In the spring of 1908, Doctor of Medicine Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin received an august offer to become the personal physician of the Imperial Family. This invitation looked quite logical, because Yevgeny's father, Sergei Petrovich Botkin, an outstanding physician and author of many scientific discoveries, served as a life physician, first under Tsar Alexander II, then under Alexander III. Evgeny Sergeevich himself graduated from the Military Medical Academy with excellent results, trained in the best clinics in Europe, and was well-versed in many areas of medicine. But few people knew that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna chose Dr. Botkin after reading his book Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War. Describing his experience of military field therapy, the author involuntarily revealed himself as a person who is characterized by deep compassion, as a Christian capable of self-sacrifice. “Next to such a doctor, one will not be afraid even in the face of death,” Alexandra Fedorovna admitted to the maid of honor Anna Vyrubova.

The service of Yevgeny Botkin at the Tsar's court took place without days off and holidays, he was inseparably with the emperor and members of his family. When the First World War began, Evgeny Sergeevich asked the sovereign to send him to the front to reorganize the sanitary service. However, the emperor instructed him to stay with the empress and the children in Tsarskoye Selo, where hospitals began to open through the efforts of the Romanovs. In his house, Evgeny Sergeevich also arranged a hospital department for the wounded.

In February 1917, a revolution took place in Russia. On March 2, the sovereign signed the Manifesto on abdication. The royal family was arrested and taken into custody in the Alexander Palace. Evgeny Sergeevich did not leave his patients: he decided to stay with them, despite the fact that his position was abolished and his salary was stopped.

When it was decided to transfer the Romanovs to Tobolsk, Evgeny Botkin voluntarily followed them into exile. In Siberia, he treated not only members of the Royal Family, but everyone who turned to him for help. The scientist, who for many years communicated with the Russian elite, here humbly served, like a zemstvo doctor, ordinary townspeople.

In April 1918, Dr. Botkin volunteered to accompany the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg, leaving his own children in Tobolsk, whom he loved passionately and tenderly. In Yekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks again suggested that Yevgeny Sergeevich leave the arrested.

Citizen Botkin, you are not bound by any restrictions and can leave for Moscow today. We will issue you documents that will help you to get to Tobolsk without hindrance, so that you can pick up the children, and then, together with them, to the capital.

EVGENY BOTKIN:

Thank you, but my children are healthy, and Tsarevich Alexei Romanov is seriously ill and needs my help hourly. If I leave an heir, how can I reconcile this act with my conscience?

There are no heirs and crown princes here! There is the son of the state criminal Nikolai Romanov, who also bears the burden of all the charges! And anyone who voluntarily stays with them will share their fate, whatever it may be. Do you understand it?

EVGENY BOTKIN:

Yes, I understand that. But, once taking an oath to the sovereign, I gave him my word of honor to remain with him as long as he lives. It is impossible for a man of my position not to keep such a word.

Dr. Botkin was fully aware that by refusing to leave the Romanovs he was signing his own death warrant. On the eve of the execution, Evgeny Sergeyevich wrote in one of his letters: “In essence, I died, I died for my children, for friends, for business. I don’t indulge myself with hope, I don’t lull myself into illusions, and I look unvarnished reality straight in the eye. I am supported by the conviction that "he who endures to the end shall be saved."

A few years before his death, Evgeny Sergeevich received the title of hereditary nobleman. For his coat of arms, he chose the motto: "By faith, fidelity, work." With these virtues, Dr. Botkin went through life, with them he entered the Kingdom of Heaven, carrying out sacrificial service to his neighbors to death, as the Lord commanded.

“So many invisible spiritual threads connect us with the New Martyrs and Confessors of our Church, our country is undoubtedly preserved in Orthodoxy through their prayers, and their example of fidelity to Christ is so important for our current lukewarm life...”

