What maid of honor helped the dizzying career of Grigory Rasputin. Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova: biography, career and personal life

A close friend, beloved maid of honor of the murdered Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Anna Vyrubova incredibly quickly managed to win the trust of the sovereigns and easily enter the royal chambers. She, like no one else, knew all the secrets of the court, all the pain points of each member of the ruling family. Participation in royal orgies, criminal connection with Rasputin, conspiracy, espionage - these are just a small part of the sins attributed to her by her contemporaries. Who really was the favorite of Their Majesties? What role did she play in the life of the Romanovs, and perhaps in the fate of the state?

“Be kind to my queen, my hope is to the Theotokos ... the patroness of the offended, see my misfortune, see my sorrow. Help me, as if I am weak ...

After praying, the doctor got up from his knees and looked out the window. The Parisian autumn has blossomed. Loaded with rain. Three days later, he is expected at a meeting of the Society of Russian Doctors, and after that he promised to visit Merezhkovsky, who fell ill.

“Monsieur Manukhin, you have a letter from Russia,” the maid put a plump envelope in front of the doctor: “Dear Ivan,” wrote an old friend and colleague, “I hasten to inquire how your health is? I am sending you the magazine "Past Years". I am sure that one of the publications posted in this issue will arouse considerable interest in you ... "

The doctor put on his pince-nez and began leafing through the magazine he had sent him. What should this article be? It didn't take long to guess. On the third page, in large print, was the title: “Her Majesty's Lady-in-Waiting. The intimate diary of Anna Vyrubova.

Ivan Ivanovich Manukhin remembered well how in 1917, at the invitation of the Provisional Government, he set foot on the ground of the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress. His duties were to observe, as well as draw up medical reports on the physical and mental health of prisoners. On one of the cold March days, the doctor heard the rattle of the wrought-iron gate and the rude shouts of the convoy. A full-bodied prisoner with an exhausted face entered the yard, leaning on crutches.

- Who is this woman? Ivan Ivanovich asked his assistant.
- The same Vyrubova. Approximate empress. A slutty, slutty woman. She left not far from the queen and the king. What, really, doctor, don't you know? All of Russia is talking about palace atrocities.

Dr. Serebrennikov was appointed as the attending physician of the maid of honor. Only later did Ivan Manukhin learn that, despite the severe injuries that Anna received during one of her travels by rail, she was kept in terrible conditions. The soldiers guarding the prisoner treated her with particular cruelty: they beat her, spit in the slop intended for Vyrubova, gossip about her many intimate adventures. Serebrennikov encouraged bullying. In front of the convoy, he stripped Anna naked and, shouting that she had become stupefied from debauchery, lashed her on the cheeks. From the dampness in the cell, the maid of honor caught pneumonia. Hungry and feverish, Vyrubova lost consciousness almost every morning. For daring to get sick, she was deprived of walks and rare meetings with loved ones. The interrogations lasted four hours. Approximate of Her Majesties was charged with espionage, interaction with dark forces, participation in orgies with Rasputin and royal people. Over time, the commission of inquiry replaced the quick-tempered and scandalous Serebrennikov with another doctor. They became Ivan Manukhin. When he first examined Anna, there was no living place on her body.

The doctor remembered it now, sitting in his Paris apartment and greedily swallowing the words printed on the pages of the Diary of a Maid of Honor opened before him. Strange, but so far Ivan Ivanovich has not heard anything about this document.

From the diary:

“My father, Alexander Sergeevich Taneyev, held the prominent post of Secretary of State and Chief Executive of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery for 20 years. The same post was held by his grandfather and father under Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III. My family and I spent six months of the year at our family estate near Moscow. Neighbors were relatives - the princes Golitsyn and the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. FROM early childhood we, children, adored the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (the elder sister of the Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna). Once, having arrived from Moscow, the Grand Duchess invited us to tea, when suddenly it was reported that the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna had arrived "...

“Already the origin of Anna Taneeva (Vyrubova) determined her further fate,” the editor of the diary wrote in the preface. - She was among those who "wrote history." A 19-year-old girl, in January 1903, Anna Taneeva (Vyrubova) received a code - i.e. was appointed city maid of honor, temporarily replacing the sick maid of honor Sophia Dzhambakur-Orbeliani. Cunning and smart, Anna quickly gained the confidence of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and she, despite general discontent, appointed Anna Taneeva (Vyrubova) as her full-time maid of honor.

The doctor remembered: the rumor did not spare either the Empress or her new entourage. Even at the Imperial Military Medical Academy, where Ivan Manukhin studied, they gossiped about how the court nobility disliked the young Taneeva. Empress Alexandra Fedorovna was blamed for her ignorance of etiquette: “Only bearers of certain surnames can be brought closer to the court. All others, even members of the tribal nobility, have no rights.” “She has the right only because she is my friend,” Alexandra Feodorovna snapped, defending Taneeva. “Now I know that at least one person serves me for me, but not for the sake of reward.” From that time on, Anna Vyrubova followed the tsarina everywhere.

