, later - under the Bolshevik regime. Anna was tortured. It is known that one of her most hated persecutors, a pockmarked soldier who constantly pursued the woman, although he did not know her personally, suddenly changed one day. On his brother's wall, he saw a photograph of Anna and said that for a year she looked after him in the hospital as if he were her son. From that day on, and as long as there were opportunities, this man tried to help Vyrubova in any way he could.

Responsibility and its absence

As is known from the memories left by Rudnev, Anna Vyrubova was persecuted while she was in prison. He himself learned about them by talking with the woman's mother. The former maid of honor did not speak about bullying, but answered a direct question that her tormentors did not understand what they were doing, which means that they could not be blamed.

Do good - to the best of your ability

From the diaries of Anna Vyrubova it is known that the railway paid her compensation for the injuries associated with the disaster, the victim of which the former lady-in-waiting became. In 1915, she received 80,000 rubles. In those days, it seemed like a fabulous, incredibly large sum. While the woman was recovering, the Russian Empress looked at her every day. At first, Anna could only move in a wheelchair, then she used crutches and a cane. The money received from the railway, she invested in the construction of a hospital intended for soldiers who were seriously injured in the war. The institution was conceived as a place where disabled people would be taught a craft so that these people could provide for themselves. To create an institution, the emperor allocated an additional 20,000 rubles. The finished hospital could serve about a hundred visitors at the same time. The last Russian Empress, her girls and her closest friend worked within the walls of the institution as sisters of mercy.

When they talk about the good and the holy, usually the haters of the former maid of honor mention in defiance her connection with Grigory Rasputin. Anna Vyrubova, according to popular belief, introduced this man into the imperial family. However, historical facts contradict such beliefs. As follows from reliable sources, it was the Empress who introduced her friend to an old man from Siberia. As soon as they met, the man said that Anna's main desire is to serve the imperial family until her death, and it will come true. He also predicted that Anna would be married, that her marriage would be unhappy.

Life shows...

… that Rasputin was right. The young lady-in-waiting Taneeva got married, Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova was captured in the photo, young and happy - but not for long. Just a year after the marriage, the woman divorced.

In the future, it is Rasputin who will largely influence Anna's path. She was sure that in 1915 she survived only thanks to his efforts. Rumors related to intimacy with the elder will turn Anna into an exile among emigrants - people will be ashamed to shake hands with her, having heard about orgies and other indecencies.

The atrocities, in which Anna Vyrubova, along with the elder Grigory, allegedly took an active part, were nothing more than invented by haters. In 1918, an official medical examination confirmed that the woman was still a virgin. However, this could not calm the evil tongues.

New places and new events

The 1920s in the life of Anna Vyrubova were marked by a panicky move to Finland. The woman fled her native country with her mother. To leave Petrograd, it was decided to go through the ice of the bay - other ways seemed even more dangerous. In 1923, a new nun, Maria, appeared at the Smolensk Skete. True, her health was so weak that not a single monastery agreed to take a new one, and the woman became a secret nun, continuing to live among ordinary people. Under the name of Taneeva, she lived in Finland for more than 40 years, and died at the age of eighty in 1964.

During the emigration years, Anna Vyrubova published a book. She chose its name herself - "Pages of my memory." The first edition appeared in print in 1922 in Paris. In the USSR, they considered that such a book could destroy the image of the state, become a subversive tool against the Bolshevik ideology. Vyrubova's Diary was hastily concocted and published. The former maid of honor has nothing to do with the writing of this book, the publication is entirely a hoax and a fake. The main idea of this book is to expose the imperial family and the inner circle of these people in the most bad light possible. Nowadays, the falsity of this book has been officially proven, although sometimes even "scientists" resort to it, trying to find support for their opinions. It is assumed that Vyrubova's Diary was co-authored by Shchegolev and Tolstoy.

Life is a complicated thing, but near the king - close to death

In 1920, Anna Vyrubova was able to escape from Petrograd only thanks to the assistance of her sister, who by that time already lived in Finland. Taking their mother, with only a sled, they crossed the bay in the night. Vyrubova walked barefoot, and the guide, seeing this, gave her his own socks.

