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MOSCOW, November 1. The All-Russian scientific conference «Elizabeth-Sergius Readings», dedicated to professional education under the auspices of the Imperial House of Romanov, will be held on Wednesday at the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky, reported the press service of the Elisabeth-Sergius Educational Society Foundation for Promoting the Revival of Traditions of Mercy and Charity.
“On November 1, on the day of the 159th anniversary of the birth of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, within the walls of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky, the annual XXVI Elisabeth-Sergius readings “Professional education under the patronage of the Imperial House of Romanov in the 19th and early 20th centuries” will be held «. Before the start of the conference, the participants of the Readings will honor the memory of the holy martyr with prayer in the Intercession Cathedral of the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy. The All-Russian scientific conference is timed to coincide with the Year of the Teacher and Mentor, the 155th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Nicholas II and the 105th anniversary of the death of the holy martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna,» the statement says.
As the foundation reported, readings in Moscow are traditionally held in places associated with the activities of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Governor General of Moscow in 1891-1904, and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. In particular, the Moscow State Conservatory is also directly connected with the name of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; thanks to his support, the conservatory received funds for the construction of a new building.
Participants in the readings will include historians, archivists, and local historians from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, and Vologda. At the conference, reports will be presented on the patronage of representatives of the Imperial House of Romanov to secondary and higher professional educational institutions — technical, military, naval, legal, medical, commercial, artistic, musical, pedagogical.
The Foundation added that the Romanovs paid special attention to vocational education. Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Emperor Alexander II, made a great contribution to the development of women's professional education in Russia. On her initiative, the development of a network of Russian schools and teacher seminaries in the Holy Land began. And Emperor Alexander III fully supported the development of secondary vocational education and invested both state and personal funds in the creation of vocational schools.
«Throughout the entire 19th century and until 1917, each of the departments and societies under the patronage of the Imperial House of Romanov — the Department of Institutions of Empress Maria, the Imperial Humane Society, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society, the Russian Red Cross Society and many others — used professional focus on the best achievements of science, timely and modern methods in the educational process,” the foundation noted.
By the mid-1890s, there were 57 public and 11 private higher educational institutions in Russia. And by 1914 there were already 114 public and private higher educational institutions and more than 122 thousand male and female students.
The Foundation for Promoting the Revival of Traditions of Mercy and Charity «Elizabeth-Sergius Educational Society», created in 2011, according to its website, implements programs «in the field of education and charity, support of national culture, and the study of historical heritage.» As noted, the Foundation pays special attention to the charitable, educational and missionary activities of such outstanding representatives of the Imperial House of Romanov as Moscow Governor-General Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna.
The Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth was born in 1864 in Darmstadt (Germany). After marrying Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov (son of Alexander II and uncle of Nicholas II), she moved to Russia, where she was actively involved in charity work. Together with her husband, she headed over 150 charitable organizations, founded the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy in Moscow to help the poor, sick and all those in need. During the Russo-Japanese and World War I, the Grand Duchess organized assistance to the front and families of soldiers. She was killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 near Alapaevsk. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992 as a venerable martyr.