07.02.2016 The labors of the brethren of the monastery 13 567

“Today the Russian Church rejoices with joy, glorifying its new martyrs and confessors: saints and priests, royal martyrs, noble princes and princesses, reverend men and women and all Orthodox Christians, in the days of godless persecution, laying down their lives for faith in Christ and keeping the Truth with their blood. By those intercession, long-suffering Lord, preserve our country in Orthodoxy until the end of the age.

(Troparion to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia)

“I celebrated the Divine Liturgy with a special feeling today, so many invisible spiritual threads connect us with the new martyrs and confessors of our Church, our country is undoubtedly preserved in Orthodoxy through their prayers, and their example of fidelity to Christ is so important for our current lukewarm life, so that through repentance and contrition for their sins to return again and again to a truly Christian life. It was joyful to realize also a small involvement in the fact that the wonderful holy passion-bearer Eugene the doctor is now glorified by the whole Church and in Yekaterinburg today the liturgical act of his canonization as a saint took place. Here is the word of Yekaterinburg Metropolitan Kirill:

“Today, for the last time, we served here a memorial service for Yevgeny Sergeevich Botkin, who was killed 98 years ago at this place. Killed along with the royal family and instead of those who could stay with them. There were four people with them, not because there were only four of them left, but because the others were not allowed. But even those who were admitted - they were still a handful of people. Just like at the Cross of the Lord, there were also few people left when Christ was crucified.

Today we are standing here, at this sacred place, at this Russian Golgotha, and let's think that it took us, the Church, 98 years to canonize those who martyred for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland laid down their lives. And 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 life with you?

In the meantime, we live the way we used to live, and as long as neither rumors about the war, nor the ongoing troubles, nor illnesses and other terrible events concern us, we live as we lived, we bury our heads in the sand so as not to see or hear, so that know nothing and feel nothing. And the time is approaching, and we must be aware of 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 today, strive for this, so that our life turns into prayer. So that we begin to pray consciously, frankly, sincerely, and pray not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but in a special way again and again pray for our Motherland, for our holy Church.

And to be believers and faithful, like Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin was - a great husband and person who - we know and believe - today stands before the throne of God and prays for all those standing here and covers us with his blessed prayer cover - the cover of a martyr. Today we commemorated him for the last time, “God rest with the saints,” and tomorrow we will ask him: “Holy passion-bearer Eugene, pray to God for us.”

Today, February 7, 2016, in the Church-on-the-Blood, Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, with the clergy of the Yekaterinburg diocese, in accordance with the decision of the Council of Bishops, glorified the Passion-bearer Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin as a saint.

PASSION BEARER YEVGENY VRACH (BOTKIN)

Eugene received a thorough home education, which in 1878 allowed him to immediately enter the fifth grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg classical gymnasium. In 1882, Evgeny graduated from the gymnasium and became a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at 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 opened preparatory course of the Imperial Military Medical Academy. From the very beginning, his choice of the medical profession was conscious and purposeful. Pyotr Botkin wrote about Evgeny: “He chose medicine as his profession. This corresponded to his vocation: to help, support in a difficult moment, relieve pain, heal without end. In 1889, Eugene successfully graduated from the academy, receiving the title of doctor with honors, and from January 1890 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 Manuylova. Four children grew up in the Botkin family: Dmitry (1894–1914), Georgy (1895–1941), Tatyana (1898–1986), Gleb (1900–1969).

Simultaneously with work in 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, Evgeny Sergeevich was sent abroad, where he practiced at medical institutions in Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1897 E.S. Botkin was awarded the title of assistant professor in internal medicine with the clinic. At his first lecture, he told students about the most important thing in a doctor's work: "Let's all go with love to a sick person, so that we can learn together how to be useful to him." Evgeny Sergeevich considered the service of a physician to be a truly Christian deed, he had a religious view of illnesses, saw their connection with the state of mind of a person. In one of his letters to his son George, he expressed his attitude to the medical profession as a means of knowing 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 secrets of God's creations, and it is impossible not to enjoy their expediency and harmony and His highest wisdom.