In 1926, a woman read the Searchlight, a popular magazine published in those days in the USSR. Cheerful poems in it were interspersed with chronicles and news indicating how well life is going under the councils, essays sang about the beautiful everyday life, and suddenly a photograph of Anna was published in the April issue. The article said that by that time the woman had already died, and during her lifetime she was a Rasputin fan, who largely determined the worst years of tsarist power. The article pointed to the protege of Protopopov, who allegedly came to power thanks to Anna. The obituary also indicated that appointments to many government posts passed through her.

What Anna Vyrubova felt looking at her photo, only she knows. Unfair treatment, resentment for being slandered again - such feelings could be completely natural. Perhaps the woman felt light - after all, that Vyrubova, about whom they spoke and wrote, had nothing to do with the real one, and the rumor itself buried the monster that she had created on her own.

But the beginning was so promising!

It seemed that from the very birth, Taneyev's children were guaranteed a good, stable life in honors, respect and contentment. The civil servant devoted to the emperor was a relative of the famous composer, and was friends with Chaliapin. Tchaikovsky spoke well of him. Anna's father received an impeccable education and tried to give the same to his children. When girls from noble families grow up, the best of the best can become ladies-in-waiting to the Empress - the Taneyevs knew about this from an early age, and for Anna such a status was the ultimate dream. A beautiful and simple blue-eyed girl did not yet know that she would be a victim of gossip and ridicule, insinuations that would surround her until her death.

The first ball so beautiful in its girlish simplicity and innocence - and this is reflected in the old photos - Anna Vyrubova, more precisely, in those days still Taneeva, happened in 1902. It was then that she was first introduced to the imperial entourage. Shy at first, the girl soon got used to it and attended 32 balls in the first winter season alone. However, a few months later she became mortally ill and only miraculously survived. After the first aid provided by John of Kronstadt, Anna received treatment in Baden and Naples. From then until the end of her days, in her prayers, Anna will remember John and no one else, honoring him as her strongest and most caring intercessor.

Career taking shape

Anna received her unique cipher, which meant the status of an imperial maid of honor, in 1903. She was presented with initials decorated with magnificent diamonds, which meant an honorable coveted position. Subsequently, one of the personal ladies-in-waiting fell ill and the women chose Taneeva as a temporary replacement. The Empress immediately became attached to her when she saw a person close to herself that she had left nearby. The intrigues and gossip that filled the palace did not allow the woman to breathe calmly, and only the presence of Anna somewhat alleviated the painful atmosphere of the approaching catastrophe.

Born Alice, who chose the name of Alexander for herself, the Empress found herself out of place at the Romanov court, and noble people were wary of the woman chosen by Nicholas II as his wife. She sensed an unfriendly attitude carefully masked by etiquette. The nobility valued impeccable appearance, required everyone to speak French as if in their native language, expected a person to behave impeccably and show the same manners. The Empress, however, made mistakes in her speech in French, violated the small subtleties of etiquette and could not make friends with her mother-in-law, who still tried to concentrate maximum power in her hands.

Relationships and harsh reality

For others, looking at the tenderness between the royal spouses was a real torment. Alexandra was naturally shy, and this seemed to many a manifestation of arrogance. Every corner of the palace was filled with gossip, and the empress could not find a single girlfriend. And then Anna appeared - a simple and sincere, cheerful and charming girl, seemingly not yet spoiled by etiquette and the poison of society.

Girlfriends got the opportunity to talk about everything in the world, show each other photos, read lines from books. Participation and warmth are priceless things that the classics wrote about more than once in their creations, and only with the advent of Anna did they enter the life of the last Russian Empress. Having gone to the Finnish skerries with the royal family, Anna heard from the empress an amazing confession that she would never be lonely again, since she had a friend sent by the Lord.

Where is the truth?

