Archpriest Georgy Mitrofanov: “The veneration of the new martyrs in our church has not developed. Evgeny Botkin - Tsar's doctor. Why did the court physician choose death? Holy Righteous Eugene the Doctor
“My dear friend Sasha! I am making my last attempt at writing a real letter - at least from here - although this reservation, in my opinion, is completely unnecessary: I don’t think that I was ever destined to write anywhere from anywhere. My voluntary confinement here is as unlimited by time as my earthly existence is limited.
In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical<...>
My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye. For now, however, I am healthy and fat as before, so sometimes I even hate to see myself in the mirror<...>
If “faith without works is dead,” then works without faith can exist. And if one of us has added faith to his deeds, it is only because of God’s special mercy towards him. I turned out to be one of these lucky ones, through a difficult ordeal, the loss of my first-born, six-month-old son Seryozha. Since then, my code has been significantly expanded and defined, and in every matter I have taken care of “the Lord’s.” This justifies my last decision, when I did not hesitate to leave my children as orphans in order to fulfill my medical duty to the end, just as Abraham did not hesitate at God’s demand to sacrifice his only son to him. And I firmly believe that just as God saved Isaac then, He will now save my children and will Himself be their father. But because I don’t know what he will rely on for their salvation and I can only find out about it from the other world, then my selfish suffering, which I described to you, because of this, of course, due to my human weakness, does not lose its painful poignancy. But Job endured more<...>. No, apparently, I can withstand everything that the Lord God will be pleased to send down to me."
Doctor Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin - brother Alexander Sergeevich Botkin, June 26/July 9, 1918, Yekaterinburg.
“There are events that leave an imprint on the entire subsequent development of the nation. The murder of the royal family in Yekaterinburg is one of them. Of his own free will, the family physician Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin, a representative of the family who played a huge role in the history and culture of our country... Dr. Botkin’s grandson, who lives in Paris, talks to Itogi about the family, its traditions and his own destiny Konstantin Konstantinovich Melnik, now a famous French writer, and in the past a prominent figure in the intelligence services of General de Gaulle.
— Where did the Botkins come from, Konstantin Konstantinovich?
— There are two versions. According to the first of them, the Botkins come from the townspeople of the city of Toropets, Tver province. In the Middle Ages, little Toropets flourished. It was on the way from Novgorod to Moscow; merchants with caravans had traveled along this route since the times from the Varangians to the Greeks to Kyiv and further to Constantinople. But with the advent of St. Petersburg, the economic vectors of Russia changed, and Toropets withered away... However, the Botkins are a very strange-sounding surname in Russian. When I worked in America, I met a lot of namesakes there, albeit with the letter “d”. So it is possible that the Botkins are descendants of immigrants from the British Isles who came to Russia after the revolution in England and the civil war in the kingdom. Such as, say, the Lermontovs... All that is known for sure is that Konon Botkin and his sons Dmitry and Peter appeared in Moscow at the very end of the eighteenth century. They had their own textile production, but it was not the fabrics that brought them their fortune. And the tea! In 1801, Botkin founded a company specializing in wholesale tea trade. The business is developing very quickly, and soon my ancestor creates not only an office in Kyakhta for the purchase of Chinese tea, but also begins to import Indian and Ceylon tea from London. It was called Botkin, it was a kind of sign of quality.
— I remember the writer Ivan Shmelev cites a Moscow joke with which Botkin’s tea was sold: “For those - here are those, and for you - Mr. Botkin! For some it’s steamed, but for you it’s master’s!”
“It was tea that was the basis of the Botkins’ huge fortune. Pyotr Kononovich, who continued the family business, had twenty-five children from two wives. Some of them became famous characters in Russian history and culture. Vasily Petrovich, the eldest son, was a famous Russian publicist, a friend of Belinsky and Herzen, and an interlocutor of Karl Marx. Nikolai Petrovich was friends with Gogol, whose life he once even saved. Maria Petrovna married the poet Afanasy Shenshin, better known as Fet. Another sister, Ekaterina Petrovna, is the wife of manufacturer Ivan Shchukin, whose sons became famous collectors. And Pyotr Petrovich Botkin, who actually became the head of the family business, after the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, was elected its elder...
Coat of arms of the Botkins Photo: from the archive of T. O. Kovalevskaya
Sergei Petrovich was the eleventh child of Pyotr Kononovich. From childhood, his father labeled him “a fool” and even threatened to sign him up as a soldier. And in fact: at nine years old the boy could hardly distinguish letters. The situation was saved by Vasily, the eldest of the sons. They hired a good home teacher, and it soon became clear that Sergei was very gifted mathematically. He planned to enter the mathematics department of Moscow University, but Nicholas I issued a decree prohibiting persons of the non-noble class from entering all faculties except medicine. Sergei Petrovich had no choice but to study to become a doctor. First in Russia, and then in Germany, on which almost all the money he inherited was spent. Then he worked at the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. And his mentor was the great Russian surgeon Nikolai Pirogov, with whom Sergei visited the fields of the Crimean War.
Sergei Botkin's medical talent manifested itself very quickly. He preached a medical philosophy previously unknown in Russia: it is not the disease that should be treated, but the patient who must be loved. The main thing is the person. “Cholera poison will not escape even the magnificent chambers of a rich man,” Dr. Botkin inspired. He creates a hospital for the poor, which has since been named after him, and opens a free outpatient clinic. A rare diagnostician, he enjoys such fame that he is invited by the life physician to the court. Becomes the first Russian imperial doctor; previously these were only foreigners, usually Germans. Botkin cures the empress of a serious illness and goes with Emperor Alexander II to the Russian-Turkish war.
Dr. Botkin made the only incorrect diagnosis only to himself. He died in December 1889, having outlived his close friend the writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose children he was the guardian of, by only six months. At first, they were going to erect a monument to Sergei Petrovich at St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, but then the authorities made a more practical decision. Empress Maria Feodorovna established a personalized bed in the hospital: the annual fee for the maintenance of such a bed included the cost of treating patients “registered” in Botkin’s bed.
— Considering that your grandfather also became a physician, we can say that being a doctor is Botkin’s hereditary profession...
- Yes. After all, Sergei, the eldest son of Dr. Sergei Petrovich Botkin, my great-uncle, was also a doctor. The entire aristocracy of St. Petersburg was treated by him. This Botkin was a real socialite: he led a noisy life full of passionate novels. Eventually he married Alexandra, the daughter of Pavel Tretyakov, one of the richest men in Russia, a fanatical collector.
Botkins - Evgeny Sergeevich with his wife Olga Vladimirovna and children (from left to right) Dmitry, Gleb, Yuri and Tatyana Photo: from the archive of T. O. Kovalevskaya.
- And your grandfather?..
- Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin was a different person, non-secular. Before studying in Germany, he also received his education at the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. Unlike his older brother, he did not open an expensive private practice, but went to work at the Mariinsky Hospital for the poor. It was founded by Empress Maria Feodorovna. He worked a lot with the Russian Red Cross and the St. George's Community of Sisters of Mercy. These structures existed only thanks to the highest patronage of the arts. In the Soviet era, for obvious reasons, they always tried to hush up the great philanthropic activities of the royal family... When the Russian-Japanese War began, Evgeniy Sergeevich went to the front, where he led a field hospital and helped the wounded under fire.
Returning from the Far East, my grandfather published the book “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War,” compiled from his letters to his wife from the front. On the one hand, he glorifies the heroism of Russian soldiers and officers, on the other hand, he is indignant at the mediocrity of the command and the thieves' machinations of the commissariat. Amazingly, the book was not subject to any censorship! Moreover, it fell into the hands of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After reading it, the queen declared that she wanted to see the author as her family’s personal physician. This is how my grandfather became Nicholas II’s physician.
— And what kind of relationship does Dr. Botkin have with royalty?
- With the king - truly comradely. Sincere sympathy arises between Botkin and Alexandra Fedorovna. Contrary to popular belief, she was not at all an obedient toy in the hands of Rasputin. Proof of this is the fact that my grandfather was the complete opposite of Rasputin, whom he considered a charlatan and did not hide his opinion. He knew about this and repeatedly complained to the queen about Doctor Botkin, from whom he promised to “skin him alive.” But at the same time, Evgeniy Sergeevich did not deny the phenomenon that Rasputin inexplicably had a beneficial effect on the crown prince. I think there is an explanation for this today. Ordering to stop giving the heir medicine, Rasputin did this, of course, due to his fanaticism, but he did the right thing. Then the main medicine was aspirin, which was given for any reason. Aspirin thins the blood, and for the prince, suffering from hemophilia, it was like poison...
Doctor Botkin with the Grand Duchesses in England Photo: from the archive of T. O. Kovalevskaya
Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin practically did not see his own family. From early morning he went to the Winter Palace and spent the whole day there.
“But your mother also developed friendly relations with the four daughters of the emperor.” So, in any case, Tatyana Botkina writes in her famous book of memoirs...
“This friendship was largely invented by my mother. She wanted it so much... Contacts between them could have arisen, perhaps, only in Tsarskoe Selo, where, after the internment of the imperial family, my mother also went after my father. Then she, of her own free will, goes to the royal family and to Tobolsk. She was barely nineteen at that time. A passionate, even religiously fanatical nature, she, before sending the royal family to Yekaterinburg, came to the commissar and demanded that she be sent along with her father. To which the Bolshevik said: “There’s no place for a young lady your age.” Either the “faithful Leninist,” who knew where the Tsar’s exile was heading, was captivated by the beauty of my mother, or even the Bolsheviks were sometimes not alien to humanism.
- Was your mother really considered a beauty?
“She was as pretty as she was, how can I put it, stupid... The Botkins settled in Tobolsk in a small house, which was located opposite the house where the royal family was locked up. When the Bolsheviks took control of Siberia, they made Dr. Botkin (he also taught the heir Russian literature) a kind of mediator between them and the royal family. It was Evgeniy Sergeevich who was asked to wake up the royal family on that fateful night of execution in the Ipatiev House. Dr. Botkin apparently did not go to bed then, as if he felt something. I was sitting writing a letter to my brother. It turned out to be unfinished, interrupted mid-sentence...
All the personal belongings left from my grandfather in Yekaterinburg were taken by the Bolsheviks to Moscow, where they were hidden somewhere. So, imagine! After the fall of communism, one of the heads of the Russian state archives came to me in Paris and brought me that very letter. Incredibly powerful document! My grandfather writes that he will die soon, but prefers to leave his children orphans rather than abandon his patients without help and betray the Hippocratic oath...
— How did your parents meet?
— My father Konstantin Semenovich Melnik was from Ukraine - from Volyn, from wealthy peasants. In 1414, when the great war began, he was barely twenty. At the front, he was wounded many times and each time was treated in hospitals maintained by the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana. A letter from my father to one of the tsar’s daughters has been preserved, where he wrote: “I am going to the front, but I hope that soon I will be wounded again and end up in your hospital...” Once, after recovery, he was sent to St. Petersburg, to a sanatorium for Sadovaya Street, which my grandfather organized in his own house. And the officer fell head over heels in love with the doctor's seventeen-year-old daughter...
When the February Revolution broke out, he deserted and, disguised as a peasant, went to Tsarskoye Selo to see his future bride again. But he didn’t find anyone there and hurried to Siberia! He came up with a crazy plan: what if he gathered a group of military officers like him and organized the emperor’s escape from Tobolsk?! But the tsar and his family were taken to Yekaterinburg. And then Lieutenant Melnik stole my mother.
Then he became an officer in Kolchak’s army. He served there in counterintelligence. He took my mother across all of Siberia to Vladivostok. They traveled in a cattle car, and at every station there were executed red partisans hanging from lampposts... My parents left Vladivostok on the last ship. He was Serbian and was on his way to Dubrovnik. It was naturally impossible to get to him, but my mother went to the Serbs and said that she was Botkina, the granddaughter of the “white king”’s doctor. They agreed to help... Naturally, my father could not take anything with him. I just grabbed these very shoulder straps (shows) of an officer of the Russian army...
- And here is France!
— In France, my parents quickly separated. They lived together in exile for only three years. Yes, this is understandable... My mother is all in the past. Her father fought for survival, and she only grieved for the dead emperor and his family. Back in Yugoslavia, when my parents were in a camp for emigrants, they received an offer to go to Grenoble. There, in the town of Rive-sur-Fur, a French industrialist was creating a factory and decided to engage Russians to work in it. The emigrants were settled in an abandoned castle. They went to work in formation, and at first they stood at the machines in military uniform - there was simply nothing else... A Russian colony was formed, where I was born and where very soon my father, a strong, healthy peasant, became the head. And the mother kept praying and suffering...
This obvious spiritual misalliance could not last long. The father went to the widowed Cossack Maria Petrovna, a former machine gunner on a cart, and the mother took the children - Tanya, Zhenya and me, who was two years old - and went to Nice. There, our numerous emigrant aristocrats gathered around the large Russian church. And she felt like she was in her native environment.
—What did your mother do?
— Mom never worked anywhere. The only thing left to count on was philanthropy: many did not refuse to help the daughter of Doctor Botkin, who was killed along with the Emperor. We existed in complete, utter poverty. Until the age of twenty-two, I never knew the feeling of being full... I started learning French at the age of seven, when I went to a communal school. He joined the Knights organization, which raised children in military discipline: every day we prepared to go fight the Bolshevik invaders. The ordinary life of one-suitcase travelers...
And then my mother made a terrible, unforgivable mistake! She recognized the false Anastasia, who allegedly survived the execution in Yekaterinburg and appeared out of nowhere in the late twenties, and because of this she quarreled not only with all the Romanovs, but also with almost the entire emigration.
Already at the age of seven I understood that this was a scam. But my mother grabbed hold of this woman as if she were the only ray of light in our hopeless existence.