From the diary:

“How, in fact, everything is terrible! I was drawn into their lives! If I had a daughter, I would give her my notebooks to read in order to save her from the opportunity or desire to get close to the kings. It's such a horror, it's like being buried alive. All desires, all feelings, all joys - all this does not belong to you anymore.

Dr. Manukhin could not believe his eyes. She couldn't write it! The “diary” published in this newspaper did not even remotely resemble the official memoirs of Anna Alexandrovna published in Paris in 1923 either in style or in tone.

When Taneeva was 22 years old, Empress Alexandra helped her friend to choose, as it seemed to her, a worthy party - naval lieutenant Alexander Vasilyevich Vyrubov. Vyrubov was one of those who took part in the attempt to break through the blocked harbor of Port Arthur. The battleship "Petropavlovsk", on which Vyrubov and his comrades were, was blown up by a mine and sank in a matter of seconds. Of the 750 crew members, only 83 managed to escape. Among the survivors was the future husband of Anna Taneeva. In April 1907, the marriage of the maid of honor Anna Alexandrovna and Alexander Vasilyevich took place. The wedding was attended by Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. They also blessed the young with an icon. On the sidelines of the royal palace and beyond, new gossip was born: “Have you heard? Empress Alexandra Feodorovna sobbed as if she were marrying off her own daughter. Why would you? From now on, Anna Alexandrovna could not be a maid of honor, since only unmarried girls could apply for this position.

From the diary:

“I don’t need caresses from him, it’s disgusting to me. Everyone says: “The Pope (Nicholas II. - Approx. Author) comes to you for a reason. After his caresses, I can't move for two days. No one knows how wild and fetid he is. I think if he wasn't a king... no woman would give herself to him for love. When he visits me, he says: “I loved one, I really caressed one - my canary” (as he calls Kshesinskaya). What about others? They kick like bitches."

Anna Vyrubova could not have written this Diary! All of it was saturated with rudeness and cynicism that were not characteristic of her. Or has he, Ivan Manukhin, gone mad? Or wrong about it? "She's been in Nikolai's bed too," the doctor remembered the words of the prison assistant.

A year after the Vyrubovs' wedding, rumors spread that Anna and Alexander Vasilyevich's life did not work out and they broke up. How did the "Diary ..." explain this? Dr. Manukhin began frantically flipping through the pages again until he reached the right place.

From the diary:

“He (Orlov. - Approx. Author) was a widower, I was an adult girl. What happiness seized us, but the first days of happiness had not yet passed, when Mama saw him on the mountain (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. - Approx. Author) and fell in love with him. She took my dear from me. And when the Nightingale (Orlov. - Approx. Author) was with Mom, she offered me to marry Vyrubov. My house has become a meeting place for Mom and Nightingale. When the Nightingale forgot his glove here, my husband, knowing about my secret love, beat me severely.

Dr. Manukhin thought: Vyrubov does not write about any secret love in his official memoirs. He did not hear a word or a hint about Orlov from her even during personal meetings. But the doctor almost by heart remembered all their conversations in the cell.

Exhausted, black from the beatings, Vyrubova frankly told him about her life:
- When in 1903 I temporarily replaced the former, ill maid of honor, the royal people invited me to a joint vacation. We had children with us. Together with the Empress, we walked, picked blueberries, mushrooms, studied the paths. It was then that we became very good friends with Alexandra Fedorovna. When we said goodbye, she told me that she was grateful to God that she had a friend. I also became attached to her and loved her with all my heart. In 1907 I married Vyrubov. This marriage brought me nothing but grief. Probably, the state of my husband's nerves was reflected in all the horrors experienced when the Petropavlovsk was sinking. Shortly after the wedding, I found out about my husband's impotence, he showed signs of a severe mental illness. I carefully concealed my husband's problems from others, especially from my mother. We broke up after one day, in a fit of rage, Vyrubov undressed me, threw me to the floor and began to beat me. My husband was declared insane and placed in medical institution in Switzerland.

And here is how Pierre Gilliard, the mentor of the children of Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, spoke about Anna Alexandrovna’s husband: “Vyrubova’s husband was a scoundrel and a drunkard. The young wife hated him, and they parted.

And again the bee hive buzzed, again the poison of court gossip spread by the "mob" spread. “The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna invited her friend to settle as close as possible to the royal people.” “Despite the family drama (was the marriage a cover for royal pleasures?), Vyrubova agreed to go on another voyage with the Empress and slept with the Empress in the same cabin.” “The empress visits the false maid of honor every day, and determined her friend’s allowance.”

Only the lazy did not talk about the lesbian inclinations of Alexandra Fedorovna and Anna Vyrubova. Firewood was actively thrown into the fire of gossip by the camera-frau of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Zinotti and the valet of Nicholas I Radzig. The latter drew attention to the fact that "Nikolai goes to the office in the evening to study, and they (the Empress and Vyrubova - Author's note) go to the bedroom."

“I did not have and do not have any doubts about the purity and impeccability of these relations. I officially declare this as a former confessor of the empress,” said Father Feofan.