The environment hated the young girl for the privileges of the imperial girlfriend so easily and quickly received by her. People could not believe that the young girl did not have dark intentions and hidden goals. However, as friends admitted, Anna really just disinterestedly wanted to be close to the empress she loved. The maid of honor status was quite prestigious, each of its owners lived in the palace, had a servant and a cart, a cab driver, and being a personal maid of honor - an annual salary, but the imperial girlfriend could not count on material support. Officially, in the status of maid of honor, she spent only a few months before her wedding. However, many were jealous of this, because it was believed that the ladies-in-waiting had the opportunity to enter into the most profitable possible marriage. In the case of the young Taneeva, this ended in a real nightmare.

About personal life

It so happened that the empress chose the naval officer Vyrubov as her husband for her beloved friend. He was a participant in the tragedy at Tsushima and literally survived by a miracle. The catastrophe was not in vain - the man was a victim of depression, and genetic disorders affected his mental state. From the outside, this was not noticeable, so the empress could not even imagine to whom she was giving her loved one. Almost immediately after the wedding, Anna realized that there would be no life in such a marriage, this person was dangerous for her. She lived with her husband, waiting for a divorce, a year filled with constant fear for her life.

Statuses and opportunities

Both a married and a divorced woman are not entitled to hold a maid of honor, but Anna remained at court, being like a sister to the empress. She became her close friend, was with her in anxious days and happy nights. The friends tirelessly worked side by side in a military hospital, not embarrassed by wounds and injuries. The imperial family called the woman darling.

Anna was kind and they knew about it, they used it. She helped the wounded, but not only - constantly the pockets of her dresses were filled with notes from those who pleaded for assistance. People convinced themselves that the former lady-in-waiting was all-powerful, and turned to her for everything from help in obtaining a high post to assistance in acquiring an overcoat so that they could go to school. Yes, but Anna had little strength, and any patronage on her part harmed rather than benefited - she was so disliked at court. Of course, Anna could not refuse, she tried to help to the best of her ability, and for this she was considered an intriguer.

In total, 12 years have passed under the patronage of the empress at the court. Anna admitted in her memoirs that these years were the happiest for her. She walked the way of the cross with her loved ones to the very end. She supported Alexandra at the moment when her husband abdicated and wrote a memorable phrase in his diary, recognizing that only cowards and traitors surrounded him. Together with Alexandra, she nursed the royal children who fell ill with measles - until she herself became infected from them.

how it all ends

After ordeals at home, Anna ended up in Finland, where for the first time the authorities treated her with respect. She was interrogated, clarified plans. First, the woman and her mother settled in Terijoki, from there they moved to Vyborg. Life was difficult, health let down, I had to survive in poverty. Other emigrants avoided Anna, and she herself did not try to maintain contact with them. Instead of communication, she chose prayer for herself. In 1939, it was decided to move again - Soviet Union started a war with Finland and there were serious fears that Vyborg would fall under the rule of the Soviets. Hideout was found in Sweden, where Alexandra's niece, Anna's former childhood friend, was queen at this point. The royal person gave Anna a small pension, which turned out to be sufficient to live out the rest of her life in Helsinki, on Topelius Street. Near her home, Anna was buried - at the Ilyinsky cemetery. The woman died of old age on July 20, 1964.

The last Russian empress called her lady-in-waiting "my big baby" and "dear martyr." Anna Vyrubova was Alexandra Feodorovna's main friend in life.

courtly simplicity

Anna Vyrubova (maiden name Taneeva) was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. Her father for 20 years held the responsible post of secretary of state and chief administrator of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery. The same post was held by his father and grandfather under Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III. At the same time, the opinion about Anna Vyrubova was fixed in the public mind that she was a commoner. This is at least not true. Even ceasing to be a lady-in-waiting due to her marriage, Anna Vyrubova remained, in fact, the main friend of the Empress. Alexandra Fedorovna called her "big baby". The "little baby" was the Empress's son - Tsarevich Alexei.

Thrice resurrected

Alexandra Fedorovna, having arrived in Russia, converted to Orthodoxy and treated this with all responsibility. However, the people around her were not so zealous in the ministry and rather loved to talk about God than to lead a God-pleasing life. Everyone except Anna Vyrubova is the Empress's lady-in-waiting, and then her faithful friend.