In fact, the producer of the false Anastasia was my uncle Gleb. He promoted this Polish peasant woman, who came to America from Germany, as a Hollywood star. Gleb Botkin was generally a discreet and talented person - he drew comics, wrote books - plus a born adventurer: if for Tatyana Botkina the imperial past was a form of neurosis, for Gleb it was just a calculated game. And the Polish Frantiska Schanckowska, who became the revived “Anastasia Romanova” in the image of the American Anna Anderson, was a pawn in this risky game. Mom sincerely believed in all this scam of her brother - she even wrote the book “Anastasia Found.”
— How did you get to Paris?
— Having obtained a bachelor's degree, as the best student at the school, I received a scholarship from the French government to study at Sciences Po, the Paris Institute of Political Sciences. I earned money for a trip to Paris by getting a job as a translator in the American army, which was stationed on the Cote d'Azur after the war. He sold coal taken from a military base in hotels in Nice. However, I was young and spent my savings very quickly in the capital. The Jesuit Fathers saved me.
In the Parisian suburb of Meudon, where many Russians lived, they founded the St. George Center - an incredible institution where everything was Russian. I registered as a lodger in this community. The cream of emigrant society gathered among the Jesuits. The Vatican ambassador in Paris, the future Pope John XXIII, arrived and a discussion began on a variety of, not necessarily religious, issues. A most interesting figure was Prince Sergei Obolensky, who was raised in Yasnaya Polyana until the age of sixteen - his mother was the niece of Leo Tolstoy. When the Vatican established the Russicum organization for the study of the Soviet Union, Jesuit Father Sergei Obolensky, whom we called Father behind our backs, became an important figure in this structure. And after I received my Science Po diploma, the Jesuits invited me to work with them to study the Soviet Union.
— Then you made an amazing move - from the Jesuits to the CIA, and then to the apparatus of Charles de Gaulle. How did this happen?
— At the Institute of Political Sciences, I was the best in the course and, as number one, I got the right to choose a workplace. I became secretary of the Radical Socialist Party group in the Senate. It was headed by Charles Brun. Thanks to him, I met Michel Debray, Raymond Aron, Francois Mitterrand... My day was structured like this: in the morning I wrote analytical notes on Soviet topics for the Jesuit fathers, and after twelve I ran to the Luxembourg Palace, where I did, so to speak, pure politics.
Brun soon received the portfolio of Minister of the Interior, and I followed him. For two years I “studied communism”: the intelligence services provided me with such a wealth of interesting information about the activities of the communists and their connections with Moscow! And then I was drafted into the army. At the French General Staff, knowledge of Sovietology again came in handy. An accident brought me fame. Stalin dies, Marshal Jouin calls me: “Who will be the successor to the father of nations?” What can I say? I did a simple thing: I took a file of the last months of the Pravda newspaper and began to count how many times each of the Soviet leaders was mentioned. Beria, Malenkov, Molotov, Bulganin... A strange thing happens: Nikita Khrushchev, unknown to anyone in the West, appears most often. I go to the marshal: “This is Khrushchev. No options! Jouin reported my forecast to both the Elysee Palace and colleagues from leading Western services. When everything happened according to my scenario, I turned into a hero. This especially impressed the Americans, and they invited me to work at the RAND Corporation. As an analyst for the USSR. It is primitive to say that RAND at that time was only an intellectual branch of the US CIA. RAND brought together America's sharpest minds. After the victory over Nazism, the West knew very little about the Soviet Union and did not understand how to talk with Soviet leaders. We gave birth to a huge volume, which we called: “The Operational Code of the Politburo.” A 150-page extract was later made from this book, which remained like a bible for American diplomats until the sixties. President Dwight Eisenhower asked RAND to write him a one-page memo based on our research. And we told him: “One page is too much. To understand the Soviet nomenklatura, two words are enough: “Who - whom?”
At the end of the fifties, the Americans offered me their citizenship - it would seem that my career was finally delineated. But events happened in France that I could not stay away from. Charles de Gaulle came to power. A few months later, Michel Debreu called me and said: “The general has invited me to head the government. Return to Paris, we need your help!”
- In general, there are offers that you cannot refuse...
- That’s what happened. I started working at the Matignon Palace, where I took up the geostrategic problems of the France-USA-USSR triangle. Believe it or not, I discovered such a farce in the secret department that I felt sorry for the Fifth Republic being born before my eyes. And it was possible to improve matters only by combining the efforts of all French intelligence services. This was assigned to me, and so I became the security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister.
My relationship with de Gaulle himself was strange. We saw each other rarely, but at the same time he showed me complete trust, I could do whatever I considered necessary... Now, at a distance of half a century that separates us from that time, I see that de Gaulle listened only to himself. I felt like a living God and believed in my magical Word - in dialogue with the French. The opinions of others did not interest him. He stubbornly called the Soviet Union Russia, believing that it would “drink communism like ink.” He treated Americans with disdain. Therefore, he entrusted contact with the CIA to me: every month I met with its chief Allen Dulles, who flew to Paris especially for this purpose. Our relationship was the most trusting, and I naively believed that France was able to establish equally effective contacts with the KGB. I wrote a memo to the general on this subject. He listened to her and decided to use this idea when meeting face to face with Nikita Khrushchev during his visit to Paris in the sixties.
De Gaulle began to convince Khrushchev to carry out the “thaw” more actively, to begin something like perestroika. The general organized Nikita Sergeevich a tour of enterprises and told him: “Your party economy will not last long. We need a mixed economy, like in France.” Khrushchev only replied: “But we will do better in the USSR anyway.” The small fat man's complacency irritated the huge de Gaulle. The general realized that Khrushchev was vulgarly using him, that he had come to Paris only in order to raise his own prestige and rub the nose of his comrades from the Politburo...
My relationship with the KGB was even worse. A funny detail: on the eve of the visit, we were sent from Moscow a box of Melnik red wine with a note: “Try this, your Melnik is worse.” We tried it: no, French wine is better, and “Melnik” in comparison is outright swill. The psychological pressure on us continued. We received from the USSR Embassy a list of “undesirable elements” that needed to be deported from Paris during Khrushchev’s visit. But that's not all. Jean Verdier, head of the Surete National intelligence service, called me: “You won’t believe it, they demand your expulsion too!” I answered Verdier: “Tell the KGB that Melnik has a lot of power in France, but I cannot arrest myself.” Honestly, I didn't understand why they hated me so much. Unlike many other representatives of the Russian emigration, I did not hate the communists and everything Soviet. I treated “homo sovieticus,” as Sergei Obolensky taught it, as a scientist... Only later did I realize what it was all about. The culprit is Georges Puck, a Russian secret super agent. This man, because of whom, as it turned out, Khrushchev decided to build the Berlin Wall, came to me in Matignon for conversations on geostrategic topics every week and was well aware of my meetings with Allen Dulles and his people. When Anatoly Golitsyn, a KGB officer, defected to the Americans, he told the CIA that he had seen a secret NATO document on psychological warfare at the Lubyanka. He could only get to Moscow through five people to whom this paper was available at the French mission to NATO. Our intelligence services began to take an interest in each of them. Marcel Saly, who was directly involved in the investigation, invited me and said: “Among the five suspects, there is only one absolutely blameless. This is Georges Puck. He leads a measured life, is rich, an exemplary family man, and is raising a little daughter.” And I answered: “Especially keep an eye on him, the impeccable one... In detective stories, these are the ones who turn out to be criminals.” We laughed then. But it was Pak who turned out to be a Soviet agent.
- Why did you leave this job? After all, as the Parisian Le Monde wrote, you were one of the most influential people of the Fifth Republic.
— Michel Debreu left the Matignon Palace, and I was not interested in working with another prime minister. Moreover, de Gaulle was not satisfied with my independence. At all times, my goal was to serve society, and not the state or, especially, an individual politician. Wanting the overthrow of communism, I served Russia. And after leaving Matignon, I continued to be interested in the Soviet Union and everything connected with it. At the turn of the sixties and seventies, I began active communication with Master Violet, a lawyer for the Vatican. It was one of the most powerful agents of influence in Western Europe. His efforts and support of the Pope accelerated Franco-German reconciliation; this lawyer was at the heart of the Helsinki Declaration on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Together with Master Violet, I participated in the development of some provisions of this global document. Brezhnev then sought recognition of the status quo of the post-war continental borders, and the West growled: “This will never happen!” But Violet, who knew Soviet realities and the Kremlin nomenklatura well, reassured Western politicians: “Nonsense! We must recognize the current European borders. But Moscow must stipulate this on one condition: free movement of people and ideas.” In 1972, three years before the conference in Helsinki, we proposed a draft of this document to Western leaders. History has confirmed that we were right: it was compliance with the Third Basket that turned out to be unacceptable for the communists. Many Soviet politicians - Gorbachev, in particular - later admit that the collapse of the Soviet Union began precisely with a humanitarian conflict - with a contradiction between words and deeds in the Kremlin and its satellites...
After leaving politics, I became a writer and independent publisher. As soon as he left Matignon, he published a book under the pseudonym Ernest Mignon entitled “The Words of a General,” which became a bestseller. It consisted of three hundred funny stories from the life of Charles de Gaulle. The most real, not invented... Aphorisms of the general...
- For example? Let's say, from what is connected with the USSR?
- Please. During a meeting with de Gaulle, Khrushchev says, referring to Gromyko: “I have such a foreign minister that I can put him on a piece of ice and he will sit on it until everything melts.” The general answered without hesitation: “I have Couve de Murville in this post. I can also put him on a piece of ice, but even the ice doesn’t melt under him.” Believe me, this is the absolute truth. This story was told to me by Michel Debray, who heard everything with his own ears.
—Have you met with Yeltsin?
- Once. In St. Petersburg during the burial of the ashes of my grandfather in the Peter and Paul Fortress. When Boris Yeltsin came to France for the first time as President of Russia in 1992 and received representatives of Russian expatriates at the embassy, I was not invited there. And, I must say, they have never called me yet. Why dont know. I would be pleased to have a Russian passport, I am a Russian person, even my French wife Danielle, by the way, the former personal secretary of Michel Debreu, converted to Orthodoxy. But I will never ask anyone about this... Botkin’s spirit probably doesn’t allow...
“I finished him off with a shot to the head,” Yurovsky later wrote. He posed openly and bragged about the murder. When they tried to find the remains of Dr. Botkin in August 1918, they found only pince-nez with broken glass. Their fragments mixed with others - from medallions and icons, vials and bottles that belonged to the family of the last Russian Tsar.
On February 3, 2016, Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was canonized by the Russian Church. Orthodox doctors, of course, advocated for his glorification. Many appreciated the feat of the doctor who remained faithful to his patients. But not only that. His faith was conscious, hard-won, despite the temptations of time. Evgeniy Sergeevich went from unbelief to holiness, like a good doctor goes to a patient, depriving himself of the right to choose whether to go or not. It was forbidden to talk about him for many decades. At that time he was lying in an unmarked grave - as an enemy of the people, executed without trial. At the same time, one of the most famous clinics in the country was named after his father, Sergei Petrovich Botkin - he was glorified as a great doctor.
The first doctor of the empire
And this glory was completely deserved. After the death of Dr. Pirogov, Sergei Botkin became the most respected doctor in the Russian Empire.
But until the age of nine he was considered mentally retarded. His father, a wealthy St. Petersburg tea merchant Pyotr Botkin, even promised to give Seryozha a soldier, when it suddenly turned out that the boy could not distinguish letters due to severe astigmatism. Having corrected Sergei’s vision, we discovered that he had a great interest in mathematics. He was going to follow this path, but suddenly Emperor Nicholas I forbade the admission of persons of non-noble origin to any faculties except medicine. The sovereign’s idea was far from reality and did not last long, but it affected the fate of Sergei Botkin in the most happy way.
The beginning of his fame was laid in the Crimean War, which Sergei Petrovich spent in Sevastopol in the medical detachment of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov. At the age of 29 he became a professor. Before reaching forty, he founded the Epidemiological Society. He was the personal physician of Emperor Alexander the Liberator, and then treated his son, Alexander the Peacemaker, combining this with work in free outpatient clinics and “infectious barracks.” Sometimes up to fifty patients were crowded into his living room, from whom the doctor did not charge a penny for an appointment.
Sergei Petrovich Botkin
In 1878, Sergei Petrovich was elected chairman of the Society of Russian Doctors, which he led until his death. He died in 1889. They say that in his entire life, Sergei Petrovich made only one incorrect diagnosis - to himself. He was sure that he suffered from hepatic colic, but died from heart disease. “Death took away its most implacable enemy from this world,” the newspapers wrote.
“If faith is added to the doctor’s deeds...”
Evgeniy was the fourth child in the family. Survived the death of his mother when he was ten years old. She was a rare woman worthy of a husband: she played many instruments and had a keen understanding of music and literature, and was fluent in several languages. The couple organized the famous Botkin Saturdays together. Relatives gathered, including the poet Afanasy Fet, philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov, and friends, including the founder of Russian physiology Ivan Sechenov, writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, composers Alexander Borodin and Mily Balakirev. All together at the large oval table they formed a highly peculiar gathering.
Evgeniy spent his early childhood in this wonderful atmosphere. Brother Peter said: “Inwardly kind, with an extraordinary soul, he was terrified of any fight or fight. We other boys used to fight furiously. He, as usual, did not participate in our fights, but when a fist fight became dangerous, he, at the risk of injury, stopped the fighters...”