“I know who started the gossip. Chairman of the Council of Ministers P.A. For Stolypin, who does not want to lose his influence, it is beneficial to expose the Empress, and most importantly, her entourage, in a bad light, Count A.A. wrote in his diary. Bobrinsky, well aware of the deeds of Stolypin. “In fact, they say that the lesbian relationship between Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Anna Vyrubova is greatly exaggerated.”

Going through in his memory fragments of conversations he heard once, Dr. Ivan Manukhin again and again revived Anna Alexandrovna's direct speech:
- After I got a divorce, I did not have an official position. I lived with the queen as an unofficial maid of honor and was her personal friend. For the first two years, the Empress escorted me into the office through the servants' room, like contraband, so that I would not meet with her full-time ladies-in-waiting and would not arouse their envy. We whiled away the time reading, needlework, talking. The secrecy of these meetings gave rise to even more gossip.

“After a failed marriage to Vyrubov, Anna Aleksandrovna found solace in religion,” Pierre Gilliard recalled. She was sentimental and inclined towards mysticism. Not possessing special intelligence and insight, she relied solely on emotions. Vyrubova acted not in selfish interests, but out of sincere devotion to the imperial family, out of a desire to help her.

It was said in the world that Rasputin had "infected" Vyrubova with a passion for debauchery. Anna, in turn, tied the queen to her even more tightly. Close to "Mama" in body and soul, Anna Alexandrovna could inspire her with any thought, inspire her to any deed. This allegedly used the elder Rasputin. By manipulating Vyrubova, he controlled the empress herself, and consequently, the sovereign himself.

Former maids of honor, courtiers willingly shared with others information about how the false maid of honor "kissed with the old man, and he patted her on the hips, pressed her to him, licked and pinched, as if calming a playful horse."

The fact that now Rasputin, Vyrubova-Taneeva and Empress Alexandra began to meet in the house of Anna Alexandrovna three of them did not escape the gaze of the courtiers.

From the diary:

“I said to Mom: “He is extraordinary. Everything is open to him. He will help Little (Tsesarevich Alexei. - Approx. Author). We must call him. And Mom said: - Anya, let him come. It's...God's will be done!"

If you believe not the Diary, but the memoirs published by Vyrubova herself, everything was different:
“The webs were spun by those courtiers who sought to gain favors from Their Majesties, through me or otherwise. When they did not succeed, envy and anger were born, after that - idle talk. When the persecution of Rasputin began, society began to resent his imaginary influence, everyone disowned me and shouted that I had introduced him to Their Majesties. It was easy to put the blame on a defenseless woman who did not dare and could not express displeasure. They are, powers of the world of this, they hid behind the back of this woman, closing their eyes and ears to the fact that not I, but the Grand Dukes with their wives, brought a Siberian wanderer to the palace. A month before my wedding, Her Majesty asked Grand Duchess Milica Nikolaevna to introduce me to Rasputin. Grigory Yefimovich entered, thin, with a pale, haggard face. The Grand Duchess told me, "Ask him to pray for something in particular." I asked him to pray that I could devote my whole life to the service of Their Majesties. “So be it,” he replied, and I went home. A month later, I wrote to the Grand Duchess, asking Rasputin to ask about my wedding. She replied that Rasputin said: I will get married, but there will be no happiness in my life.

From the diary:

“Then, when he (Rasputin. - Approx. Author) came and began to quietly stroke my hand like that, I felt a shiver. “And you, Annushka, do not shy away from me. That's because when we met, and our paths have long intertwined.

- For the sake of historical truth, I must say: Rasputin was a simple wanderer, of which there are many in Russia. Their Majesties belonged to the category of people who believed in the power of the prayer of such "wanderers". Rasputin visited Their Majesties once or twice a year. He was used as an excuse to destroy all the old foundations. He became a symbol of the hatred of all: the poor and the rich, the wise and the stupid. But the aristocracy and the Grand Dukes shouted the loudest. They cut the branch on which they themselves sat, - she told the doctor, and later wrote in the official memoirs of the maid of honor of Their Majesties.

After the revolution, Anna Alexandrovna was repeatedly arrested and interrogated. In the summer of 1917, the Medical Commission of the Provisional Government, headed by Ivan Ivanovich Manukhin, established that Anna Vyrubova had never had an intimate relationship with any man. In the absence of corpus delicti, the empress's beloved lady-in-waiting was set free. Fearing to be arrested again, she wandered around the apartments of her friends for a long time. In 1920, together with her mother, Anna Vyrubova illegally moved to Finland, where she was tonsured at the Smolensk Skete of the Valaam Monastery. In 1923 she published a book of memoirs in Russian (the book was published in Paris). The authenticity of the Diary of a Maid of Honor, published in the journal Past Years in 1927-1928 and sent to Dr. Manukhin in Paris, has been questioned by many critics and scholars. Presumably, the "Diary ..." was a social order of the new government, carried out by the writer Alexei Tolstoy and the historian Pavel Shchegolev. Vyrubova herself publicly denied her involvement in the Diary. The maid of honor of Their Majesties died at the age of 80 in Helsinki. With her death, disputes about the role of Anna Taneeva (Vyrubova) in Russian history did not stop.