The Empress called Anna "my dear martyr." And this was not an exaggeration. The whole life of Anna Vyrubova is a series of trials that she accepted with truly Christian humility.

At 18, she contracted typhus. She was saved from death, as she herself believed, by the spiritual intercession of John of Kronstadt.

After 11 years, Anna Vyrubova was in a railway accident and she, lying unconscious, with multiple fractures, was “revived” by Grigory Rasputin. Finally, in 1918, when a Red Army soldier led her to be shot, Anna saw a woman in the crowd, with whom she often prayed in the monastery on Karpovka, where the relics of St. John of Kronstadt are buried. “Do not fall into the hands of enemies,” she said. - Go, I pray. Father John will save you.” Anna Vyrubova managed to get lost in the crowd. And then another acquaintance I met, whom Vyrubova once helped, gave her 500 rubles.

"Bo don't know what they're doing"

There was, perhaps, no woman in Russian history, on whose name so many forces would be thrown to slander. Rumors about the vicious life of Anna Vyrubova circulated among the people even before the revolution. They said about her that it was she who introduced Tsar Rasputin into the environment, that she and Rasputin himself participated in various atrocities, that she allegedly seduced the Empress herself.

Vyrubova in her book told how such rumors appeared in pre-revolutionary Russia.

She wrote from the words of her sister: “In the morning, Mrs. Derfelden flew in to me with the words: “Today we are spreading rumors in the factories that the Empress is getting the Sovereign drunk, and everyone believes it.”

And everyone really believed it. Everyone who did not know Vyrubova personally. Meeting her changed people. Investigator Rudnev recalled how he went to interrogate Vyrubova and had a negative attitude towards her - having heard a lot of everything that was told about her. He writes: “When Mrs. Vyrubova entered, I was immediately struck by the special expression of her eyes: this expression was full of unearthly meekness, this first favorable impression was fully confirmed in my subsequent conversations with her.”

Vyrubova was imprisoned five times. Both under Kerensky and under the Bolsheviks. She was tortured. Once in prison, a pockmarked soldier, one of Anna's most malicious persecutors, suddenly changed dramatically. While visiting his brother, he saw a photo of Anna on the wall. He said: “For a whole year in the hospital, she was like a mother to me.” Since then, the soldier did his best to help the best Vyrubova.

The already mentioned investigator Rudnev recalled that he learned not from Vyrubova herself, but from her mother, that Anna was subjected to bullying in prison. During the interrogation, Anna meekly confirmed this and said: “They are not to blame, they don’t know what they are doing.”

Philanthropist

In 1915, as compensation from the railway for the injuries received during the accident, Anna received huge money for those times - 80 thousand rubles. Anna was bedridden for six months. All this time, the Empress visited the maid of honor every day. Then Anna Alexandrovna moved around in a wheelchair, and later on crutches or with a stick. The former maid of honor spent all the money on the creation of a hospital for war invalids, where they would be taught a trade so that they could feed themselves in the future. Another 20 thousand rubles were added by Nicholas II. Up to 100 people were in the hospital at the same time. Anna Vyrubova, together with the Empress and her daughters, served there and in other hospitals as sisters of mercy.

Elder and Anna

Contrary to common misconception, it was not Anna Vyrubova who brought Rasputin into the house of the Empress, but Alexandra Feodorovna introduced her lady-in-waiting to the “Siberian elder”. At the very first meeting, the elder promised that Anna’s desire “to devote her whole life to the service of Their Majesty” would come true. Later, he predicts that the maid of honor will marry, but will not be happy.

And so it happened. In 1907, Anna Taneeva married, but divorced a year later.

Rasputin played a huge role in Vyrubova's life. It was he, as she believed, who saved her after a railway accident in 1915, but it was the rumors about their relationship that made Vyrubova "handshake" with a significant part of the emigrants.

All the talk about the alleged atrocities in which she participated with Rasputin is refuted by one simple fact: a medical examination in 1918 established that Vyrubova was a virgin.