Here one can see the image of a future military doctor. Evgeniy Sergeevich had the opportunity to bandage the wounded on the front line, when shells exploded so close that he was covered with earth. At his mother’s request, Evgeniy was educated at home, and after her death he immediately entered the fifth grade of the gymnasium. Like his father, he initially chose mathematics and even studied for a year at the university, but then he still preferred medicine. He graduated from the Military Medical Academy with honors. His father managed to be happy for him, but that same year Sergei Petrovich passed away. Pyotr Botkin recalled how hard Evgeny experienced this loss: “I came to my father’s grave and suddenly heard sobs in a deserted cemetery. Coming closer, I saw my brother lying in the snow. “Oh, it’s you, Petya, you came to talk to dad,” and again the sobs. And an hour later, during the reception of patients, it could not have occurred to anyone that this calm, self-confident and powerful man could cry like a child.”
Having lost the support of his parent, Evgeniy achieved everything on his own. He became a doctor at the Court Chapel. He trained in the best German clinics, studying childhood diseases, epidemiology, practical obstetrics, surgery, nervous diseases and blood diseases, on which he defended his dissertation. At that time, there were still too few doctors to afford a narrow specialization.
Evgeniy Petrovich married 18-year-old noblewoman Olga Vladimirovna Manuilova at the age of twenty-five. The marriage was amazing at first. Olga was orphaned early, and her husband became everything to her. Only her husband’s extreme busyness upset Olga Vladimirovna - he worked in three or more places, following the example of his father and many other doctors of that era. From the Court Chapel he hurried to the Mariinsky Hospital, and from there to the Military Medical Academy, where he taught. And that's not counting business trips.
Olga was religious, and Evgeniy Sergeevich was skeptical about faith at first, but later completely changed. “There were few believers among us,” he wrote about the academy graduates shortly before his execution, in the summer of 1918, “but the principles professed by everyone were close to Christian. If faith is added to the doctor’s deeds, then this is due to God’s special mercy towards him. I turned out to be one of these lucky ones - through a difficult ordeal, the loss of my first-born, six-month-old son Seryozha.
"Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War"
This is what he called his memories of the front, where he headed the St. George Hospital of the Red Cross. The Russo-Japanese War was the first in Botkin's life. The result of this protracted business trip was two military orders, experience in helping the wounded and enormous fatigue. However, his book “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War” began with the words: “We are traveling cheerfully and comfortably.” But that was on the road. The following entries are completely different: “They came, these unfortunate ones, but they did not bring any groans, no complaints, or horrors with them. They came, largely on foot, even wounded in the legs (so as not to have to travel in a gig along these terrible roads), patient Russian people, now ready to go into battle again.”
Once, during a night round of the Georgievsky hospital, Evgeniy Sergeevich saw a soldier named Sampsonov, wounded in the chest, hugging a delirious orderly. When Botkin felt his pulse and stroked it, the wounded man pulled both his hands to his lips and began to kiss them, imagining that it was his mother who had come. Then he began to call his aunts and kissed his hand again. It was amazing that none of the sufferers “complain, no one asks: “Why, why am I suffering?” - how people in our circle grumble when God sends them trials,” wrote Botkin.
He himself did not complain about the difficulties. On the contrary, he said that before it was much more difficult for doctors. I remembered one hero-doctor from the time of the Russian-Turkish war. He once came to the hospital in an overcoat on his naked body and in torn soldier's footwear, despite the severe frost. It turned out that he met a wounded man, but there was nothing to bandage him with, and the doctor tore his linen into bandages and a bandage, and dressed the soldier in the rest.
Most likely, Botkin would have done the same. His first feat, described rather sparingly, dates back to mid-June. While traveling to the front line, Evgeniy Sergeevich came under artillery fire. The first shrapnel exploded in the distance, but then the shells began to land closer and closer, so that the stones they knocked out flew into people and horses. Botkin was about to leave the dangerous place when a soldier wounded in the leg approached. “It was the finger of God that decided my day,” Botkin recalled. “Go calmly,” he said to the wounded man, “I will stay for you.” I took a medical bag and went to the artillerymen. The guns fired continuously, and the ground, covered with flowers, shook underfoot, and where Japanese shells fell, it literally groaned. At first it seemed to Evgeniy Sergeevich that a wounded man was groaning, but then he became convinced that it was the ground. It was scary. However, Botkin was not afraid for himself: “Never before have I felt the strength of my faith to such an extent. I was completely convinced that, no matter how great the risk to which I was exposed, I would not be killed if God did not wish it; and if He wishes, that is His holy will.”
When the call came from above: “Stretcher!” - He ran there with the orderlies to see if there were anyone bleeding. Having provided assistance, he sat down to rest for a while.
“One of the battery orderlies, a handsome guy named Kimerov, looked at me, looked, and finally crawled out and sat down next to me. Whether he felt sorry to see me alone, whether he was ashamed that they left me, or whether my place seemed enchanted to him - I don’t know. He, like the rest of the battery, however, was in battle for the first time, and we started talking about the will of God... Above us and around us it was vomiting - it seemed that the Japanese had chosen your slope as their target, but while working you don’t notice the fire .
- Excuse me! – Kimerov suddenly screamed and fell backwards. I unbuttoned it and saw that his lower abdomen was pierced, the front bone was broken off and all the intestines came out. He quickly began to die. I sat over him, helplessly holding his intestines with gauze, and when he died, I closed his head, folded his hands and laid him more comfortably ... "
What captivates us in Evgeniy Sergeevich’s notes is the absence of cynicism, on the one hand, and pathos, on the other. He walked surprisingly smoothly all his life between extremes: lively, joyful and at the same time deeply worried about people. Greedy for everything new and alien to revolution. Not only his book, his life is the story, first of all, of a Russian Christian, creating, suffering, open to God and all the best that is in the world.
“There is still no fight, and I continue to write. We should follow the example of the soldiers. I ask one wounded man whom I found writing a letter:
- What, friend, are you writing home?
“Home,” he says.
- Well, are you describing how you were wounded and how well you fought?
- No, I’m writing that I’m alive and well, otherwise the old people would start taking out insurance.
This is the greatness and delicacy of the simple Russian soul!”
August 1, 1904. Retreat. Everything that could be dispensed with was sent to Liaoyang, including the iconostasis and the tent in which the church was built. But the service continued anyway. Along the ditch that surrounded the field church, they stuck pine trees, made the Royal Doors out of them, placed one pine tree behind the altar, the other in front of the lectern prepared for the prayer service. They hung the image on the last two pine trees. And the result was a church that seemed even closer than all others to God because it stood directly under His heavenly cover. Before the prayer service, the priest, who in battle under heavy fire gave communion to the dying, said a few simple and heartfelt words on the topic that prayer is for God, and the service is not lost for the Tsar. His loud voice echoed clearly over the nearby mountain in the direction of Liaoyang. And it seemed that these sounds from our eerie distance would continue to jump from mountain to mountain to relatives and friends standing in prayer, to their poor, dear homeland.
“- Stop, people! - God's anger seemed to say: - Wake up! Is this what I teach you, unfortunate ones! How dare you, unworthy ones, destroy what you cannot create?! Stop, you crazy people!
Botkin recalled how he met an officer who, as the father of a young boy, was trying to be placed away from the front line. But he was eager to join the regiment and finally achieved his goal. What happened next? After the first battle, this unfortunate man, who until recently longed for war and glory, presented to the regiment commander the rest of his company, about twenty-five people. “Where is the company?” - they asked him. The young officer’s throat was constricted, and he could barely say that she was all there!
“Yes, I’m tired,” Botkin admitted, “I’m inexpressibly tired, but I’m tired only in my soul. She seems to have gotten sick all over me. Drop by drop my heart was bleeding out, and soon I will not have it: I will indifferently pass by my crippled, wounded, hungry, frozen brothers, as if I were passing by an eyesore on a kaoliang; I will consider as habitual and correct what just yesterday turned my whole soul upside down. I feel how she is gradually dying inside me..."
“We were drinking afternoon tea in a large dining tent, in the pleasant silence of a happy home environment, when K. rode up to our tent on horseback and, without getting off his horse, shouted to us in a voice in which we could hear that everything was lost and there was no salvation:
- Peace, peace!
Completely killed, entering the tent, he threw his cap on the ground.
- World! - he repeated, sitting down on the bench..."
The wife and children have been waiting for Evgeniy Sergeevich for a long time. And there was also someone waiting for him, about whom he had not thought during the war, who was still lying in the cradle. Tsarevich Alexei, an unfortunate child born with a severe hereditary disease - hemophilia. Blood diseases were the subject of Evgeniy Sergeevich’s doctoral dissertation. This predetermined the choice of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna who would become the new physician of the Royal Family.
Life physician of the emperor
After the death of the Royal Family's personal physician, Dr. Hirsch, the Empress was asked who should take his place. She answered:
- Botkin.
- Which of them? - they asked her.
The fact is that Evgeniy Sergeevich’s brother, Sergei, was also well known as a doctor.
“The one who was in the war,” explained the Queen.
They did not tell her that both Botkins took part in the hostilities. Evgeniy Sergeevich was known throughout Russia as a military doctor.
Alas, Tsarevich Alexei was seriously ill, and the Empress’s health left much to be desired. Due to swelling, the Empress wore special shoes and could not walk for a long time. Attacks of palpitations and headaches confined her to bed for a long time. A lot of other responsibilities also piled up, which Botkin attracted like a magnet. For example, he continued to be involved in the affairs of the Red Cross.
Tatyana Botkina with her brother Yuri
The relationship with his wife, although they had previously loved each other, began to rapidly deteriorate. “Life at court was not very fun, and nothing brought variety to its monotony,” recalled daughter Tatyana. “Mom missed me terribly.” She felt abandoned, almost betrayed. For Christmas 1909, the doctor gave his wife an amazing pendant ordered from Faberge. When Olga Vladimirovna opened the box, the children gasped: the opal, trimmed with diamonds, was so beautiful. But their mother only said displeasedly: “You know that I can’t stand disgrace! They bring misfortune! I was about to return the gift back, but Evgeniy Sergeevich patiently said: “If you don’t like it, you can always exchange it.” She exchanged the pendant for another one, with an aquamarine, but there was no increase in happiness.
Already middle-aged, but still a beautiful woman, Olga Vladimirovna was languishing, it began to seem to her that life was passing by. She fell in love with her sons' teacher, the Baltic German Friedrich Lichinger, who was almost half her age, and soon began to live openly with him, demanding a divorce from her husband. Not only the sons, but also the younger children - Tatyana and mother's favorite Gleb - decided to stay with their father. “If you had left her,” Gleb told his father, “I would have stayed with her. But when she leaves you, I stay with you! During Lent, Olga Vladimirovna decided to take communion, but on the way to church she injured her leg and decided that even God had turned away from her. But my husband doesn’t. The spouses were one step away from reconciliation, but... all the courtiers in Tsarskoe Selo, all former acquaintances looked through her, as if she were an empty place. This hurt Evgeny Sergeevich no less than his wife. He was angry, but even the children saw her as a stranger. And Olga Vladimirovna suddenly realized that it wouldn’t be the same as before. Then there was Easter, the most joyless of their lives.
“A few days later, we were relieved to learn,” Tatyana wrote, “that she was leaving again “for treatment.” The farewell was difficult, but short. The reconciliation proposed by the father did not take place. This time we felt that the separation would be long, but we already understood that it could not be otherwise. We never mentioned our mother's name again."
At this time, Doctor Botkin became very close to the Tsarevich, who was suffering terribly. Evgeniy Sergeevich spent whole nights at his bedside, and the boy once confessed to him: “I love you with all my little heart.” Evgeny Sergeevich smiled. Rarely did he have to smile when talking about this royal child.
“The pain became unbearable. The boy’s screams and cries were heard in the palace, recalled the head of the palace guard, Alexander Spiridovich. – The temperature rose quickly. Botkin never left the child’s side for a minute.” “I am deeply surprised by their energy and dedication,” wrote the teacher of Alexei and the Grand Duchesses, Pierre Gilliard, about doctors Vladimir Derevenko and Evgeniy Botkin. “I remember how, after long night shifts, they were glad that their little patient was safe again. But the improvement of the heir was attributed not to them, but to... Rasputin.”
Evgeniy Sergeevich did not like Rasputin, believing that he was playing at being an old man, without actually being one. He even refused to accept this man into his home as a patient. However, being a doctor, he could not refuse help at all and personally went to the patient. Fortunately, they saw each other only a few times in their lives, which did not prevent the emergence of rumors that Evgeniy Sergeevich was a fan of Rasputin. This was, of course, slander, but it had its own background. Infinitely more than Gregory, Botkin despised those who organized the persecution of this man. He was convinced that Rasputin was just an excuse. “If there had been no Rasputin,” he once said, “then the opponents of the Royal Family and the preparers of the revolution would have created him with their conversations from Vyrubova; if there had been no Vyrubova, from me, from whomever you want.”
"Dear Old Well"
Doctor Botkin gives the crown princesses Maria and Anastasia a ride
For the attitude of Yevgeny Vasilyevich Botkin to the Royal Family, you can choose only one word - love. And the more he got to know these people, the stronger this feeling became. The family lived more modestly than many aristocrats or merchants. The Red Army soldiers in the Ipatiev House were later surprised that the Emperor wore mended clothes and worn-out boots. The valet told them that before the revolution his master wore the same thing and the same shoes. The Tsarevich wore the old nightgowns of the Grand Duchesses. The girls did not have separate rooms in the palace; they lived in twos.
Sleepless nights and hard work undermined Evgeniy Vasilyevich’s health. He was so tired that he fell asleep in the bath, and only when the water cooled down did he struggle to get to bed. My leg hurt more and more, I had to use a crutch. At times he felt very bad. And then he changed roles with Anastasia, becoming her “patient”. The princess became so attached to Botkin that she was eager to serve him soap in the bathroom, kept watch at his feet, perched on the sofa, never missing a chance to make him laugh. For example, when a cannon was supposed to fire at sunset, the girl always pretended to be terribly afraid and hid in the farthest corner, covering her ears and peeking out with big, feignedly frightened eyes.