Since 1897 E.S. Botkin began his medical career in the communities of sisters of mercy of the Russian Red Cross Society. On November 19, 1897, he became a doctor in the Holy Trinity Community of Sisters of Mercy, and on January 1, 1899, he also became 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 attendants were selected in it with special care. Some women of the upper class worked there as simple nurses on a general basis and considered this occupation an honor for themselves. Such enthusiasm reigned among the employees, such a desire to help suffering people that the people of St. George were sometimes compared with the early Christian community. The fact that Yevgeny 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 the chief physician of the community could only be entrusted to a highly moral and believing person.
In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began, and Evgeny 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 a decree of the Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society, he was appointed assistant to the Commissioner-in-Chief for the active armies for the medical unit. Occupying this rather high administrative position, Dr. Botkin was often at the forefront. During the war, Evgeny Sergeevich not only showed himself to be an excellent doctor, but also showed personal courage and courage. He wrote many letters from the front, from which a whole book was compiled - “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.” This book was soon published, and many, having read 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, after reading Botkin's book, wished that Evgeny Sergeevich became the personal doctor of the Royal Family. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1908, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree appointing Dr. Botkin as a medical officer of the Imperial Court.

Now, after the new appointment, Evgeny Sergeevich had to constantly be with the emperor and members of his family, his service at the royal court proceeded without days off and holidays. The high position and closeness to the Royal family did not change the character of E.S. Botkin. He remained as kind and considerate to others as he had been before.
When the First World War began, Evgeny Sergeevich asked the sovereign to send him to the front to reorganize the sanitary service. However, the emperor instructed him to stay with the empress and the children in Tsarskoe Selo, where infirmaries began to open through their efforts. At his home in Tsarskoye Selo, Evgeny Sergeevich also set up an infirmary for the lightly wounded, which the Empress and her daughters visited.

In February 1917, a revolution took place in Russia. On March 2, the sovereign signed the Manifesto on abdication. The royal family was arrested and taken into custody in the Alexander Palace. Yevgeny Sergeevich did not leave his royal patients: he voluntarily decided to stay with them, despite the fact that his position was abolished and his salary was stopped. At this time, Botkin became more than a friend for the royal prisoners: he took upon himself the duty of mediating between the imperial family and the commissars, interceding for all their needs.

When it was decided to transfer the royal family to Tobolsk, Dr. Botkin was among the few close associates who voluntarily followed the sovereign into exile. Dr. Botkin's letters from Tobolsk are striking in 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, unfailingly 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 citizens. A scientist who for many years communicated with the scientific, medical, and administrative elite of Russia, he humbly served, like a zemstvo or city doctor, ordinary peasants, soldiers, and workers.

In April 1918, Dr. Botkin volunteered to accompany the royal couple to Yekaterinburg, leaving his own children in Tobolsk, whom he loved passionately and tenderly. 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 them all 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, their entourage, including Dr. Botkin, were shot in the basement of the Ipatiev house.

A few years before his death, Evgeny Sergeevich received the title of hereditary nobleman. For his coat of arms, he chose the motto: "By faith, fidelity, work." In these words, as it were, all the life ideals and aspirations of Dr. Botkin were concentrated. Deep inner piety, most importantly - sacrificial service to one's neighbor, unshakable devotion to the Royal family and fidelity to God and His commandments in all circumstances, fidelity to death. The Lord accepts such faithfulness as a pure sacrifice and gives for it the highest, heavenly reward: "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).

At the evening service in the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery,memorial service for all those who suffered in the time of godless persecution for the faith of Christ , where prayers were offered for all the innocent victims during the years of hard times.

Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin was born on May 27, 1865 in Tsarskoye Selo, St. Petersburg province. He was the fourth child born from his father Sergei Petrovich's first marriage to Anastasia Alexandrovna Krylova. (Dr. S.P. Botkin was a world-famous luminary of the Russian therapeutic school.)