After the October Revolution of 1917, all close and trusted persons of the Russian Tsar were mercilessly destroyed. The name of the best friend of the Empress was to appear on this death list. Alexandra Feodorovna- ladies-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova(nee Taneeva), but she miraculously eluded the Cheka.

Anna Taneeva at a costumed court ball in the Hermitage, January 22, 1903. Photo: public domain

In 1922, her book “Pages of My Life” was published in Paris, which was actively disliked by both the Soviet authorities and individual representatives of the white emigration. The truth from Anna Vyrubova pricked the eyes of both, but even her many ill-wishers understood: the “dear martyr,” as the empress called her in her letters, had the right to vote more than others.

"Cheap Rings"

In December 1920, a barefoot woman in a tattered coat crossed the Soviet-Finnish border in the area of ​​the strait. Hearing the noise, she thought it was a chase. It turned out that the icebreaker "Ermak" passed behind. A little more - and escape would be impossible. These "slightly" pursued Anna. All 5 times that she was in prison, the maid of honor found herself between life and death. The first time she was arrested by a "little shaven man" - Kerensky. In the cell, they tore off the chain from her along with the Orthodox cross. They beat me with a fist in the face, spit in a bowl with burda - the only food. The soldiers who ripped off Anna's jewelry were indignant that "the rings are cheap."

Anna was never obsessed with jewelry, she invested in charity. So, in 1915, Anna received huge money for those times - 80 thousand rubles - as compensation from the railway for injuries sustained during the accident - the train derailed. Anna was bedridden for six months. All this time, the Empress visited the maid of honor every day, causing the envy of the courtiers. Then Anna Alexandrovna moved around in a wheelchair, and later on crutches or with a stick. Feeling what it was like to be an invalid, the maid of honor spent all the money without a trace on the creation of a hospital for war invalids, where they would be taught a craft so that they could feed themselves in the future. Another 20 thousand rubles added Nicholas II. Up to 100 people were in the hospital at the same time.

Anna's own family after the breakup of a short marriage with a naval officer Alexander Vyrubov was not, in this way she gave all of herself to the service of her neighbors. Good deeds often returned to her a hundredfold. 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 has helped with all his might best friend empresses. She also remembered forever the matron who secretly gave her a red testicle in the hell of the prison on Easter. Anna did not hold a grudge against her persecutors, she prayed to God: "Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, august daughters Olga, Tatyana and Anna Alexandrovna (left) - sisters of mercy. Photo: public domain

After the fall of the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks took up the maid of honor with renewed vigor. She was either put in a cell with raiders and prostitutes, then released, then arrested again. With sophisticated torture, they tried to slander the royal family. And at the end of 1919, they decided to get rid of Vyrubova, forcing her to hobble along the streets of Petrograd on her own to the place of execution. Realizing that Anna did not have the strength to escape, only one Red Army soldier was assigned to her guards. “God saved me. This is a miracle, ”she will write about how she met a woman among the crowd, with whom she often prayed in the monastery on Karpovka, where the relics of the saint are buried. John of Kronstadt. “Do not fall into the hands of the enemy,” she said. - Go, I pray. Father John will save you.” As if something pushed Anna in the back, and she was able to get lost in the crowd, to cling to the wall of the house. The Red Army soldier ran past in a panic. And then someone called out to her - an acquaintance whom she had once helped. “Anna Alexandrovna, take it, it will come in handy!” - He thrust 500 rubles into her hand and disappeared. She gave the money to the cab driver, giving the address of her acquaintances outside Petrograd. Calling them at the gate, she lost consciousness. Then Anna found out that an ambush with a “motor” (car) had been guarding her for three weeks on Gorokhovaya Street, where she lived. The Cheka also sent a photo of Vyrubova to all stations. Like a hunted animal, Anna hid for several months first in one dark corner, then in another. She wandered among kind people: “I left prison. Will you accept me?" There were dozens of believers who sheltered Anna for the sake of Christ, risking their lives in the process.

The empress from imprisonment in Tobolsk wrote to Anna in Petrograd in December 1917: “I love you endlessly and mourn for my“ little daughter ”(Anna was 12 years younger than the empress. - Ed.) - but I know that she has become big, experienced , a real warrior of Christ... I know that you are drawn to the monastery.” She took monastic vows with the name Maria Anna in 1923 on Valaam in the Smolensk Skete (from 1917 to 1940 the island was under the jurisdiction of Finland). Her first spiritual father was a resident of the Valaam Monastery, the elder Hieroschemamonk Ephraim (Khrobostov). She continued to live in the world as a secret nun, since it was difficult to find a monastery where a disabled person would be accepted. Anna earned by teaching foreign languages who knew several. Her parents gave her an excellent education. Her father, Alexander Taneev, was the manager of the personal office of Nicholas II, and his mother, Nadezhda Taneeva, - great-great-granddaughter of the great commander Kutuzov.