Botkin was very friendly with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. She had a kind heart. When, at the age of twenty, she began to receive small pocket money, the first thing she did was volunteer to pay for the treatment of a crippled boy, whom she often saw while walking, hobbling on crutches.
“When I listen to you,” she once told Dr. Botkin, “it seems to me that I see clean water in the depths of the old well.” The younger crown princesses laughed and from then on sometimes in a friendly manner called Dr. Botkin “dear old well.”
In 1913, the Royal Family almost lost him. It all started with the fact that Grand Duchess Tatiana, during celebrations in honor of the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, drank water from the first tap she came across and fell ill with typhus. Evgeniy Sergeevich left his patient, while becoming infected himself. His situation turned out to be much worse, since duty at the princess’s bedside brought Botkin to complete exhaustion and severe heart failure. He was treated by his brother Alexander Botkin, a tireless traveler and inventor who built a submarine during the Russo-Japanese War. He was not only a doctor of science in medicine, but also a captain of the second rank.
Another brother, Pyotr Sergeevich, a diplomat, having learned from a telegram that Evgeny was completely unwell, rushed to Russia from Lisbon, changing from express to express. Meanwhile, Evgeniy Sergeevich felt better. “When he saw me,” wrote Peter, “he smiled with such a smile that was so familiar to his loved ones, almost tender, very Russian.” “He scared us,” said the Emperor to Peter Sergeevich. – When you were notified by telegram, I was in great alarm... He was so weak, so overworked... Well, now that’s behind me, God took him under his protection once again. Your brother is more than a friend to me... He takes everything that happens to us to heart. He even shares our illness.”
Great War
Shortly before the war, Evgeniy Sergeevich wrote to children from Crimea: “Support and take care of each other, my dear ones, and remember that every three of you must replace me on the fourth. The Lord is with you, my beloved ones.” Soon they met, happy - they were one soul.
When the war began, there was hope that it would not last long, that joyful days would return, but these dreams melted away every day.
“My brother visited me in St. Petersburg with his two sons,” recalled Pyotr Botkin. “Today they are both leaving for the front,” Evgeniy simply told me, as if he had said: “They are going to the opera.” I couldn’t look him in the face because I was afraid to read in his eyes what he hid so carefully: the pain of my heart at the sight of these two young lives leaving him for the first time, and maybe forever ... "
“I was appointed to intelligence,” said son Dmitry when parting.
“But you haven’t been appointed yet!” Evgeniy Sergeevich corrected him.
- Oh, it will be soon, it doesn’t matter.
He was actually assigned to intelligence. Then there was a telegram:
“Your son Dmitry was ambushed during the offensive. Considered missing. We hope to find him alive."
Not found. The reconnaissance patrol came under fire from German infantry. Dmitry ordered his men to retreat and remained last, covering the retreat. He was the son and grandson of doctors; fighting for other people's lives was something completely natural for him. His horse returned with a shot through the saddle, and the captured Germans reported that Dmitry had died, giving them his last battle. He was twenty years old.
On that terrible evening, when it became known that there was no more hope, Evgeniy Sergeevich did not show any emotions. When talking to a friend, his face remained motionless, his voice was completely calm. Only when he was left alone with Tatyana and Gleb did he quietly say: “It’s all over. He’s dead,” and cried bitterly. Evgeniy Sergeevich never recovered from this blow.
Only work saved him, and not just him. The Empress and Grand Duchesses spent a lot of time in hospitals. The poet Sergei Yesenin saw the princesses there and wrote:
...Where are pale shadows and sorrowful torments,
They are for the one who went to suffer for us,
Regal hands stretch out,
Blessing them for the hereafter hour.
On a white bed, in a bright glare of light,
The one whose life they want to return is crying...
And the walls of the infirmary tremble
From pity that their chest tightens.
Pulls them closer and closer with an irresistible hand
Where grief puts sadness on the forehead.
Oh, pray, Saint Magdalene,
For their fate.
In Tsarskoye Selo alone, Botkin opened 30 infirmaries. As always, I worked to the limit of human strength. One nurse recalled that he was not just a doctor, but a great doctor. One day, Evgeniy Sergeevich approached the bed of a soldier who came from a peasant background. Due to his severe wound, he did not recover, he only lost weight and was in a depressed state of mind. Things could have ended very badly.
“Darling, what would you like to eat?” – Botkin unexpectedly asked the soldier. “I, your honor, would eat fried pig ears,” he replied. One of the sisters was immediately sent to the market. After the patient ate what he ordered, he began to recover. “Just imagine that your patient is alone,” taught Evgeniy Sergeevich. – Or maybe he is deprived of air, light, nutrition necessary for health? Pamper him."
The secret of a real doctor is humanity. This is what Dr. Botkin once said to his students:
“Once the trust you have acquired in patients turns into sincere affection for you, when they are convinced of your unfailingly cordial attitude towards them. When you enter the room, you are greeted by a joyful and welcoming mood - a precious and powerful medicine, which will often help you much more than with mixtures and powders... Only a heart is needed for this, only sincere heartfelt sympathy for the sick person. So don’t be stingy, learn to give it with a broad hand to those who need it.”
“You need to treat not the disease, but the patient,” his father Sergei Petrovich liked to repeat. It meant that people are different, they cannot be treated the same. For Evgeniy Sergeevich, this idea received another dimension: you need to remember the patient’s soul, this means a lot for healing.
We could tell a lot more about that war, but we won’t linger. Time to talk about the latest feat of Dr. Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin.
The day before
The breath of revolution, increasingly foul, drove many crazy. People did not become more responsible; on the contrary, willingly talking about saving Russia, they energetically pushed it towards destruction. One of these enthusiasts was Lieutenant Sergei Sukhotin, his man in high society circles. Shortly after Christmas '16, he dropped in to see the Botkins. On the same day, Evgeniy Sergeevich invited a front-line soldier, whom he was treating for wounds, to visit - an officer of the Siberian riflemen, Konstantin Melnik. Those who knew him said: “Give him ten men, and he will do the work of hundreds with minimal losses. He appears in the most dangerous places without bowing to bullets. His people say he's under a spell, and they're right."
Sukhotin, with gloating, began to retell yet another gossip about Rasputin - an orgy with young ladies from society, about the officer husbands of these women who brazenly burst into Grigory with sabers, but the police prevented them from finishing him off. The lieutenant did not limit himself to this bullshit, declaring that Rasputin and the Empress’s maid of honor Anna Vyrubova were German spies.
“Forgive me,” the Miller suddenly said, “what you are asserting here is a very serious accusation.” If Vyrubova is a spy, you must prove it.
Sukhotin was stunned, then contemptuously and stupidly began to talk about some kind of intrigue.
– What intrigues? – Konstantin tried to clarify. – If you have evidence, give it to the police. And spreading rumors is pointless and dangerous, especially if it harms Their Majesties.
“I am of the same opinion as Melnik,” Evgeniy Sergeevich intervened, wanting to put an end to this conversation. – Such things cannot be stated without evidence. In any case, we must trust our Sovereign under all circumstances.
Less than a year later, Sukhotin will take part in the murder of Grigory Rasputin. Then he would settle well under the Bolsheviks, marry Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughter Sophia, but he would not live to see forty, crippled by paralysis.
Less than three years after the conversation, Tatyana Botkina will become the wife of Konstantin Melnik. Botkin will have already been shot by this time. “Trust our Sovereign under any circumstances.” This was an extremely accurate and intelligent recommendation given by a doctor to a seriously ill country. But the time was such that people believed liars most of all.
“Basically, I’m already dead.”
On March 2, 1917, Botkin went to visit the children who lived nearby under the supervision of their landlady Ustinya Alexandrovna Tevyashova. She was a 75-year-old stately old lady - the widow of the Governor General. A few minutes after Yevgeny Sergeevich entered the house, a crowd of soldiers with rifles burst into it.
“You have General Botkin,” an ensign in a hat and a red bow approached Ustinya Alexandrovna.
- Not a general, but a doctor, who came to treat a patient.
It was true, Evgeniy Sergeevich really treated the owner’s brother.
– It’s all the same, we were ordered to arrest all the generals.
“I also don’t care who you should arrest, but I think that when talking to me, the widow of the adjutant general, you, firstly, should take off your hats, and secondly, you can get out of here.”
The taken aback soldiers, led by their leader, took off their hats and left.
Unfortunately, there are not too many people like Ustinya Alexandrovna left in the empire.
The sovereign with his family and that part of his entourage that did not betray them found themselves under arrest. It was allowed to go out only to the garden, where an insolent crowd eagerly watched the Tsar through the bars. Sometimes she showered Nikolai Alexandrovich with ridicule. Only a few looked at him with pain in their eyes.
At this time, revolutionary Petrograd, according to the memoirs of Tatyana Botkina, was preparing for a holiday - the funeral of the victims of the revolution. Since they decided not to call priests, the relatives of the victims stole most of the already few bodies. We had to recruit from the dead some Chinese who died of typhus and unknown dead. They were buried very solemnly in red coffins on the Champ de Mars. A similar event was held in Tsarskoye Selo. There were very few victims of the revolution there - six soldiers who died drunk in the basement of a store. They were joined by a cook who died in the hospital and a rifleman who died while quelling a riot in Petrograd. They decided to bury them under the windows of the Tsar’s office in order to insult him. The weather was beautiful, the buds on the trees were green, but as soon as the red coffins were carried into the park fence to the sounds of “you fell a victim in the fatal struggle,” the sun became clouded and wet snow began to fall in thick flakes, obscuring the insane spectacle from the eyes of the Royal Family.
At the end of May, Evgeniy Sergeevich was temporarily released from custody. The daughter-in-law, the wife of the deceased Dmitry, fell ill. The doctor was told that she was dying, but the young widow managed to get out. Returning back to arrest turned out to be much more difficult; I had to personally meet with Kerensky. He, apparently, tried to dissuade Yevgeny Sergeevich, explaining that soon the Royal Family would have to go into exile, but Botkin was adamant. The place of exile was Tobolsk, where the atmosphere was sharply different from the capital. The Tsar continued to be revered here and was seen as a passion-bearer. They sent sweets, sugar, cakes, smoked fish, not to mention money. Botkin tried to repay this handsomely - a world-famous doctor, he treated for free everyone who asked for help, and took on the completely hopeless. Tatyana and Gleb lived with their father.
Evgeniy Sergeevich’s children remained in Tobolsk - he guessed that it was too dangerous to go with him to Yekaterinburg. Personally, I was not at all afraid for myself.
As one of the guards recalled, “this Botkin was a giant. On his face, framed by a beard, piercing eyes sparkled from behind thick glasses. He always wore the uniform that the sovereign granted him. But at the time when the Tsar allowed himself to remove his shoulder straps, Botkin opposed this. It seemed that he did not want to admit that he was a prisoner.”
This was seen as stubbornness, but the reasons for Evgeniy Sergeevich’s perseverance lay elsewhere. You understand them by reading his last letter, which was never sent to his brother Alexander.
“In essence, I died, I died for my children, for my friends, for my cause,” he writes. And then he tells how he found faith, which is natural for a doctor - there is too much Christian in his work. He says how important it has become for him to also take care of the Lord. The story is common for an Orthodox person, but suddenly you realize the full value of his words:
“I am supported by the conviction that “he who endures to the end will be saved.” This justifies my last decision, when I did not hesitate to leave my children as orphans in order to fulfill my medical duty to the end. How Abraham did not hesitate at God’s demand to sacrifice his only son to Him. And I firmly believe that just as God saved Isaac then, He will now save my children, and He Himself will be their father.”
He, of course, did not reveal all this to the children in his messages from Ipatiev’s house. He wrote something completely different:
“Sleep peacefully, my beloved, precious ones, may God protect and bless you, and I kiss and caress you endlessly, as I love you. Your dad...” “He was infinitely kind,” Pyotr Sergeevich Botkin recalled about his brother. “One could say that he came into the world for the sake of people and in order to sacrifice himself.”
The first to die
They were killed gradually. First, the sailors who were looking after the royal children, Klimenty Nagorny and Ivan Sednev, were taken out of the Ipatiev mansion. The Red Guards hated and feared them. They hated them because they allegedly dishonored the honor of sailors. They were afraid because Nagorny - powerful, decisive, the son of a peasant - openly promised to beat them in the face for theft and abuse of royal prisoners. Sednev was silent for the most part, but he was silent so that goosebumps began to run down the backs of the guards. The friends were executed a few days later in the forest along with other “enemies of the people.” On the way, Nagorny encouraged the suicide bombers, but Sednev remained silent. When the Reds were driven out of Yekaterinburg, the sailors were found in the forest, pecked by birds, and reburied. Many people remember their grave strewn with white flowers.
After their removal from Ipatiev’s mansion, the Red Army soldiers were no longer ashamed of anything. They sang obscene songs, wrote obscene words on the walls, and painted vile images. Not all guards liked this. One later spoke with bitterness about the Grand Duchesses: “They humiliated and offended the girls, they spied on the slightest movement. I often felt sorry for them. When they played dance music on the piano, they smiled, but tears flowed from their eyes onto the keys.”
Then, on May 25, General Ilya Tatishchev was executed. Before going into exile, the Emperor offered to accompany him to Count Benckendorff. He refused, citing his wife’s illness. Then the Tsar turned to his childhood friend Nyryshkin. He asked for 24 hours to think about it, to which the Emperor said that he no longer needed Naryshkin’s services. Tatishchev immediately agreed. A very witty and kind person, he greatly brightened up the life of the Royal Family in Tobolsk. But one day he quietly admitted in a conversation with the teacher of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard: “I know that I will not come out of this alive. But I pray for only one thing: that they not separate me from the Emperor and let me die with him.”
They were separated after all - here on earth...
The complete opposite of Tatishchev was General Vasily Dolgorukov - boring, always grumbling. But at the decisive hour he did not turn away, did not chicken out. He was shot on July 10.
