Skobtsova, Maria (1891–1945)
Skobtsova, Maria (1891–1945)
Latvian Russian Orthodox nun, essayist, poet and hero. Name variations: Mother Mariia or Maria; Mother Maria Skobtsóva; Elizaveta Kuzmina-Karavaeva; Elizabeta or Elizaveta Iur'evna Kuz'mina-Karavaeva; Liza Kuzmin-Karaviev; Elizabeta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova; Elizaveta Skobtsóva. Born Elizaveta Pilenko, 1891, in Riga, Latvia; died in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Mar 30, 1945; dau. of Sophia Pilenko; attended Theological Academy of Alexander Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg; m. Dimitri Kuzmin-Karaviev (Bolshevik intellectual), 1910; m. Daniel Skobtsóva (schoolmaster); children: Gaiana Kuzmin-Karaviev, Yuri Skobtsóva, Anastasia Skobtsóva, George.
Had early career as a painter and poet; participated in Union of Youth Exhibition (1912); joined Social Revolutionary Party and participated in modernist literary groups; moved to Paris (1920), where she painted murals for two churches; wrote Scythian Crocks (1912), Ruth (1916), 2-volume work on lives of saints (1927), book on Russian religious philosopher Vladimir Solov'ëv (1929), and religious poetry; took the veil (1926); worked for Russian émigré community; during WWII, rescued Jews during Nazi occupation; arrested with son and others (1943); collection of work published posthumously (1947); canonized by Russian Orthodox Church (2003).
See also Laurence Varant, Mother Maria Skobtsova (Perrin, 2000).