Both the spiritual and everyday atmosphere in this family was unique. And the financial well-being of the Botkin family, laid down by the entrepreneurial activities of his grandfather Pyotr Kononovich Botkin, a well-known tea supplier in Russia, allowed all his heirs to lead a comfortable existence on a percentage of that. And, perhaps, that is why there were so many creative personalities in this family - doctors, artists and writers. But along with this, the Botkins were also related to such famous figures of Russian culture as the poet A.A. Fet and philanthropist P.M. Tretyakov. Yevgeny Botkin himself from early childhood was a passionate admirer of music, calling such classes a “refreshing bath”.

The Botkin family played a lot of music. Sergey Petrovich himself played the cello to the accompaniment of his wife, taking private lessons from the professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory I.I. Seifert. Thus, from early childhood, E.S. Botkin received a thorough musical education and acquired a keen ear for music.

In addition to playing music, the Botkin family also lived a rich social life. The capital's beau monde gathered for the famous "Botkin Saturdays": professors of the IMPERIAL Military Medical Academy, writers and musicians, collectors and artists, among whom were such outstanding personalities as I.M. Sechenov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, A.P. Borodin, V.V. Stasov and others.

Already from childhood, E.S. Botkin began to show such character traits as modesty, a kind attitude towards others and rejection of violence.

So in his book "My Brother" Pyotr Sergeevich Botkin wrote: “From the tenderest age, his beautiful and noble nature was full of perfection. He was never like other children. Always sensitive, out of delicacy, 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 the fist fight took on a dangerous character, he, at the risk of injury, stopped the fight. He was very diligent and smart in his studies.

Primary home education allowed E.S. Botkin in 1878 to immediately enter the 5th grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium, where his brilliant abilities in the field of natural sciences were almost immediately manifested. Therefore, after graduating from this educational institution in 1882, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. However, the example of his father, a doctor, and love for medicine turned out to be stronger, and the very next year (having passed the exams for the first year of the university) he enters the junior department of the opened Preparatory Course of the IMPERIAL Military Medical Academy.

In 1889, Yevgeny Sergeevich's father dies and almost at the same time he successfully graduated from the IVMA third in graduation, having received the title of Doctor with honors and the personalized Paltsev Prize, which was awarded "to the third highest score in his course ..."

His own way of practicing Aesculapius E.S. Botkin begins in January 1890 as Assistant Doctor at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, and in December of the same year he is sent to Germany, where he practices with leading doctors and gets acquainted with the arrangement of hospitals and hospital business.

At the end of medical practice in May 1892, Evgeny Sergeevich began to work as a Doctor of the IMPERIAL Court Singing Chapel, and from January 1894 he returned to work at the Mariinsky Hospital as a supernumerary Resident.

Simultaneously with clinical practice, E.S. Botkin is engaged in scientific research, the main areas of which were work in the field of immunology, the essence of the process of leukocytosis, the protective properties of blood cells, etc.

In 1893 E.S. Botkin marries Olga Vladimirovna Manuylova, and the following year, their first-born son, Dmitry, is born in their family. / Looking ahead a little, it must be said that there were four children in the family of Evgeny Sergeevich: sons - Dmitry (1894-1914), Yuri (1896-1941), Gleb (1900-1969) and daughter - Tatyana (1899-1986) /

May 8, 1893 E.S. Botkin brilliantly defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic "On the Effect of Albumose and Peptones on Certain Functions of the Animal Organism", which he dedicates to his father. And his official opponent in this defense was our outstanding compatriot and physiologist I.P. Pavlov.

In 1895 E.S. Botkin is again sent to Germany, where for two years he improves his qualifications, practicing in medical institutions in Heidelberg and Berlin, and also attends lectures by German professors G. Munch, B. Frenkel, P. Ernst and others.