"Vyrubova's Diary"

In December 1920, together with her mother, Vyrubova fled from Petrograd across the ice of the Gulf of Finland abroad.

In 1923, on Valaam in the Smolensk Skete, Anna took monastic vows with the name Maria, but for health reasons she did not enter any monastery and remained a secret nun in the world. Under her maiden name, she lived in Finland for more than four decades. She died in 1964 at the age of 80.

In exile, Anna Taneeva wrote an autobiographical book, Pages of My Life. In 1922 it was published in Paris. In the Soviet Union, apparently, they decided that such an idea of royal family can ideologically harm and publish the so-called "Vyrubova's Diary", a hoax, where the entire tsar's entourage and the tsar himself are presented in the worst possible light.

Despite the fact that today the falsity of the Diary has already been proven, excerpts from it can still be found in the scientific community. The most likely authors of Vyrubova's Diary are the Soviet writer Alexei Tolstoy and a professor of history, an expert on late XIX century Pavel Shchegolev.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Anna Taneeva-Vyrubova, like Grigory Rasputin, found herself at the very center of the Masonic slanderous campaign to discredit the Russian monarchy, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsar Nicholas II. And after the revolution of 1917, the haters of the Tsarist power finally formed the slanderous myth about the “rotten monarchy”, “the debauchery of Rasputin” and his “selfish and loving girlfriend” Vyrubova, who allegedly also had a passion for power.

Writer Igor Evsin about the fate of the righteous nun Anna (Anna Alexandrovna Taneeva-Vyrubova).

However, today it is documented that several official medical examinations of Taneeva-Vyrubova were carried out by special commissions, which stated the same thing: Anna Aleksandrovna is a virgin. And already during her lifetime it became clear that the statement about her intimate relations with Rasputin was slander.

As for greed and imaginary millions accumulated by Vyrubova, the following must be said. Having fled from the Soviet authorities to Finland, she was refused the issuance of Finnish citizenship due to lack of sufficient means of subsistence. And having received citizenship, she lived in Finland very modestly, almost begging.

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 influence driven by self-interest on Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

This is how Anna Alexandrovna was described by Comrade Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod, Prince N.D. Zhevakhov: “Having entered the bosom of Orthodoxy, the Empress was imbued not only with the letter, but also with its spirit, and, being a believing Protestant, accustomed to respecting religion, she fulfilled her requirements differently from the people around her who loved only “to talk about God ”, but did not recognize any obligations imposed by religion. The only exception was Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova, whose unfortunate personal life early introduced her to those inhuman sufferings that forced her to seek help only from God.

Note that Zhevakhov here speaks of the suffering that Taneeva-Vyrubova endured after a terrible railway accident. This catastrophe practically killed her, and only the prayers of the elder Grigory Rasputin resurrected Anna Alexandrovna to life. Elder Gregory then performed a miracle that shocked all the eyewitnesses. However, Vyrubova forever remained an invalid and was forced to endure severe pain.

“The life of A. A. Vyrubova,” Prince Zhevakhov writes further, “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 communion with God A. A Vyrubova found the meaning and content of her deeply unhappy life. And when I hear the condemnation of A. A. Vyrubova from those who, not knowing her, repeat the 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 to human malice, but to human thoughtlessness...

The Empress got acquainted with the spiritual image of A. A. Vyrubova when she found out with what courage she endured her sufferings, hiding them even from her parents. When I saw her lonely struggle with human malice and vice, then between Her and A. A. Vyrubova there arose that spiritual connection, which became the greater, the more A. A. Vyrubova stood out against the general background of a self-satisfied, prim, unbelieving know.