There were 52 of them - those who voluntarily went into exile with the Royal Family to share their fate. We named only a few names.
Execution
“I don’t indulge myself in hope, I don’t lull myself into illusions and I look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye,” wrote Evgeniy Sergeevich shortly before his death. Hardly any of them, prepared for death, thought otherwise. The task was simple - to remain ourselves, to remain people in the eyes of God. All prisoners, except the Royal Family, could have bought life and even freedom at any moment, but they did not want to do this.
Here is what the regicide Yurovsky wrote about Yevgeny Sergeevich: “Doctor Botkin was a faithful friend of the family. In all cases, for one or another family need, he acted as an intercessor. He was devoted body and soul to his family and, together with the Romanov family, experienced the severity of their life.”
And Yurovsky’s assistant, executioner Nikulin, once grimaced, undertook to retell the contents of one of Yevgeny Sergeevich’s letters. He remembered the following words there: “...And I must tell you that when the Tsar-Sovereign was in glory, I was with him. And now that he is in misfortune, I also consider it my duty to be with him.”
But these non-humans understood that they were dealing with a saint!
He continued to treat, helping everyone, although he himself was seriously ill. Suffering from cold and kidney colic, back in Tobolsk he gave his fur-lined overcoat to Grand Duchess Maria and the Tsarina. They then wrapped themselves in it together. However, all the doomed supported each other as best they could. The Empress and her daughters looked after their doctor and injected him with medicine. “Suffers very much...” – the Empress wrote in her diary. Another time she told how the Tsar read the 12th chapter of the Gospel, and then he and Dr. Botkin discussed it. We are obviously talking about the chapter where the Pharisees demand a sign from Christ and hear in response that there will be no other sign than the sign of the prophet Jonah: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart earth for three days and three nights." This is about His death and Resurrection.
For people preparing for death, these words mean a lot.
At half past one on the night of July 17, 1918, the arrested were awakened by Commandant Yurovsky, who ordered them to go down to the basement. He warned everyone through Botkin that there was no need to take things, but the women collected some small change, pillows, handbags and, it seems, a small dog, as if they could keep them in this world.
They began to arrange the doomed in the basement as if they were going to be photographed. “There aren’t even chairs here,” said the Empress. The chairs were brought. Everyone - both the executioners and the victims - pretended not to understand what was happening. But the Emperor, who at first held Alyosha in his arms, suddenly put him behind his back, covering him with himself. “That means we won’t be taken anywhere,” Botkin said after the verdict was read out. It was not a question; the doctor's voice was devoid of any emotion.
Nobody wanted to kill people who, even from the point of view of “proletarian legality,” were innocent. As if they had agreed, but in fact, on the contrary, without coordinating their actions, the killers began to shoot at one person - the Tsar. It was only by chance that two bullets hit Evgeniy Sergeevich, then the third hit both knees. He stepped towards the Emperor and Alyosha, fell to the floor and froze in some strange position, as if he was lying down to rest. Yurovsky finished him off with a shot to the head. Realizing their mistake, the executioners opened fire on the other condemned prisoners, but for some reason they always missed, especially on the Grand Duchesses. Then the Bolshevik Ermakov used a bayonet and then began shooting the girls in the heads.
Suddenly, from the right corner of the room, where the pillow was moving, a woman’s joyful cry was heard: “Thank God! God saved me!” Staggering, the maid Anna Demidova - Nyuta - rose from the floor. Two Latvians, who had run out of ammunition, rushed to her and bayoneted her. Alyosha woke up from Anna’s scream, moving in agony and covering his chest with his hands. His mouth was full of blood, but he still tried to say: “Mom.” Yakov Yurovsky started shooting again.
Having said goodbye to the Royal Family and her father in Tobolsk, Tatyana Botkina could not sleep for a long time. “Every time, closing my eyelids,” she recalled, “I saw before my eyes pictures of that terrible night: my father’s face and his last blessing; the tired smile of the Emperor, politely listening to the speeches of the security officer; the Empress’s gaze clouded with sadness, directed, it seemed, into God knows what silent eternity. Plucking up the courage to get up, I opened the window and sat on the windowsill to be warmed by the sun. This April, spring really radiated warmth, and the air was unusually clean...”
She wrote these lines sixty years later, perhaps trying to say something very important about those she loved. About the fact that after night comes morning - and as soon as you open the window, Heaven comes into its own.
In 1917, the residents of Tobolsk were extremely lucky. They now have their own doctor: not only from the capital’s education and upbringing, but also always, at any moment, ready to come to the aid of the sick, and free of charge. The Siberians sent sleighs, horse teams, and even a full ride for the doctor: no joke, the personal doctor of the emperor himself and his family! It happened, however, that the patients did not have transport: then the doctor in a general’s overcoat with tattered insignia would move across the street, getting stuck waist-deep in the snow, and still end up at the bedside of the sufferer.
He treated better than local doctors, and did not charge for treatment. But compassionate peasant women thrust him either a bag of eggs, a layer of lard, a bag of pine nuts or a jar of honey. The doctor returned to the governor's house with gifts. There, the new government kept the abdicated sovereign and his family in custody. The doctor's two children also languished in prison and were as pale and transparent as the four Grand Duchesses and the little one. Tsarevich Alexei. Passing by the house where the royal family was kept, many peasants knelt down, bowed to the ground, and mournfully crossed themselves, as if on an icon.
Empress's Choice
Among the children of the famous Sergei Petrovich Botkin, the founder of several major trends in medicine, the life physician of two Russian autocrats, the youngest son Evgeniy did not seem to shine with anything special. He had little contact with his illustrious father, but followed in his footsteps, like his older brother, who became a professor at the Medical-Surgical Academy. Evgeniy graduated from the Faculty of Medicine with dignity, defended his doctoral dissertation on the properties of blood, got married and volunteered for the Russo-Japanese War. This was his first experience of military field therapy, his first encounter with cruel reality. Shocked by what he saw, he wrote detailed letters to his wife, which were later published as “Notes on the Russo-Japanese War.”
I noticed this work Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Botkin was granted an audience. No one knows what the august lady said in private, suffering not only from the fragility of her health, but most of all from the carefully hidden incurable illness of her son, the heir to the Russian throne.
After the meeting, Evgeniy Sergeevich was offered to take the position of the royal physician. Perhaps his work on studying blood played a role, but, most likely, the empress recognized him as a knowledgeable, responsible and selfless person.
In the center, from right to left, E. S. Botkin, V. I. Gedroits, S. N. Vilchikovsky. In the foreground is Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with the Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Olga. Photo: Public Domain
For myself - nothing
This is exactly how Evgeny Botkin explained to his children the changes in their lives: despite the fact that the doctor’s family moved to a beautiful cottage, entered government support, and could participate in palace events, he no longer belonged to himself. Despite the fact that his wife soon left the family, all the children expressed a desire to stay with their father. But he rarely saw them, accompanying the royal family for treatment, rest, and on diplomatic trips. Evgeny Botkin's daughter Tatyana at the age of 14 she became the mistress of the house and managed expenses, giving funds for the purchase of uniforms and shoes to her older brothers. But no absences, no hardships of the new way of life could destroy the warm and trusting relationship that bound the children and father. Tatyana called him “unvalued daddy” and subsequently voluntarily followed him into exile, believing that she had only one duty - to be close to her father and do what he needed. The royal children treated Evgeniy Sergeevich just as tenderly, almost like a family. Tatyana Botkina's memoirs contain a story about how the Grand Duchesses poured water from a jug for him when he was lying with a sore leg and could not get up to wash his hands before examining the patient.
Many classmates and relatives envied Botkin, not understanding how difficult his life was in this high position. It is known that Botkin had a sharply negative attitude towards Rasputin’s personality and even refused to accept his sick man at his home (but he himself went to him to help). Tatyana Botkina believed that the improvement in the heir’s health when visiting the “elder” occurred just when Evgeniy Sergeevich had already carried out medical measures that strengthened the boy’s health, and Rasputin attributed this result to himself.
Last words
When the sovereign was asked to choose a small retinue to accompany him into exile, only one of the generals he indicated agreed. Fortunately, there were faithful servants among others, and they followed the royal family to Siberia, and some suffered martyrdom along with the last Romanovs. Among them was Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin. For this life physician there was no question of choosing his fate - he made it a long time ago. In the dark months under arrest, Botkin not only treated, strengthened, and spiritually supported his patients, but also served as a home teacher - the royal couple decided that the education of their children should not be interrupted, and all prisoners taught them in some subject.
His own youngest children, Tatyana and Gleb, lived nearby in a rented house. The Grand Duchesses and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna sent cards, notes, and small gifts made with their own hands to brighten up the difficult life of these children, who of their own free will followed their father into exile. Children could only see “daddy” for a few hours a day. But even from the time when he was released from arrest, Botkin carved out the opportunity to visit sick Siberians and rejoiced at the suddenly opened opportunity for wide practice.
Tatyana and Gleb were not allowed into Yekaterinburg, where the execution took place; they remained in Tobolsk. For a long time we didn’t hear anything about my father, but when we found out, we couldn’t believe it.
Religious reading: holy passion-bearer Eugene Botkin prayer to help our readers.
named after St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea
Altai branch
Orthodox societies
doctors of Russia
Martyr Eugene (Botkin)
In February 2016 he was canonized doctor of the Imperial Romanov family, Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin. When getting acquainted with his life, it is impossible not to be imbued with deep reverence and love for this saint. How did the life of a person who chose the profession of a doctor and through it achieve the holiness of life turn out? Careful, interested reading and viewing of materials about the holy doctor of the recent past will bring undoubted benefit, first of all, to modern doctors, and to all our fellow tribesmen.
Loyal to the Emperor, Loyal to Christ(life and feat of the holy passion-bearer Evgeniy Botkin). At the Council of Bishops, passion-bearer Evgeniy Botkin, the last physician of Emperor Nicholas II, was canonized. Materials for his canonization were submitted by the Yekaterinburg Commission for the Canonization of Saints, the chairman of which is the confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Novo-Tikhvin Convent of Yekaterinburg, Schema-Archimandrite Abraham. About the life and feat of the holy passion-bearer Eugene. Read more.
Terletsky O.V., candidate of medical sciences, lieutenant colonel of medical service (graduate of the military medical academy, 1989), deacon.
Holy physician and passion-bearer Evgeniy Botkin: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Read more.
Christian Orthodox newspaper of the North of Russia “VERA”. Read more.
VIDEO: Life physician of the royal family
Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin
(story by the grandson of martyr Evgeniy)
VIDEO: The Joy of the Church. New holy healer
(sermon by Archpriest Konstantin Parkhomenko)
LIGHT AND SHADOWS OF THE RUSSIAN-JAPANESE WAR 1904-1905. E.S. BOTKIN
The book, compiled from the diaries of the holy doctor to his wife from the front, most clearly and reliably testifies to the personality traits of Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin. After reading this book by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Evgeniy Sergeevich became the personal doctor of the imperial family. Download.
THE ROYAL MEDIC: THE LIFE AND FEAT OF EVGENY BOTKIN
Comp. FROM. Kovalevskaya - St. Petersburg: “Tsarskoe Delo”, 2014. – 536 p., ill.
The book includes memoirs of the daughter of Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin - T.E. Botkina and letters to relatives of E.S. Botkin. Download.
VIDEO: BOTKIN EVGENY SERGEEVICH (part 1)
About the feat of the royal servants
Orthodoxy lessons (TV - “UNION”).
VIDEO: BOTKIN EVGENY SERGEEVICH (part 2)
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passion-bearer righteous doctor Evgeniy Botkin
Information
In 1893, Evgeniy Sergeevich defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic “On the influence of albumin and peptones on some functions of the animal body.” The official opponent for the defense was I.P. Pavlov.
In 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Evgeniy Sergeevich voluntarily went to the front, where he was appointed head of the medical unit of the Russian Red Cross Society in the Manchurian Army. “For distinction rendered in cases against the Japanese” he was awarded officer military orders - the Order of St. Vladimir III and II degrees with swords, St. Anna II degree, St. Stanislav III degree, the Serbian Order of St. Sava II degree and the Bulgarian - “For civic merit."
Evgeniy Sergeevich described his memories of the war in the book “The Light and Shadows of the Russian-Japanese War”, after reading which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna elected this true doctor as Life Physician of the Royal Family. Evgeniy Sergeevich devoted the rest of his life entirely to this service, often sacrificing not only his own strength and time, but also the opportunity to see his beloved children for the health and well-being of the Crowned Family.
All his life, Evgeniy Sergeevich was a sincerely religious person who actually realized the ideals of Christianity, as evidenced by reviews from contemporaries, archival documents and his letters.
During the revolution, Evgeniy Sergeevich was one of the few close associates who remained loyal to the Royal Family. The life doctor voluntarily followed the Emperor into exile, sharing all the hardships and sorrows, and on the night of July 16-17, 1918, he was shot along with members of the Imperial family in the basement of the house of the merchant Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg.
The memory of Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was preserved all these years; he was revered by Orthodox Christians in Russia and abroad. In 1981, he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia along with others shot in Ipatiev’s house.
On February 3, 2016, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church made a decision on the church-wide glorification of the righteous passion-bearer Eugene the doctor. The head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, commented on this: “The Council of Bishops made a decision on the glorification of Dr. Evgeniy Botkin. “I think this is a long-desired decision, because this is one of the saints who is revered not only in the Russian Church Abroad, but also in many dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, including in the medical community.”