In May 1897 E.S. Botkin is elected Privatdozent of IVMA.

On October 18, 1897, he reads his introductory lecture to students, which is very remarkable in that it very clearly shows his attitude towards the sick:

“Once the trust of the patients you have acquired turns into sincere affection for you, when they are convinced of your invariably cordial attitude towards them. When you enter the room, you are met with a joyful and friendly mood - a precious and powerful medicine, which you will often help much more than potions and powders. (...) Only the heart is needed for this, only sincere heartfelt concern for a sick person. So do not be stingy, learn to give it with a wide hand to those who need it. So, let's go with love to a sick person, so that we can learn together how to be useful to him.

With the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 - 1905, E.S. Botkin volunteers for the Active Army, where he is appointed Head of the Medical Unit of the Russian Red Cross Society (ROKK) in the Manchurian Army.

However, while occupying this rather high administrative position, he nevertheless prefers to be at the forefront most of the time.

They say that once a wounded Company Paramedic was brought to the Field Infirmary. Having rendered him first aid, E.S. Botkin took his medical bag and went to the front line instead.

His attitude to participation in this war, Dr. E.S. Botkin describes in some detail in his book Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. (From letters to his wife)”, published in St. Petersburg in 1908, some excerpts from which are given below:

“I was not afraid for myself: never before have I felt the power 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 want it, I did not tease fate, did not stand at the guns so as not to interfere with the shooters, but I realized that I was needed, and this consciousness made my position pleasant.”

“I am more and more depressed by the course of our war, and therefore it hurts that we lose so much and lose so much, but almost more because the whole mass of our troubles is only the result of people’s lack of spirituality, a sense of duty, that petty calculations become beyond concepts about the Fatherland, above God. (Laoyang, May 16, 1904),

“I have now read all the latest telegrams about the fall of Mukden and about our terrible retreat to Telnik. I can't convey my feelings to you. (…) Despair and hopelessness seizes the soul. Will we have something in Russia? Poor, poor country." (Chita, March 1, 1905).

Military work of Dr. E.S. Botkin in his post did not go unnoticed by his immediate superiors and at the end of this war "For the difference shown in cases against the Japanese", he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir II and III degree with swords and a bow.

But outwardly calm, strong-willed and always benevolent Dr. E.S. Botkin was actually a very sentimental person, as P.S. directly points out to us. Botkin in the already mentioned book "My Brother":

“.... I came to my father’s grave and suddenly I heard sobs in a deserted cemetery. Coming closer, I saw my brother (Eugene) lying in the snow. “Oh, it’s you, Petya, you came to talk with dad,” and again sobs. And an hour later, during the reception of patients, it could not have occurred to anyone that this calm, self-confident and domineering person could sob like a child.

May 6, 1905 Dr. E.S. Botkin is appointed Honorary Physician of the Imperial Family, which he learns about while still in the Army.

In the autumn of 1905, he returned to St. Petersburg and began teaching at IVMA, and in 1907 he was appointed Chief Physician of the St. George Community of the Sisters of Mercy of the Red Cross, the medical part of which since 1870 was headed by his late father.

After the death of the Life Medic Gustav Ivanovich Hirsch, which followed in 1907, the Royal Family was left without one of those, the vacant position of which required urgent replenishment. The candidacy of the new court physician was named by the Empress herself, who, when asked who she would like to see in his place, answered: “Botkin”. And when asked which of them exactly (at that time there were two Botkins in St. Petersburg), she said: “The one who fought.” (Although the brother of E.S. Botkin, Sergei Sergeevich, was also a participant in the past Russo-Japanese War.)

Thus, starting from April 13, 1908, Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin became the Honorary Physician of the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and His Family, exactly repeating the career path of his father, who was the Physician of the two previous Emperors - Alexander II and Alexander III.