Anna survived the royal family by almost half a century and was buried in 1964 at the Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki. She left in peace, remaining faithful to God, the Tsar and the Fatherland to the end, for whose salvation she prayed tirelessly.

Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova(nee Taneeva; July 16, Russian Empire - July 20, Helsinki, Finland) - daughter of the chief administrator of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery A.S. Taneyev, great-great-great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Kutuzov, maid of honor, closest and most devoted friend of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She was considered one of the most ardent admirers of Grigory Rasputin.

Life

Anna Vyrubova for a walk in a wheelchair with V.D. Olga Nikolaevna, 1915-1916 (photo from Beinecke Library)

Taneeva spent her childhood in Moscow and in the family estate Rozhdestveno near Moscow.

In 1902 she passed the exam at the St. Petersburg educational district for the title of a home teacher.

In January 1904, Anna Taneeva "received a code" - she was appointed a city maid of honor, whose duties were to be on duty at balls and exits under Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

After that, becoming a close friend of the Empress, she stayed close to the imperial family for many years, accompanied them on many trips and trips, and attended private family events.

Taneeva was well acquainted with Grigory Rasputin. At her dacha in Tsarskoe Selo, he repeatedly met with members of the imperial family.

In 1907, Anna Taneeva married naval officer Alexander Vyrubov in Tsarskoye Selo, but the marriage was short-lived and already on next year broke up.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Vyrubova began working in the hospital as a nurse, along with the Empress and her daughters. She also participated in many other events aimed at helping the front and disabled soldiers.

On January 2 (15), 1915, while leaving Tsarskoye Selo for Petrograd, Anna Vyrubova got into a railway accident, receiving such severe injuries (including head injuries) that doctors expected an imminent death. However, Vyrubova survived, although she remained a cripple for life: after that she could only move in a wheelchair or on crutches; in later years - with a stick. After that, her attending physician was accused of disability Vera Gedroits, with whom she was in a tense relationship.

She organized a military hospital in Tsarskoye Selo for monetary compensation for the injury.

After the February Revolution, she was arrested by the Provisional Government and, despite her disability, was kept in difficult conditions for several months in the Peter and Paul Fortress on suspicion of espionage and treason, after which she was released "for lack of corpus delicti".

At the end of August 1917, the Provisional Government decided to send her abroad, a message appeared in the newspapers indicating the day and hour of her departure. In Finland, at the Rihimyakki station, a huge crowd of soldiers put her off the train and she was taken via Helsingfors to the imperial yacht Polar Star, which headed for Sveaborg. A whole month was spent on troubles, and at the end of September, N. I. Taneeva (Vyrubova's mother) secured the release of her daughter through Trotsky. A. A. Vyrubova was returned from Sveaborg, taken to Smolny and released again. However, the threat of an imminent new arrest still weighed on her.

Memoirs and "diary" Vyrubova

In exile, Anna Taneeva wrote an autobiographical book, Pages of My Life.

In the 1920s, the so-called. "Vyrubova's Diary", but its falsity was almost immediately exposed even by Soviet critics and scientists. Since the Diary began to be reprinted abroad as well, Vyrubova herself had to come forward with a public refutation of its authenticity. (A number of forged letters written in the Soviet era were also attributed to her.)

The most likely authors of the Diary are considered to be the Soviet writer A. N. Tolstoy and history professor P. E. Shchegolev (who jointly wrote the play The Empress' Conspiracy with a very similar plot and leitmotifs in the same period). In the book of the head of the Federal Archival Service of Russia, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.P. Kozlov, it is written on this occasion:

The whole set of elements of the "cover" of falsification, the richest factual material suggests that the pen of the falsifier was in the hands of a professional historian, who was not only well versed in facts and historical sources the turn of two centuries, but also possessing the relevant professional skills. Already the first critical speeches hinted at the name of the famous literary critic and historian, archeographer and bibliographer P. E. Shchegolev. It is difficult to doubt this even now, although documentary evidence of this conjecture has not yet been found.

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 to religious service.

In e that day in Helsingfors (Finland) the nun Maria (Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova), nee. Taneeva is the closest friend of the Martyr Empress Alexandra.

Until the end of her life, Mother Mary preserved the memory of her farewell to the Holy Family in Tsarskoe Selo on March 21, 1917: “I prayed to God that it would be given to me to say goodbye to Their Majesties..

In the end, I was allowed to meet the Empress and the girls. The last time I saw the Empress was in her mobile chair. Behind her stood Tatyana. We cried. We only had a few minutes, we barely had time to hug and exchange rings, and we were separated. My last memory of the Empress: with her white hand, she points to the sky and says: "We will be together in heaven."

* * *

Anna Aleksandrovna Taneeva (July 29, 1884 - July 20, 1964) was born in Oranienbaum.

Her father, Alexander Sergeevich Taneyev, was secretary of state, chief chamberlain of the Court, chief manager of His Imperial Majesty's office.
His grandfather and father also held this position under Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III.

Mother - Tolstaya Nadezhda Illarionovna - was the daughter of General Tolstoy, the adjutant wing of Emperor Alexander II, whose great-grandfather was the famous Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov. Nadezhda Illarionovna was one of the Cavalry Ladies of the Order of St. Catherine the Small Cross.