Infinitely kind, childishly trusting, pure, knowing neither cunning nor cunning, striking with her extreme sincerity, meekness and humility, suspecting intent nowhere and of nothing, considering herself obliged to meet every request, A. A. Vyrubova, like the Empress , divided her time between the Church and the exploits of love for her neighbor, far from the thought that she could become a victim of deceit 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 Extraordinary 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 without prejudice and came to the conclusion that the materials against Rasputin were slander. And about Anna Vyrubova, he wrote the following:

“Having heard a lot about the exceptional influence of Vyrubova at the Court and about her relations with Rasputin, information about which was placed in our press and circulated in society, I went to Vyrubova for interrogation in the Peter and Paul Fortress, frankly, hostile to her. This unfriendly feeling did not leave me in the office of the Peter and Paul Fortress, right up to the appearance of Vyrubova under the escort of two soldiers. When Mrs. Vyrubova entered, I was immediately struck by the special expression in her eyes: this expression was full of unearthly meekness. This first favorable impression was fully confirmed in my subsequent conversations with her.

My assumptions about the moral qualities of Mrs. Vyrubova, taken from lengthy conversations with her in the Peter and Paul Fortress, in the detention center, and, finally, in the Winter Palace, where she appeared on my calls, were fully confirmed by her manifestation of purely Christian forgiveness in relation to those from whom she had to endure a lot in the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress. And here it should be noted that I learned about these abuses of Mrs. Vyrubova by the fortress guards not from her, but from Mrs. Taneeva.

Only after that did Mrs. Vyrubova confirm everything her mother had said, declaring with surprising calmness and gentleness: "They are not to blame, they don't know what they're doing." To tell the truth, these sad episodes of mockery of the personality of Vyrubova prison guard, expressed in the form of SPITTING IN THE FACE, REMOVING HER CLOTHES AND UNDERWEAR, ACCOMPANIED BY BEATING THE FACE AND OTHER PARTS OF THE BODY OF THE SICK WOMAN, BARELY MOVING ON CRUTCHES, AND THREATS WE TAKE LIFE" THE CONCUBE OF THE SOVEREIGN AND GRIGORY" prompted the commission of inquiry to transfer Mrs. Vyrubova to the detention facility at the former Provincial Gendarmerie Directorate."

Here we see the real Christian feat of the martyr Anna. A feat that repeats the feat of Christ Himself.

However, until now, Anna Taneeva-Vyrubova is judged according to her alleged book of memoirs "Her Majesty's maid of honor Anna Vyrubova." However, while it does contain most of the original text, the editorial has cut it in half! Moreover, it includes fictional paragraphs that Anna Aleksandrovna never wrote. Thus, in a Jesuit subtly, the work of discrediting the righteous martyr continues. The publishers did their best to distort the moral image of Vyrubova, to give the reader the impression of her as a person of a narrow-minded mind.

The forged diary "Anna Vyrubova's Diary" placed in the book is especially aimed at this. In fact, this is a continuation of the diabolical 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, a 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 placed 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. Based on them, the modern historian Oleg Platonov writes: “One of the closest admirers of Rasputin, a friend of the Empress Anna Vyrubova, was a model of the most strict life.

She devoted her life to serving the royal family and Rasputin. She did not have a personal life. A healthy, beautiful woman completely obeyed the most stringent monastic requirements. In fact, she turned her life into a monastic ministry, while the slanderers in the leftist press published the most vile details about her supposedly 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 in an intimate relationship 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 took the veil as 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. The parishioners of the Intercession Church in Helsinki consider her a righteous woman and say: “Come to the Orthodox Ilyinsky cemetery to her grave, stand and pray. And you will feel how easy it is to pray here, how quiet and peaceful it becomes in the soul.

Here in Russia, the nun Anna (Taneeva-Vyrubova) is also considered a righteous martyr. Some priests even bless in every need to prayerfully turn to her for help.

Let us cry out in simplicity of heart - Lord, Jesus Christ, through the prayers of the Royal Martyrs, Martyr Gregory and Martyr Anna, save and have mercy on us sinners.

Name Anna Vyrubova history carried through the years. The memory of her was preserved not only because she was close to the imperial family (Anna was maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), but also because her life was an example of selfless service to the fatherland and help to those who suffer. This woman went through terrible torment, managed to avoid execution, gave all her money to charity, and at the end of her days devoted herself entirely to religious service.