Let us recall that the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia took an active part in preparing the glorification of the passion-bearer physician Evgeniy (Botkin). At the V All-Russian Congress of Orthodox Doctors, held on October 1-3, 2015 in St. Petersburg, through the efforts of the Orthodox medical community, a memorial plaque dedicated to the life physician of the Royal Family was unveiled at the Military Medical Academy; in preparation for the Congress, an icon of the doctor was painted - passion-bearer, and by the resolution of the congress it was decided to appeal to the Holy Synod with a request for the glorification of Evgeniy Botkin by the Russian Orthodox Church. Place: Moscow, Russia
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This is the first church in Russia consecrated in honor of the holy passion-bearer, physician of the family of Nicholas II, Evgeniy Botkin, who was recently canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, according to the website of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.
Holy physician-passion-bearer Evgeny Botkin
Section of the site: Saints of God - Patrons of the sick and doctors.Holy physician-passion-bearer Evgeniy Botkin.
On February 6, 2016, on the eve of the feast of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye and Bishop Methodius of Kamensk and Alapaevsk celebrated an All-Night Vigil in the Church on the Blood.
Numerous clergy of the Ekaterinburg diocese served with the archpastors.
At the end of the service, Metropolitan Kirill and Bishop Methodius with a host of clergy served a memorial service for the deceased servant of God, the murdered Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin.
After which Bishop Kirill addressed the worshipers:
“Today we celebrated a memorial service here for the last time for Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin, who was killed in this place 98 years ago. Killed along with the royal family and instead of those who were able to stay with them. There were four people with them, not because there were only four of them left, but because others were not allowed in. But those who were allowed in were still a handful of people. Just like at the Cross of the Lord, there were also few people left when Christ was crucified.
You and I stand here today, at this sacred place, at this Russian Golgotha, and let’s think about the fact that it took us, the Church, 98 years to canonize those who laid down their lives as martyrs for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. How many more years do we need for us to realize all the severity and all the misfortune that befell our people, our Motherland these 98 years ago? And when we realize this, maybe then something will change in our lives?
In the meantime, we live as we lived before, and while neither rumors of war, nor current misfortunes, nor illnesses and other terrible events concern us - we live as we lived, burying our heads in the sand so as not to see or hear, so as to not knowing anything and not feeling. And the time is approaching, and we must realize this and pray, pray and pray. We have no other means to change anything: no army, no navy, nothing else that a person who has power and strength can have. But we have something that many others do not have: we know Christ, we know the power of prayer, and we must use it today, strive for it, so that our life turns into prayer. So that we begin to pray consciously, openly, sincerely, and pray not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but in a special way to pray again and again for our Motherland, for our holy Church.
And to be believers and faithful, as Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was - a great man and man who - we know and believe - today stands before the throne of God and prays for everyone standing here and covers us with his grace-filled prayer cover - the cover of a martyr. Today we commemorated him for the last time: “Rest with the saints,” and tomorrow we will ask him: “Holy passion-bearer Eugene, pray to God for us.”
On February 7, 2016, in the Church on the Blood, Metropolitan Kirill and the clergy of the Ekaterinburg diocese, in accordance with the decision of the Council of Bishops, will glorify the physician-passion-bearer Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin.
And after the liturgy, Bishop Kirill will open the exhibition “God is Marvelous in His Saints” in the Church on the Blood, dedicated to the feat in the name of the faith of the holy martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church of the 20th century.
Holy Righteous Evgeniy Botkin, doctor, passion-bearer
Evgeny Botkin with his children
Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was born on May 27, 1865 in Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg province, into the family of the famous Russian general practitioner, professor of the Medical-Surgical Academy, Sergei Petrovich Botkin.
He came from the Botkin merchant dynasty, whose representatives were distinguished by their deep Orthodox faith and charity, helping the Orthodox Church not only with their means, but also with their labors.
Thanks to a reasonably organized system of upbringing in the family and the wise care of his parents, many virtues were implanted in Eugene’s heart from childhood, including generosity, modesty and rejection of violence. His brother Pyotr Sergeevich recalled: “He was infinitely kind. One could say that he came into the world for the sake of people and in order to sacrifice himself.”
Evgeniy received a thorough education at home, which allowed him to enter the fifth grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium in 1878. In 1882, Evgeniy graduated from high school and became a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. However, the very next year, having passed the exams for the first year of the university, he entered the junior department of the newly opened preparatory course at the Imperial Military Medical Academy.
His choice of the medical profession from the very beginning was deliberate and purposeful. Peter Botkin wrote about Evgeny: “He chose medicine as his profession. This corresponded to his calling: to help, to support in difficult times, to ease pain, to heal endlessly.” In 1889, Evgeniy successfully graduated from the academy, receiving the title of doctor with honors, and in January 1890 he began his career at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor.
At the age of 25, Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin married the daughter of a hereditary nobleman, Olga Vladimirovna Manuilova. Four children grew up in the Botkin family: Dmitry (1894–1914), Georgy (1895–1941), Tatyana (1898–1986), Gleb (1900–1969).
Righteous Evgeny Botkin, doctor, passion-bearer
Simultaneously with his work at the hospital, E. S. Botkin was engaged in science, he was interested in questions of immunology, the essence of the process of leukocytosis. In 1893, E. S. Botkin brilliantly defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After 2 years, Evgeniy Sergeevich was sent abroad, where he practiced in medical institutions in Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1897, E. S. Botkin was awarded the title of private assistant professor in internal medicine with a clinic. At his first lecture, he told students about the most important thing in a doctor’s activity: “Let us all go with love for a sick person, so that we can learn together how to be useful to him.”
Evgeniy Sergeevich considered the service of a physician to be a truly Christian activity; he had a religious view of illness and saw their connection with a person’s mental state. In one of his letters to his son George, he expressed his attitude towards the medical profession as a means of learning God’s wisdom: “The main delight that you experience in our work ... is that for this we must penetrate deeper and deeper into the details and the mysteries of God’s creations, and it is impossible not to enjoy their purposefulness and harmony and His highest wisdom.”
Since 1897, E. S. Botkin began his medical work in the communities of nurses of the Russian Red Cross Society. On November 19, 1897, he became a doctor at the Holy Trinity Community of Sisters of Mercy, and on January 1, 1899, he also became the chief physician of the St. Petersburg Community of Sisters of Mercy in honor of St. George. The main patients of the community of St. George were people from the poorest strata of society, but doctors and staff were selected with special care.
Some upper-class women worked there as simple nurses on a general basis and considered this occupation honorable for themselves. There was such enthusiasm among the employees, such a desire to help suffering people, that the St. George’s residents were sometimes compared to the early Christian community. The fact that Evgeniy Sergeevich was accepted to work in this “exemplary institution” testified not only to his increased authority as a doctor, but also to his Christian virtues and respectable life. The position of chief physician of the community could only be entrusted to a highly moral and religious person.
In 1904, the Russian-Japanese War began, and Evgeniy Sergeevich, leaving his wife and four small children (the eldest was ten years old at that time, the youngest four years old), volunteered to go to the Far East. On February 2, 1904, by decree of the Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society, he was appointed assistant to the Commissioner-in-Chief of the active armies for medical affairs. Occupying this fairly high administrative position, Dr. Botkin was often in the forefront.
During the war, Evgeniy Sergeevich not only showed himself to be an excellent doctor, but also showed personal bravery and courage. He wrote many letters from the front, from which a whole book was compiled - “The Light and Shadows of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904–1905.” This book was soon published, and many, after reading it, discovered new sides of the St. Petersburg doctor: his Christian, loving , an infinitely compassionate heart and an unshakable faith in God. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, having read Botkin’s book, wished for Evgeniy Sergeevich to become the personal doctor of the Royal Family. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1908, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree appointing Dr. Botkin as personal physician of the Imperial Court.
Now, after the new appointment, Evgeniy Sergeevich had to constantly be with the emperor and members of his family; his service at the royal court took place without days off or vacations. A high position and closeness to the Royal Family did not change the character of E. S. Botkin. He remained as kind and attentive to his neighbors as he had been before.
When the First World War began, Evgeniy Sergeevich asked the sovereign to send him to the front to reorganize the sanitary service. However, the emperor instructed him to remain with the empress and children in Tsarskoye Selo, where, through their efforts, infirmaries began to open. At his home in Tsarskoe Selo, Evgeniy Sergeevich also set up an infirmary for the lightly wounded, which the Empress and her daughters visited.
In February 1917, a revolution occurred in Russia. On March 2, the sovereign signed the Manifesto abdicating the throne. The royal family was arrested and detained in the Alexander Palace. Evgeniy Sergeevich did not leave his royal patients: he voluntarily decided to be with them, despite the fact that his position was abolished and his salary was no longer paid. At this time, Botkin became more than a friend for the royal prisoners: he took upon himself the responsibility of acting as an intermediary between the imperial family and the commissars, interceding for all their needs.
Holy Righteous Evgeniy Botkin, doctor, passion-bearer
When it was decided to move the Royal Family to Tobolsk, Dr. Botkin was among the few close associates who voluntarily followed the sovereign into exile. Doctor Botkin's letters from Tobolsk amaze with their truly Christian mood: not a word of grumbling, condemnation, discontent or resentment, but complacency and even joy. The source of this complacency was a firm faith in the all-good Providence of God: “Only prayer and ardent boundless hope in the mercy of God, invariably poured out on us by our Heavenly Father, support us.”
At this time, he continued to fulfill his duties: he treated not only members of the Royal Family, but also ordinary townspeople. A scientist who for many years communicated with the scientific, medical, and administrative elite of Russia, he humbly served, as a zemstvo or city doctor, to ordinary peasants, soldiers, and workers.
In April 1918, Dr. Botkin volunteered to accompany the royal couple to Yekaterinburg, leaving his own children, whom he loved dearly and dearly, in Tobolsk. In Yekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks again invited the servants to leave the arrested, but everyone refused. Chekist I. Rodzinsky reported: “In general, at one time after the transfer to Yekaterinburg, there was an idea to separate everyone from them, in particular, even the daughters were offered to leave. But everyone refused. Botkin was offered. He stated that he wanted to share the fate of the family. And he refused."
On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the Royal Family and their associates, including Dr. Botkin, were shot in the basement of Ipatiev’s house.
A few years before his death, Evgeniy Sergeevich received the title of hereditary nobleman. For his coat of arms, he chose the motto: “By faith, fidelity, labor.” These words seemed to concentrate all the life ideals and aspirations of Dr. Botkin. Deep inner piety, the most important thing - sacrificial service to one's neighbor, unwavering devotion to the Royal Family and loyalty to God and His commandments in all circumstances, loyalty to death. The Lord accepts such fidelity as a pure sacrifice and gives the highest, heavenly reward for it: Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life(Rev. 2 :10).
On February 2-3, 2016, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate blessed the church-wide veneration of the holy righteous passion-bearer physician Eugene (Botkin) (†1918, commemorated July 4/17), previously canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
Holy righteous passion-bearer to the doctor Eugene, pray to God for us!
PHOTO GALLERY
Pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville. Oct-2017
Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich Bot-kin was born on May 27, 1865 in Tsarskoye Se-le of the St. Petersburg province in the village my from-west-no-go Russian-go-go-cha-te-ra-pev-ta, pro-fes-so-ra Me-di-ko-hi-rur-gi-che-skoy aka-de -mii Ser-gay Pet-ro-vi-cha Bot-ki-na. He came from the merchant's di-na-stia of the Bot-ki-nykhs, who were introduced to them from the depths of their Because of the right-glorious faith and good-creativeness, the Right-glorious Church not only helps -and-my means, but also my own labor. Bla-go-da-rya ra-zum-but or-ga-ni-zo-van-noy si-ste-me re-pi-ta-niya in the family and wise-roy care-ke ro-di- te-ley in the heart of Ev-ge-niy, already from childhood, there were many good-de-de-te-li, including great co-spirit, modesty and non-self-tie na-si-lia. His brother Pyotr Ser-ge-e-vich recalled: “He was infinitely kind. One could say that he came into the world for the sake of people and in order to sacrifice himself.”
Ev-ge-niy received a basic machine-made equipment, which was given to him in 1878 -I'm going to go straight to the fifth grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg classical gymnasium. In 1882, Ev-geniy graduated from the gymnasium and became a student of physics-co-ma-te-ma-ti-che-go fa-kul-te-ta St. -Petersburg University. However, the very next year, having passed the exams for the first year of the university, he started to graduate from -de-le-nie of the-opening-of-the-go-to-vis-tel-no-go course im-per-ra-tor-skaya Vo-en-no-me-di- Qing Academy of Sciences. His choice of medical profession is very well-known and purposeful. -ter. Peter Bot-kin wrote about Ev-ge-niy: “He chose me-di-tsi-nu for his pro-fes-si-ey. This corresponds to his calling: to help, to support in difficult times, to ease the pain , heal without end.” In 1889, Ev-geniy successfully graduated from the Academy of Sciences, receiving the title of le-kar-rya with ot-li-chi-em, and with yan-va- In 1890, he began his work at the Ma-ri-in hospital for the poor.
At the age of 25, Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich Bot-kin entered into marriage with his daughter-in-law of Ol-ga Vla-di- worldly Ma-nui-lo-voy. Four children grew up in the Bot-ki-nyh family: Dmitry (1894-1914), Ge-or-giy (1895-1941), Ta-tya-na (1898 -1986), Gleb (1900-1969).
One day with work in the hospital E. S. Bot-kin for-no-small-sya, his in-te-re-so-va- whether in-pro-sy im-mu-no-logia, the essence of the process-sa lei-ko-tsi-to-za. In 1893, E. S. Botkin brilliantly defended his dissertation for the degree of doctor of medicine. After 2 years, Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich was ko-man-di-ro-van abroad, where he did practical training in medical Qing institutions of Gey-del-ber-ga and Ber-li-na. In 1897, E. S. Botkin was awarded the title of Pri-vat-do-tsen-ta for internal diseases with a clinic. At his first lecture, he told the students about the most important thing in a doctor’s job: “Let’s all sing with love.” I’m looking to a sick person so that we can learn together how to be helpful to him.” The service of the me-di-ka Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich considered it to be an authentic Christian de-la-ni-m, he had re-li -a gi-oz-ny look at the pain, saw their connection with the soul-spirit of the person. In one of his letters to his son Georgy, he expressed his attitude towards the profession of medicine as a medium the knowledge of God's pre-wisdom: “The main delight is the trade that you use in our business... The conclusion is that for this we must delve deeper and deeper into the details and secrets of creation. God, and it’s impossible not to enjoy their purpose and harmony and His highest wisdom growth."