There were three children in the family, Anna was the eldest. About what her parents meant to her, Anna Alexandrovna writes in her memoirs:

“Despite the travels and the education we received, most of all we children were brought up by our parents. The greatest happiness for us was to be in their circle, and they, for their part, devoted every free minute to us. Under the influence of our parents, we have grown into people who love art and everything beautiful. Faith in God, attendance at divine services, an impeccable life, and prayer have been a support for us on the path of life. Our father emphasized the importance for a person of a sense of duty and urged us to follow the voice of our conscience in all cases of life. He himself was selflessly devoted to the throne and his Sovereign; the same devotion we adopted from him, just as he adopted it from his ancestors.

In December 1903, Anna received the Badge of the Empress, adorned with diamonds and initials, giving her the right to be called an honorary maid of honor, and after a while she was invited to serve personally in the retinue of the Empress.

“I will never forget that moment,” Anna Alexandrovna writes in her memoirs, “when the Empress, after our first joint cruise to Finland, opened her heart to me for the first time. One evening, coming to my cabin and hugging me, she said cordially: “God sent you to me, from now on I will never be lonely again!”. Then began these close and deep friendships, from which I drew strength and joy for the rest of my life.

After her divorce from her husband, A. V. Vyrubov, Anna, according to the traditions of the Court, could no longer get an official place as a maid of honor. Remaining a friend of the Empress, she was free of charge Anna Alexandrovna was arrested five times - first by the Provisional Government, then by the Bolsheviks. “... Black, hopeless grief and despair. God, how much bullying and cruelty! But I forgave everyone, trying to be patient, because. they did not lead me to this cross and they did not create slander; but it is difficult to forgive those who, out of envy, deliberately lied and tormented me.

Members of the Royal Family knew about her suffering.

Sovereign Nicholas II wrote to her on December 1, 1917: “Thank you very much for the wishes for my name day. Thoughts and prayer are always with you, poor, suffering person. Her Majesty read all the letters to us. It's terrible to think what you've been through. We feel good here - very quiet. It is a pity that you are not with us. Kisses and blessings without end. Your loving friend N. My heartfelt greetings to the parents.”

Miraculously, she managed to avoid being shot. “... Like a hunted animal, I hid in one dark corner, then in another. In a black scarf, with a bag in my hands, I went from acquaintance to acquaintance. Knocking, she asked, as every time: “I left the prison, will you accept me?” So she lived one day for more than a year. For love and devotion to the Royal Family, the Lord kept it on all paths.

In December 1920, in order to save Anna and her mother, Anna's sister, having paid a lot of money, insisted on leaving for Finland.

She went barefoot, in a tattered coat. On January 10 (NS), 1921, two Finns, on a large sleigh, transported Anna Alexandrovna and her mother across the ice to the Finnish coast.

For the Finnish authorities, she was an important person - she was the maid of honor and friend of the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who miraculously survived.

In their eyes, Anna Alexandrovna was a representative of one of the most luxurious courts in Europe, who occupied a significant position in the family of Tsar Nicholas II and, according to the created public opinion that influenced Russian politics.

During the interrogation, as on many occasions in Russia, she was asked questions about her attitude towards the Tsar, towards G. Rasputin, about politics.

To the question: “How do you explain the coming of the Bolsheviks to power,” Anna Alexandrovna answered:

“In practice, high society princes and other representatives of high society led a frivolous lifestyle, did not pay attention to the people, who were on a low standard of living, did not pay attention to their culture and education. Bolshevism was born through their fault ... The death of Russia did not occur with the help of outside forces. We must also recognize the fact that the Russians themselves, those from the privileged classes, are to blame for its death.

“How long will the power of the Bolsheviks last?”, they asked during interrogation.

“In order to revive the former Russia, one must learn patience with others and repentance, only then will national pride begin to appear. And while we blame each other, there will be no improvement, and God's Grace will not shed light on that desert that was once the Russian State.

Life in Finland was safe, but it was accompanied by sorrow and suffering. The broken state of mind after the events that took place in the country, the arrests and the horrors of the abuse and suffering in prisons did not leave her. The situation was complicated by life with people of a different culture, traditions, another, unfamiliar language. To all this was added material deprivation, sometimes reaching poverty.

“Among compatriots, all love for the Monarch and his Family was transferred to Anna Alexandrovna. She was the center of this love, although the Tsar's relatives, his closest assistants, and friends were alive. Some attended Anna's receptions, others spat at the mere mention of her name, ”as her contemporaries recalled about her.

In Finland, Anna Alexandrovna begins to write the first book of her memoirs, “Pages of My Life”. In it, telling the truth about members of the Royal family, she tries to reconcile the Russian people with the Tsar. In response - human malice and new moral tests. The text of her memoirs was subjected to editorial censorship and included a false diary allegedly written by her - a dirty libel about the Royal Couple.

In 1923, in the Smolensk Skete of the Valaam Monastery, she takes secret monastic tonsure with the name Maria.