I must say that by that time all the Medical Officers (as the doctors at the Highest Court were officially called), serving the Royal Family, were on the staff of the Ministry of the IMPERIAL Court and Destinies, representing a fairly significant group of the best titled specialists in many medical specialties: therapist , surgeon, ophthalmologist, obstetrician, pediatrician, dentist, etc.

His love for the sick, E.S. Botkin also transferred to the August patients, since his immediate duties included medical supervision and treatment of all members of the Royal Family: from the terminally ill Heir to the Tsarevich to the Sovereign.

The Sovereign himself directly related to E.S. Botkin with undisguised sympathy and trust, patiently enduring all medical and diagnostic procedures.

But if the health of the Sovereign was, one might say, excellent (except for poor dental heredity and periodic pains of a hemorrhoidal nature), then the most difficult patients for Dr. E.S. Botkin were the Empress and the Heir.

Even in early childhood, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt suffered from diphtheria, complications after which, over the years, affected quite frequent bouts of rheumatism, periodic pain and swelling in the legs, as well as in violation of cardiac activity and arrhythmias. And, besides, the five transferred births, which finally undermined Her already weak organism, contributed to the development of those to a large extent.

Because of these constant illnesses, eternal fears for the life of Her infinitely sick Son and other internal experiences, the outwardly majestic, but in fact very sick and aged early Empress, was forced to refuse long walks, soon after his birth. In addition, due to constant swelling of her legs, She had to wear special shoes, over the size of which, at times, evil tongues made fun of. Pain in the legs was often accompanied by constant palpitations, and the attacks of headache that accompanied them deprived the Empress of rest and sleep for weeks, which is why she was forced to stay in bed for a long time, and if she went out into the air, then only in a special stroller .

But even more trouble for Dr. E.S. Botkin was delivered by the Heir Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, whose congenital and fatal illness required his increased medical attention. And it happened that he spent days and nights at his bedside, providing him not only with medical care, but also treating him with a medicine no less important for any patient - human participation in the grief of the patient, giving this unfortunate creature all the warmth of his heart.

And such participation could not fail to find a mutual response in the soul of his little patient, who one day would write to his beloved doctor: "I love you with all my little heart."

In turn, Evgeny Sergeevich also attached himself with all his heart to the Heir and all the other members of the Royal Family, more than once telling his household that: “They made me a slave until the end of my days with their kindness.”

However, the relationship of the Life Physician E.S. Botkin and the Royal Family were not always so cloudless. And the reason for this is his attitude towards G.E. Rasputin, which served as the very “black cat” that ran between him and the Empress. Like the majority of loyal subjects who knew about Elder Gregory only from the words of people who had never communicated with him, and therefore, due to their thoughtlessness, in every possible way exaggerate and fan the most dirty rumors about him, the beginning of which was laid by the personal enemies of the Empress in the person of the so-called "blacks". (So ​​the Empress called her enemies, united around the Court of the Montenegrin Princesses - Stana Nikolaevna and Milica Nikolaevna, who became the wives of Grand Dukes Nikolai Nikolaevich Jr. and his brother Peter Nikolaevich.) And oddly enough, not only people who were far from the Highest believed in them Dvor, but also persons close to him, like E.S. Botkin. For he, having fallen under the influence of these rumors and gossip on a universal scale, sincerely believed in them, and therefore, like many, he considered G.E. Rasputin "evil genius" of the Royal Family.

But as a man of exceptional honesty, who never betrayed his principles and never compromised, if such was contrary to his personal conviction, E.S. Botkin somehow even refused the Empress her request to host G.E. Rasputin. “It is my duty to provide medical assistance to anyone,” said Evgeny Sergeevich. But I won’t accept such a person at home.”