Since 1897, E. S. Botkin began his medical practice in the communities of nurses of the Mil-lo-Ser-Diya of Russia. of the Red Cross Society. On November 19, 1897, he became a doctor in the Holy Trinity Community of Sister Milo-Ser-Diya, and from January 1, 1899 Yes, he also became the chief physician of the St. Petersburg community of Sister Milo-Ser-Diya in honor of St. George. The main pa-tsi-en-ta-mi communities of St. George were people from the poorest strata of society. stav-to, one-to-one doctors and service personnel were working in it with especial care. Some women of the highest rank worked there as nurses on common grounds. yah and consider it even for yourself. Among the co-workings of the tsa-ri-lo there is such an inspiration, such a-la-ness to help suffering people, that Ge-or-gi-ev-tsev compare-ni-va-y-o-gda with the first-in-Christian-society. The fact that Ev-ge-niya Ser-ge-e-vi-cha decided to work in this “institution” is evidence -stvo-val not only about his growing av-to-ri-te-te as a doctor, but also about his Christian-an-good-de-te-ly and a good life. The position of the chief doctor of the community could be up-to-ve-re-on only with high-moral and religious another person.
In 1904, the Russian-Japanese war began, and Ev-geniy Ser-ge-e-vich, leaving his wife and four children behind - some children (the eldest was ten years old at the time, the youngest - what years old), welcome from the great -looks towards the Far East. February 2, 1904, according to the establishment of the Main Directorate of the Russian Society of the Red Crescent hundred, he was appointed as the most powerful Chief of Staff under the current medical ar-mi-s skaya part. For this high-ranking administrative position, Dr. Botkin often went to work re-do-vyh po-zi-qi-yah. During the war, Ev-geniy Ser-ge-e-vich not only showed himself to be a wonderful doctor, but also showed personal bravery growth and courage. He wrote a lot of letters from the front, from which a whole book was compiled - “The Light and Those of the Russian-Japanese "war of 1904-1905" This book was soon published, and many, having read it, opened wings for the St. Petersburg doctor's own new quarters: his Christian, loving, borderless but co-passionate a giving heart and incredible faith in God. Im-pe-ra-three-tsa Alek-sandra Fe-o-do-rov-na, pro-reading the book of Bot-ki-na, so-la-la, so that Ev-geniy Ser-ge-e-vich became the personal doctor of the Royal family. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1908, im-pe-ra-tor Niko-lay II signed a decree on the sign -nii doctor-ra Bot-ki-na label-me-di-com You-from-the-tea-she-go-yard.
Now, after the new knowledge, Ev-geniy Ser-ge-e-vich had to go with im-per-ra-to-re and members of his family, his service at the royal court was pro-te-ka-la without days off and holidays . Your position and closeness to the Royal Family is not due to E. S. Bot-ki-na’s har-rak-te-ra. He remained the same kind and attentive to his neighbors as he had been before.
When the First World War began, Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich made a request to the go-su-da- Ryu send him to the front for re-or-ga-ni-za-tion of sa-ni-tar-no service. One day, the im-per-ra-tor instructed him to stay with the go-su-da-ryn and the children in Tsar-skoye Se-le, where there were many of them -I started to open the la-za-re-you. At his home in Tsar-skoye Se-le, Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich also arranged a la-za-ret for the easily wounded, someone -ryy-s-sha-la im-ne-ra-three with do-che-rya-mi.
In February 1917, a revolution took place in Russia. March 2nd of the Lord under-pi-sal Ma-ni-fest about ot-re-che-nii from the pre-sto-la. The royal family was arrested and taken into custody in the Alek-san-Drovsky palace. Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich did not leave his royal pa-tsi-en-tov: he voluntarily decided to go with them, despite the fact that his position was abolished, and he stopped paying pity. At this time, Botkin became more than a friend for the royal prisoners: he took upon himself the responsibility of mediating between do with their family and ko-mis-sa-ra-mi, taking care of all their needs.
When the Tsar's family was decided to be transported to To-bolsk, Doctor Bot-kin found himself among the few near wives, who are kindly free, but follow-up for go-su-da-rem into exile. Letters from Doctor Bot-ki-na from To-bol-ska in their own way : not a word of resentment, condemnation, dissatisfaction or resentment, but good-spirit and even joy. Because of this good-heartedness there was firm faith in the all-good Providence of God: “It only supports -the prayer and ardent limitless trust in the mercy of God, invariably our Heavenly Father for us from -li-va-e-muyu.” At this time, he continued to fulfill his responsibilities: he treated not only members of the Royal Family, but also ordinary people -jean A scientist who has spent many years communicating with the scientific, medical, and administrative elite of Russia, he is humble -but he served, as a zemstvo or city doctor, to simple peasants, soldiers, workers.
In April 1918, Doctor Bot-kin volunteered to co-lead the royal party in Eka-terin-burg, leaving To-bol -ske his own children, whom he loved dearly and tenderly. In Eka-te-rin-bur-ge, more-she-vi-ki again offered the servants to leave the are-hundred-van-nyh, but everything was due to -lis. Che-kist I. Ro-dzin-sky reported: “In general, one time after the transfer to Eka-terin-burg there was a thought get away from them all, in particular even before leaving. But everyone left. Bot-ki-well pre-la-ha-li. He stated that he wanted to change the fate of his family. And from-ka-hall-sya.”
On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the Tsar's family and their close wives, including Dr. Botkin, were shot in the sub-va-le house of Ipa-tye-va.
A few years before his death, Ev-ge-niy Ser-ge-e-vich received the title of a hereditary nobility. For his coat of arms, he chose the motto: “By faith, fidelity, labor.” In these words, all the life’s ideas and aspirations of Doctor Bot-kin seemed to be condensed. Deep inner goodness, my most important thing - sacrificial service to one's neighbor, not to-be-may devotion to the Royal Family and loyalty to God and His commandments in all circumstances, loyalty to death. The Lord accepts such faithfulness as a pure sacrifice and gives for it the highest, heavenly reward: Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life ().
Prayers
Prayer to the righteous Evgeniy Botkin, passion-bearer
Holy, glorious confessor and passion-bearer Eugene! We believe and trust that through your suffering and godly life you acquired great mercy and boldness from the Lord God, you have not forgotten the heritage of your earthly, our fatherland, in But we, your honor, are overwhelmed by many adversities of the enemy and the passions of life. We also ask you: with your prayers and intercession, beg our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from all troubles and evil circumstances, from all illnesses and illnesses and from all enemies, ours and the invisible. Oh, great servant of God! Breathe for us, sinners, to the Lord of all, may He forgive us all our sins and send down upon us the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, so that all filthiness may cease, the rest of our lives Let us live in piety and purity and, having thus pleased the Lord, we will be worthy of an ever-blessed life, singing and chanting the great mercy of God and your merciful intercession for us at the Throne of God forever and ever. Amen.
Second prayer to righteous Evgeniy Botkin, passion-bearer
Oh, glorious passion-bearer Eugene, great servant of God, bring our tearful prayer to our Lord God, reconcile Him to us sinners, may the righteous take away His wrath reconciles our long-suffering country; may he establish prosperity and peace, may he bestow upon us an abundance of earthly fruits, and may he forbid our enemies from causing offense to the orphaned and helpless. Moreover, falling to your icon, we remember with faith your suffering for Christ, and we pray to you: do not leave us and ask the Lord for good things, temporary and eternal, that we may glorify Great God forever. Amen.
Third prayer to righteous Evgeniy Botkin, passion-bearer
Oh, all-glorious passion-bearer, worthy saint of Christ, champion of the Orthodox Church, new martyr and healer Saint Eugene! On bended knee we pray to you: look upon us, sinners, who have resorted to your intercession, hear this little prayer of ours and with your warm intercession we implore the All-Merciful God, to Him stand with the Angels and all the saints, may he preserve us in the unity of the Orthodox Church and confirm us in our hearts our living spirit of right faith and piety, and will deliver us from all temptation and the deception of demons. According to the greatness of your love, which you have loved your neighbor, ask the Almighty God for your Fatherland (and ours too), peace and improvement; To all of us, the unworthy, who diligently resort to you, a godly and serene life and a good Christian death, participation in the mysteries of God. Oh, our holy intercessor, do not leave us, weak and helpless, we pray for us to the Lord and Our Savior Jesus Christ, may He, our All-Generous and Most Merciful Lord, grant us all, even for temporary and eternal benefit, useful and necessary; may he not repay us according to our deeds, but out of his indescribable love for mankind may he forgive us our sins and transgressions, may he deliver us from all need and sorrow, sorrow and illness; may he bestow upon us good intentions and strength to strive to correct our lives, and in the future may he enable us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and glorify together with you the All-Holy Name From the King and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Canons and Akathists
Akathist to the holy new martyr doctor Evgeniy Botkin
Kontakion 1
Ikos 1
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 2
Seeing Christ God your soul, O all-glorious Eugene, preprepared to receive the word of God, enlightening you with His grace, for you followed the Path, Truth and Life invariably until your death as a martyr; now having kept the faith, as a faithful warrior of Christ, rejoicing in the Heavenly Fatherland, singing to the Lord: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 2
With your mind, honest Eugene, from the days of your youth, following the image of your father’s service, you grew in the art of healing, working diligently in the universal school, and more than this, you shone with love for the suffering people, medically healing the poor and giving everything to yourself according to the apostolic covenant. . We pray to you: transform our souls with merciful love, so that we too may be able to bear the burdens of our neighbors and serve them without hypocrisy, and return in the grace of God, calling to you:
Rejoice, eminent parents and blessed children;
Rejoice, you who have blossomed with a fruit-bearing branch on the tree of your family;
Rejoice, multiplying the gifted talent;
Rejoice, thou who always seekest righteousness and truth;
Rejoice, imitating St. Agapit in firm trust in the Lord;
Rejoice, like Seraphim, you have acquired spiritual joy;
Rejoice, thou who bringest forth from the depths of unbelief;
Rejoice, you who enlighten many in their understanding;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 3
The Power of the Most High and the Protection of the Queen of Heaven fell upon you, good-natured Eugene, in the time of battle with pagan Japan, when burning with love for the suffering warriors, you served them with medical art, imitating Panteleimon the Healer, regardless of dangers and hardships, constantly singing a song to God in your heart : "Hallelujah!"
Ikos 3
Having the gift of speech, given to you by God, most praised Eugene, while healing the bodies of the suffering, you did not forget about their souls, comforting, admonishing, instructing and healing from lack of faith, despondency and despair of evil. Remembering this now, we ask you: make a prayer for us to the Physician of souls and bodies, and through your intercession we, too, will deliver you from temporary and eternal sorrows, leading you as a vigilant helper, crying out to you with emotion:
Rejoice, loving One Christ with all your heart;
Rejoice, as a merciful Samaritan, serving your neighbors;
Rejoice, you who brought undoubted hope into their souls;
Rejoice, you who free our minds from the vanity of our manifolds;
Rejoice, you who turn us to the knowledge of God’s good providence;
Rejoice, you who attract us to the creation of prayer without laziness;
Rejoice, thou who fillest our souls with fruitfulness;
Rejoice, strengthener of those exhausted by the sorrows of life;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 4
Having safely passed through the storm of thoughts and passions, Saint Eugene, for you have found the quiet refuge of Christ, for whom you have labored tirelessly in much long-suffering; We pray to you: fill our souls with the peace of the Lord, illuminate our minds with good thoughts, so that we may move away from the filth of sin and be able to follow the covenant of the Savior, singing to Him about you: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 4
The blessed Queen Alexandra heard about you, as, most praised Eugene, you were superior to others in your knowledge of healing, as with zeal and love you served the soldiers suffering on the battlefield, calling you to serve in your palace; Tsar Nicholas is almost the rank of physician. Glorifying God, who exalts the humble of heart and crowns them with mercy and bounty, we cry to you:
Rejoice, healer of severe and incurable bodily ailments;
Rejoice, healer of spiritual infirmities and passions;
Rejoice, for all who come to you receive abundant blessings from the giver;
Rejoice, you who adorn our souls with patience and courage;
Rejoice, you who satisfy us who hunger and thirst for righteousness;
Rejoice, purifying our hearts through the grace of God given to you;
Rejoice, thou who sharpest our spiritual eyes to see God;
Rejoice, you who pacify our enmities and quarrels;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 5
The holy martyr Eugene truly appeared to the godly star, showing the way to Christ, for all the days of your earthly life you were a disciple, friend and enemy, and moreover, you showed to your neighbors the image of a virtuous life, now, remembering your labors, we joyfully sing To Christ, the almighty Physician of souls and bodies, who strengthened your neck with His grace, singing thanksgiving: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 5
Seeing the suffering of the soldiers during the days of the war with Germany, we strive together with Tsarina Alexandra for love and you created a glorious hospital in Tsarskoe Selo, where many suffering people found spiritual and physical healing. We, now remembering all this, ask you, Saint Eugene, with your prayer, heal us sinners, and we cry out to you in gratitude:
Rejoice, you who put good thoughts in your hearts for doctors;
Rejoice, who constantly strengthens them in serving their neighbors;
Rejoice, you who strengthen the sick in meekness and patience;
Rejoice, you who show us all the paths of healing;
Rejoice, you who raise up those abandoned by doctors from their sick beds;
Rejoice, thou who illumines the inner darkness of our souls with the light of Christ;
Rejoice, you who return those who have departed from the right faith to the path of salvation;
Rejoice, thou who wisely nourishes those wandering on the sea of this life;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 6
The Lord reveal you as a preacher of piety in the city of Petrov and Selo Tsarskoe, and more than these in the borders of Siberia, Saint Eugene: who would not be moved by remembering your great virtues: wisdom and love, meekness and patience, prayer and mercy, as if not only honest and noble You shone with your life, but you also served your neighbor freely, and you confessed the faith of Christ in the face of the God-fighting authorities: in the same way, glorifying God, we sing wondrously in our saints: “Alleluia!”