On October 1, 1925, Anna Aleksandrovna and her mother were sent from their dacha in Terijoki (Zelenogorsk) to Vyborg by decision of the governor, where they rented an apartment in the Eden building. The most famous resident of the house was Anna Taneeva. The young mistress of the house, Maria Pavlovna Akutina, took lessons from Anna Alexandrovna of English language. Later, she would write about Anna Alexandrovna like this: “She was very religious, she often spent summers in monasteries. She talked a lot about the royal family. I was a girl, the details of these stories, of course, were erased, but the impression remained that the Imperial family, the memory of her, was the most precious thing in her life ...

I also remember very well that she was a very gentle person. Despite everything she had experienced, there was no hatred or anger in her at all.

In the 1930s, having enough time to calmly comprehend the events of the past, Anna Alexandrovna begins to write the second book of her memoirs, The Empress's Lady-in-Waiting.

Her greatest desire was to tell in her memoirs about the suffering life of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, whom she faithfully served for 12 years, to dispel the lies and slander that the Empress meekly and patiently carried.

Anna Alexandrovna expressed this thought in her sketch of the introduction to the book in 1938:

“I am sure that in the future historical newspapers will research and write a lot about the life of the family of Tsar Nicholas II - 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 life. The memories will stay with me forever."

The memoirs "Anna Vyrubova - the maid of honor of the Empress" edited by Irmeli Vicheryuri were published in Finnish in Finland only in 1987 after her death.

In the spring of 1940, when Anna and Vera returned from Sweden to Finland after the Winter War, the question arose about the place of residence, since Vyborg moved to Soviet Union. Thanks to a letter from her good friend K. G. Mannerheim, who at one time was introduced to her in Tsarskoye Selo, Anna Alexandrovna and her maid Vera (Zapevalova) settled in Helsinki.

“Knowing Mrs. Taneeva, her respected parents and many members of her family for more than thirty years, I ask everyone who has to deal with Mrs. Taneeva, who is suffering due to disability as a result of an accident on the railway, to treat her with sympathy and understanding. Field Marshal Mannerheim. Helsinki, 11 June 1940."

Out of 80 years of her life, Anna Aleksandrovna lived in Finland for 44 years. In the bright memory of people, she remained a beautiful woman with brown hair, with strikingly beautiful cornflower blue kind eyes and the same strikingly beautiful complexion. I still remember her openness, love for people, responsiveness to someone else's misfortune. While still under the Empress, from year to year she received letters in which people asked her for help. She could not refuse anyone's request.

Anna Alexandrovna, despite the sometimes harsh life, when there was absolutely no means of subsistence, carrying slander, contempt, alienation of compatriots, enduring illnesses, according to eyewitnesses, she could always forgive.

She never blamed anyone, did not justify herself, did not complain, silently, meekly and humbly bore all the hardships of life, placing them on the All-Merciful Lord. He helped her in this, gave her the strength to endure and endure everything in the image of her beloved Empress.

Throughout her life, Anna Alexandrovna, remaining with a clear conscience, remained faithful to God, the Tsar.

Her great desire was the revival of her beloved Russia:

“... We Russians often blame others for our misfortune, not wanting to understand that our situation is the work of our own hands, we are all to blame, especially the upper classes. Few do their duty in the name of duty and Russia. A sense of duty was not inspired from childhood; in families, children were not brought up in love for the Motherland, and only the greatest suffering and the blood of innocent victims can wash away our sins and the sins of entire generations. And only then will the great and mighty Russia arise, to the joy of us and the fear of our enemies.

Here is how Prince Nikolai Davydovich Zhevakhov writes about Anna Alexandrovna in his memoirs: “Common suffering, common faith in God, common love for the suffering created the ground for those friendly relations that arose between the Empress and A. A. Vyrubova.

The life of A. A. Vyrubova was truly the life of a martyr, and one needs to know at least one page of this life in order to understand the psychology of her deep faith in God and why A. A. Vyrubova found the meaning and content of her deeply unhappy life only in communion with God. life...

And when 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 she saw her lonely struggle with human malice and vice, then between her and A. A. Vyrubova that spiritual connection arose, which became the greater, the more A. A. Vyrubova stood out against the general background of the self-satisfied, prim, nobility who did not believe in anything.

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.

“... And I, my child, I am proud of you. Yes, a difficult lesson, a difficult school of suffering, but you passed the exam perfectly. We thank you for everything that you said for us, for how you defended us and endured and suffered so much for us and for Russia. The Lord alone may repay. Our souls are even closer now, I feel your closeness when we read the Bible, Jesus Sirach, etc.

Thank you for all your love; how I would like to be together, but God knows best.

Abbot Seraphim (Kuznetsov) in the book "Orthodox Tsar Martyr" recalls: "The modern great ascetic-seeress Sarovskaya Paraskovya Ivanovna, who lived in last years life in Diveevo, the one who predicted the birth of a son to the Sovereign and Empress in a year, but not for joy, but for sorrow, this Royal chick will be born, whose innocent holy blood will cry out to Heaven.