In turn, this statement could not but cool for some time the relationship between the Empress and Her beloved Life Medic. Therefore, after one of the crises of illness that happened to the Heir to the Tsesarevich in the autumn of 1912, when Professor E.S. Botkin and S.P. Fedorov, as well as the Honorary Life Surgeon V.N. Derevenko pleaded powerless before such, the Empress began to trust G.E. Rasputin. For the latter, possessing God's Gift of healing, is not known to the mentioned luminaries. And therefore, by the power of prayer and conspiracies, he managed in time to stop the internal bleeding that had opened in the Heir, which with a high degree of probability could have ended in death for him.

As a doctor and a man of exceptional morality, E.S. Botkin never spoke on the side about the health of his August patients. So, the Head of the Chancellery of the Ministry of the IMPERIAL Court, Lieutenant-General A.A. Mosolov in his memoirs "At the Court of the last Russian Emperor" mentioned that: “Botkin was known for his restraint. None of the retinue managed to find out from him what the Empress was sick with and what treatment the Queen and the Heir followed. He was certainly a devoted servant to Their Majesties."

Occupying such a high position and being a person very close to the Sovereign, E.S. Botkin, however, was very far from any "intervention in Russian state policy." However, as a citizen, he simply could not help but see the perniciousness of public sentiment, which he considered the main reasons for the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. He also well understood that the hatred for the Royal Family and the entire House of Romanov, kindled by the enemies of the Throne and the Fatherland, is beneficial only to the enemies of Russia - the Russia that his ancestors served for many years and for which he fought on the battlefields.

Having subsequently revised his attitude towards G.E. Rasputin, he began to despise those people who composed or repeated various fables about the Royal Family and Her personal life. And about such people he spoke as follows: “If there were no Rasputin, then the opponents of the Royal Family and the preparers of the revolution would have created him with their conversations from Vyrubova, if it were not for Vyrubova, from me, from whomever you want.”

And further: “I don’t understand how people who consider themselves monarchists and talk about the adoration of His Majesty can so easily believe all the gossip spread, can spread them themselves, raising all sorts of fables against the Empress, and do not understand that by insulting Her, they are thereby insulting Her August Consort, who is allegedly adored."

By this time, not everything was going well and Evgeny Sergeevich's personal life.

In 1910, leaving the children in his care, his wife left him, carried away by the revolutionary ideas that were fashionable at that time, and with them a young student of the Riga Polytechnic Institute, who was fit for her sons, who was younger than her by as much as 20 years. After her departure, E.S. Botkin was left with three younger children - Yuri, Tatyana and Gleb, since his eldest son, Dmitry, had already lived on his own by that time. Inwardly greatly experiencing the departure of his wife, Evgeny Sergeevich with even greater energy began to give the warmth of his soul to the children left in his care. And, it must be said, those who adored their father paid him in full reciprocity, always waiting for him from work and worrying whenever he was late.

Using the undoubted influence and authority at the Highest Court, E.S. Botkin, however, never used one for personal purposes. So, for example, his inner convictions did not allow him to put in a word to get a “warm place” even for his own son Dmitry, the Cornet of the Life Guards of the Cossack Regiment, who went to the front with the outbreak of World War I and died on December 3, 1914. (The bitterness of this loss became an unhealed bleeding wound in his father's heart, the pain from which remained in him until the very last days of his life.)

And a few years later, new times began in Russia, which turned into a political catastrophe for her. At the end of February 1917, a great turmoil began, started by a bunch of traitors, which already in early March led to the abdication of the Sovereign from the Throne.

Subjected to house arrest and held in custody in the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace, the Sovereign and His Family, in fact, turned out to be hostages of future events. Limited by freedom and isolated from the outside world, they stayed in it only with the closest people, including E.S. Botkin, who did not want to leave the Royal Family, which became even more dear to him with the beginning of the trials that fell to her lot. (Only for a very short time, he leaves the August Family to help the typhoid widow of his deceased son Dmitry, and when her condition no longer aroused his fears, Evgeny Sergeevich, without any requests or coercion, returned back to the August Prisoners.)