Ikos 6
You shone with the light of undoubted faith in the time of the cruel trial, the most praised Eugene, when people who were pious to God raised a battle against Our Almighty God and His Anointed One, in the days of slaughter the blood of the martyr and passion-bearers flowed like water, for Christ and His righteousness they were killed. You, servant of God, suffered exile from the city of Petrov to Tobolsk together with Tsar Nicholas; Remembering this now, we ask you: renew our faith and revive our hope, so that we call to you:
Rejoice, you have laid aside the fear of death and suffering through great faith in the Risen God;
Rejoice, you have inspired many around you to achieve spiritual feats;
Rejoice, thou who washest our souls from the smoldering coals of hatred;
Rejoice, you who enrich us with the gift of heavenly goodness;
Rejoice, you who protect our lips from slander and condemnation;
Rejoice, you who teach us to serve our neighbors with good words;
Rejoice, to see in every person the image of God that promotes him;
Rejoice, you who resurrect merciful love in hearts;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 7
Although you followed Christ, imitated Him with all zeal, having accepted His yoke, learned from Him meekness and humility, you desired with all your heart, Blessed Eugene, to work for the only Lord, you counted it on yourself as nothing, applying labor to labor in a spirit of meekness and humility , you have acquired boldness in prayer, calling on your neighbors to faithfully glorify God, the One in the Trinity, and to sing to Him: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 7
The Lord has given a new lamp to the Russian Church - Eugene, a well-skilled doctor and an all-glorious new martyr, for you, servant of God, are now in the highest, but you do not abandon us, the lower ones, with your prayers and intercession with Christ - the King of glory and the Lord our God. For this reason, bewildered to praise you according to your inheritance, with tenderness of heart, from the depths of the soul, we appeal to you:
Rejoice, you who graciously sanctify all who come to you with faith;
Rejoice, you who diligently help those who call upon you;
Rejoice, thou who with thy light disperses our sinful darkness;
Rejoice, you who warm our cold hearts with the warmth of your love;
Rejoice, thou who destroyest the machinations of the enemy through thy intercession;
Rejoice, thou who revealest to us the treasure of the spiritual world;
Rejoice, you who guide the lost to the light of Christ;
Rejoice, you who teach the Christian hope to the faithful;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 8
Imitating the strange and ineffable humility of the incarnate God of the Word, the most glorious passion-bearer, you yourself were filled with great humility and gentleness, even towards the enemy of your people and your King. We now pray to you, servant of God, by your heavenly representation, ask for these God-loving virtues for us, so that we may not be enslaved by sinful passions, but be filled with the spirit of love and meekness towards our neighbors and piously sing to Our Savior: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 8
Full of the love of Christ, blessed Eugene, you did not leave your crowned family in captivity, and with great love you served as a good and wise doctor, as a prayer leader and faithful confidant, as a reverent friend, as a Christian, to the Anointed One of God. We desire to follow your love and fidelity, and we offer you such praises with hope:
Rejoice, having endured the languor of imprisonment from the wicked apostates;
Rejoice, you who neglected earthly sorrows and found heavenly joy;
Rejoice, thou who hast striven from earthly darkness to Heavenly light;
Rejoice, you who teach us right faith and piety;
Rejoice, you who give us the hope we know;
Rejoice, you who kindle unfeigned love in us;
Rejoice, you who strengthen us in enduring trials and persecutions;
Rejoice, thou who enlightenest our souls, darkened by sins, with the light of the Gospel;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 9
With all your life, merciful service and many different virtues, you have attracted to yourself the great grace of martyrdom, blessed boyar Evgeniy. For you have learned from your youth to cleave to God with your heart, most wonderful passion-bearer. Teach us, unworthy ones, to seek above all else the Kingdom of God, and to despise the transitory and corruptible, singing in the tenderness of the Lord: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 9
The prophets of many things will not be able, according to their heritage, to utter the most wonderful glorification of your memory, most praised passion-bearer Eugene; We, moved by you to repentance, wanting to imitate your kindness, ask you: strengthen us in the faith of the truth to stand firmly, turn our hearts away from the lies of the false prophets of the earthly paradise, establish ourselves in the truth of the Gospel, shake and destroy the power of human malice with your holy prayers, holy one new martyr, transform withered souls with kindness and love for mankind, and accept this greatness with much mercy:
Rejoice, you who raised your mind to Him who was crucified on the Cross for our sake;
Rejoice, who through your suffering death preached the gentleness of the Lamb of God;
Rejoice, you who bring the light of Christ to the people;
Rejoice, you who give the grace-filled power of healing to those who ask;
Rejoice, thou who deliverest us from sinful leprosy;
Rejoice, you who send good consolation into hearts;
Rejoice, you who graciously inspire hope in God’s mercy;
Rejoice, forsaking sins and giving us strength in a virtuous life;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 10
In accomplishing your saving feat, Eugene is worthy of praise, you rejected the words of the atheists who forced you Emperor Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra and their children to leave and accept other service, for you, having followed the duty of a doctor and honor of the nobility, remained in glory with the God-crowned Tsar and in sorrow You appeared to him as a faithful servant, placing your trust in the Lord Eternal, you betrayed your children to His providence, for you gained Abraham’s hope and through faith you became like the long-suffering Job. Now, with all the righteous, who from time immemorial have gone into the valley of eternal joy, magnify the Heavenly Father with the all-victorious singing: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 10
A strong wall, not overcome by the tricks of the devil, you remained to the end, the martyr of Christ Eugene, imprisoned in the house of Hypatia with the royal martyrs, looking at the head of faith and the finisher of Jesus, for you followed Him even to the death of the cross, knowing for Christ by His death trampled upon, and those killed for Him will reign with Him forever in the abodes of the Heavenly Father. Honoring your holy death, we worship the unsearchable Providence of the Almighty, who has made you a partaker of His ineffable glory in Heavenly Jerusalem; from here incline your ear to our voice crying out to you:
Rejoice, poor in spirit, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven;
Rejoice, you who grieve and weep, for the Lord has comforted you;
Rejoice, meek sufferer, as glorified by God;
Rejoice, you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you have been filled;
Rejoice, merciful to those who suffer, for you have been merciful by God;
Rejoice, pure in heart, for now you see God directly;
Rejoice, peacemaker, called the son of God;
Rejoice, persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for today the Kingdom of Heaven is yours;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 11
The incessant singing of the Sweetest Jesus and His Most Pure Mother is exalting, the all-glorious Eugene, blessing his murderers and begging for their forgiveness, as if they do not know whose evil will they are doing, thereby teaching us to bless our enemies, and not to curse, singing the god-red song: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 11
Filled with the luminous lamp, the oil of pure prayer, and the flame of faith shining brightly, the Lord, holy New Martyr Eugene, has raised you up to all pious Christians who reverently honor your memory. We, with the eyes of faith, see you in the Trinity Light in the host of saints, who have whitened their robe in the blood of the Lamb, taking away the peace and prosperity of the one who abides for us. For this reason, with hope we sing to you:
Rejoice, ever triumphant with the bright angels;
Rejoice, having magnified Christ in your life and sufferings;
Rejoice, having ascended to the Kingdom of Heaven along a narrow path;
Rejoice, in the host of the new martyrs eternal peace and bliss have been acquired;
Rejoice, gloriously freeing us from passions and spiritual burdens;
Rejoice, instiller of good thoughts and feelings in bewilderment of beings;
Rejoice, thou who turns us away from soul-destroying evil;
Rejoice, thou who bestowest warmth of soul upon Christians;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 12
Marveling at the grace that dwells in you, we magnify you, boyar Eugene: we believe that having accomplished the works of God on earth, and having endured great suffering, you now rest with the Lord in His abodes, looking down on us from the heights of heaven, and inclining towards us the highest mercy. Hoping for your intercession and trusting in your gracious help, we glorify God in our saints: “Hallelujah!”
Ikos 12
Singing your wondrous and righteous life, your deeds of mercy, your service to your neighbors, all your deeds that you accomplished through faith, fidelity and great labor for the glory of God, we praise, we honor your confession, we honor your martyrdom, most praised Eugene, we ask and pray to you , help us, holy intercessor, in those who fall into various temptations, struggles and misfortunes. Above all, strengthen and teach us, so that we may become imitators of your holy life and gratefully praise you:
Rejoice, rule of faith and piety, all-perfect image;
Rejoice, flame kindled by the grace of the Divine Spirit;
Rejoice, triumphant with the seven new Russian martyrs;
Rejoice, celebrate eternal Easter with Tsar Nicholas;
Rejoice, with Queen Alexandra you magnify the Heavenly Father;
Rejoice, praising the Mother of God with the holy princesses;
Rejoice, thou who with Tsarevich Alexy inclines God's mercy to us;
Rejoice, quick obedient to all who call upon you with faith;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 13
Oh, our wonderful and glorious intercessor, the worthy new martyr Eugene! Accept now this little prayer of ours, offered to you in the tenderness of our hearts, and beg our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from all the misfortunes of the enemy, and to grant us, in unceasing prayer and repentance, to preserve the faith of Christ to the end and to improve the good things that are to come in Heaven, singing to God : "Hallelujah!"
This kontakion is read three times.
Ikos 1
You were an earthly angel and a heavenly man, Saint Eugene, from your youth until your very death as a martyr you worked tirelessly for the Lord, adding labor to labor and ascending from strength to strength, so that Christ may be glorified in you, Healing our souls and bodies, for whose sake you labored You have loved Him, You have longed for Him alone, You have endured much for His suffering, You are brightly adorned by His grace. For this reason you, in heaven and on earth, glorified by the cry of yours:
Rejoice, kind teacher of vigor and sobriety;
Rejoice, known persecutor of negligence and idleness;
Rejoice, diligence, affirmation of every good, diligent;
Rejoice, quick obedience to the trustee of the God-fearing laity;
Rejoice, praise of doctors and adornment of new martyrs;
Rejoice, you who suffered innocently from the lawless love for Christ;
Rejoice, you who listen to our prayers, even those who are weak, with love;
Rejoice, you who fulfill our petitions to you with all my soul and heart;
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
Kontakion 1
Chosen saint and passion-bearer of Christ, the most glorious Eugene, kindled by the flame of Christ’s love, you flourished on the rock of faith; You meekly endured many sorrows and a cruel death from the royal passion-bearers from the atheists, you laid down your soul for faith and truth. Now we celebrate your all-honorable memory, and bring you songs of praise. But you, who have boldness towards the Lady of heaven and earth, free us from all troubles, who are now calling to you:
Rejoice, holy New Martyr Eugene, good and merciful physician!
First prayer
Holy, glorious confessor and passion-bearer Eugene! We believe and hope that through your suffering and God-pleasing life, having acquired great mercy and boldness from the Lord God, you have not forgotten the property of your earthly, our fatherland, in which we, your admirers, are overwhelmed by many enemy adversities and worldly passions. We also ask you: with your prayers and intercession, beg our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from all troubles and evil situations, from all illnesses and diseases and from all enemies, visible and invisible. O great servant of God! Breathe for us, sinners, to the Lady of all, may we forgive all our sins and may the grace of the All-Holy Spirit descend upon us, so that, having ceased from all filthiness, we may live the rest of our lives in all piety and purity and, having thus pleased the Lord, we will be worthy of an ever-blessed life, singing and chanting the great mercy of God and your merciful intercession for us at the Throne of God forever and ever. Amen.
Second prayer
Oh, glorious passion-bearer Eugene, great servant of God, bring our tearful prayer to the Lord our God, propitiate Him towards us sinners, so that the righteous will take away his wrath and pacify our long-suffering country; may he establish prosperity and peace, may he bestow upon us an abundance of earthly fruits, and may he forbid our enemies from causing offense to the orphaned and helpless. In the same way, falling to your icon, we remember with faith your suffering, endured for Christ, and we pray to you: do not leave us and ask the Lord for good things, temporary and eternal, so that we may glorify the God who has glorified you forever. Amen.
Prayer three
Oh, all-glorious passion-bearer, praiseworthy servant of Christ, champion of the Orthodox Church, new martyr and healer Saint Eugene! On bended knee we pray to you: look upon us sinners who have come running to your intercession, hear this little prayer of ours and with your warm intercession implore the All-Merciful God, to whom you now stand with the Angels and all the saints, may he preserve us in the unity of the Orthodox Church and establish us in our hearts our living spirit of right faith and piety, and will deliver us from all temptation and the deception of demons. According to your great love, with which you have loved your neighbor, ask the all-generous God for your Fatherland (and ours as well) for peace and prosperity; to all of us, the unworthy, who diligently resort to you, a godly and serene life and a good Christian death, a participant in the mysteries of God. Oh, our holy intercessor, do not leave us, weak and helpless, we pray for us to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that He, our All-Bounteous and Most Merciful Lord, may grant us everything that is useful and necessary for temporal and eternal benefit; may he not reward us according to our deeds, but out of his indescribable love for mankind may he forgive us our sins and transgressions, may he deliver us from all need and sorrow, sorrow and illness; May he bestow upon us good intentions and the strength to struggle to correct our lives, and in the future may he grant us the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and glorify with you the All-Holy Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