She placed the portraits of the Tsar, the Tsaritsa and the Family in the front corner with the icons and prayed on them along with the icons, crying out: “Holy Royal Martyrs, pray to God for us.”

In 1915, in August, I came from the front to Moscow, and then to Sarov and Diveevo, where I was personally convinced of this. The clairvoyant, in my presence, kissed the portraits of the Tsar and the Family several times, placed them with icons, praying to them as to holy martyrs.

Then she wept bitterly.

These allegorical acts were understood by me then as the great sorrows of the Tsar and the Family, connected with the war, because although they were not torn to pieces by a grenade and wounded by a lead bullet, their loving hearts were tormented by unprecedented sorrows and were bleeding. They were truly bloodless martyrs. As the Mother of God was not ulcerated by the instruments of torture, but at the sight of the suffering of Her Divine Son, according to the words of the righteous Simeon, a weapon passed into Her heart.

Then the old woman took the icons of the Tenderness of the Mother of God, before whom he died Reverend Seraphim, blessed the Sovereign and the Family in absentia, handed them over to me and asked me to send them. She blessed the icons: Sovereign, Empress, Tsesarevich, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna and A. A. Vyrubova.

Only now it seems to me more clear how God revealed to this righteous woman all the coming terrible test to the Russian people who deviated from the truth. It was not clear to me then why she blessed everyone, except Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, not the icon of St. Seraphim, but the Tenderness of the Mother of God, before whom St. Seraphim died.

At the present time, this is clear to me: she knew in advance that all of them would end their lives as righteous martyrs, as St. Seraphim also ended his life, and inherit eternal life in the abodes of paradise with him.

Kissing the portraits of the Tsar and the Family, the seer said that they were her relatives, dear ones, with whom she would soon live together.

And this prediction came true.

She died a month later, passing into eternity, and now, together with the Royal Martyrs, she lives in a heavenly quiet haven.

“Your way of the cross will bring you heavenly rewards, dear, there you will walk through the air, surrounded by roses and lilies. ... Through the cross to glory, all the tears you shed shine like diamonds on the robe of the Mother of God; nothing is lost; for all your torments and trials, God will especially bless and reward you.”

The grave of the Empress's friend, nun Maria, is visited by more and more people.

Here they bring their sorrows, sorrows, illnesses.

Just as during her lifetime Anna Alexandrovna did not refuse to help anyone, so now she consoles, helps, heals.

Nun Mary, pray to God for us!

I, Natalya Borisovna, I am 64 years old, for 10 years I suffered from edema, pain and ulcers on right leg- golekoston. This summer, for a month, every day I read the Akathist to the Tsar's Martyrs at the grave of Anna Alexandrovna Taneeva (Vyrubova). And, lo and behold, the ulcers closed, the swelling went away completely, the pain stopped, and the leg took on a normal appearance. Thank God for everything!

Natalia Kaivola. Finland, 2006

We, the parishioners of St. Nicholas Church, Boris and Valentina owed a certain amount of KELA (social service) through no fault of ours. There was a long ongoing correspondence about the return of this amount. We visited the grave of Anna Taneeva, lit candles, read Akathist about the repose of the dead, prayed, asked for help. On the appointed day of Kela, we once again visited Anna's grave. And a week later received from them positive result about the forgiveness of the debt and the appointment of an old-age pension for Valentina. The solution to this protracted issue is positive, we believe that St. Anna Taneeva.

Boris and Valentina Finland, 2006

On Bright Easter Week 2008, a group of pilgrims from Moscow and St. Petersburg arrived in Finland to visit the places of residence of Russian Emperors in Finland, including Sovereign Nicholas II, as well as places associated with the life of Anna Alexandrovna Taneeva and her burial place on Ilyinsky Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki. Everyone was very anxiously waiting for the “meeting” with Anna Alexandrovna, which took place and was permeated with special warmth. The only thing that lacked complete spiritual joy was that they failed to invite a priest to serve a memorial service at the grave.

And what was our surprise! No, it's a miracle! Father Pavel, archpriest, rector of one of the Temples of St. Petersburg, walked along the path of the cemetery.

Here is what Olga, one of the pilgrims, writes about this: "By the way, oh. Pavel, whom we met at Anna Alexandrovna's cemetery, having already returned to St. Petersburg, walked around for two more days under the impression of what had happened. Apparently, it was he who needed to be there that day, at the grave. It is also surprising that Anna Alexandrovna found him at the very moment when we had already decorated the grave with flowers and icons and were ready to sing the Easter Canon.

Wonderful are Thy works, Lord!

Larisa Strutsenko. Moscow, 05/07/2008.

Last winter I had intercostal neuralgia. The pains were severe, and I could not remove them with anything, no medicines helped. So she suffered for a week and suddenly remembered that Annushka had suffered in the accident and was also suffering. I decided that she would definitely help me. With faith, I kissed her photograph, which hangs in my room and which became myrrh-streaming on the day of Alexandra Feodorovna's Angel. So the Queen glorified her friend! In the morning I got up healthy!

R.B. Elena V., St. Petersburg, 2011.