At the end of July 1917, Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government A.F. Kerensky announced to the Sovereign and His Family that instead of going to the Crimea, all of them would be sent to one of the Siberian cities.

True to his duty, E.S. Botkin, without a moment's hesitation, decides to share their fate and go to this Siberian exile with his children. And to the question of the Sovereign, to whom he would leave his youngest children Tatyana and Gleb, he replied that for him there was nothing higher than caring for Their Majesties.

Arriving in Tobolsk, E.S. Botkin, along with all the servants of the former. Tsar, lived in the house of the fisherman Kornilov, located near the Governor's house, where the Tsar's Family was settled.

In the house of Kornilov E.S. Botkin occupied two rooms, where, in accordance with the permission received, he could receive soldiers of the Consolidated Guards Detachment for the protection of the former tsar and the local population, and where on September 14, 1917, his children Tatyana and Gleb arrived.

About these last days of medical practice in his life, about the attitude of soldiers, Tobolsk residents and just the local population who came to him from afar, E.S. Botkin wrote in his last letter addressed to "friend Sasha": “Their trust especially touched me, and I was pleased with their confidence, which never deceived them, that I would receive them with the same attention and affection as any other patient, and not only as an equal to myself, but also as a patient who has all the rights for all my cares and services.

Family life of Dr. E.S. Botkin in Tobolsk is described in detail in the book of memoirs of his daughter Tatiana "Memoirs of the Royal Family and Her life before and after the revolution." So, in particular, she mentions that, despite the fact that her father’s personal correspondence was subjected to censorship, he himself, unlike other prisoners, could move freely around the city, his apartment was never subjected to inspection, but to sign up with him Anyone who wished could attend.

But the relatively serene life in Tobolsk ended with the arrival of the Extraordinary Commissar of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee V.V. on April 20, 1918. Yakovlev with a detachment of militants who announced to the Royal Family that, by order of the Soviet government, he would have to take Her out of the city in the very near future, according to the route known only to him.

And again, even in this situation, full of anxiety and uncertainty, Leib-Medic E.S. Botkin, true to his medical and moral duty, sets off together with the Sovereign, Empress, Their Daughter Maria and others to meet their death.

On the night of April 25-26, 1918, they leave Tobolsk and follow in carts towards Tyumen. But what is characteristic! Suffering along the way from endless road shaking, cold and renal colic, Dr. E.S. Botkin remains a doctor even in this unbearably painful situation for him, having given his fur coat to the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, who, having gone on this long journey, did not take really warm clothes with her.

On April 27, the Most August Prisoners and those accompanying Them reached Tyumen, and on April 30, after several days of ordeals and adventures on the road, they were taken to Yekaterinburg, where E.S. Botkin as a prisoner was placed under arrest in the DON.

While in the Ipatiev house, E.S. Botkin, faithful to his medical duty, did everything in order to somehow alleviate the fate of his crowned patients.

Remembering this years later, the former Commandant of the House of Special Purpose Ya.M. Yurovsky wrote:

“Doctor Botkin was a true friend of the family. In all cases, for various needs of the family, he acted as an intercessor. He was soul and body devoted to the family and experienced the hardship of their life together with the Romanov family.

Almost the same thing, more than forty years later, his former assistant G.P. Nikulin:

“As a rule, we always intercede for all kinds of things, which means that there have always been cases, here, Dr. Botkin. He, therefore, addressed ... "

And in this they were both absolutely right, since all the requests of the arrested were transmitted either directly to the Commandants of the DON (A.D. Avdeev or Ya.M. Yurovsky, who replaced him), or to the duty members of the Ural Regional Council (these were appointed in the first month of the stay of the Royal Family in the DON, where they were on daily duty).

After arriving in Yekaterinburg and placing the August Children transported from Tobolsk in the Ipatiev house, Dr. E.S. Botkin understands that his "fading forces" to care for the sick Heir to the Tsarevich is clearly not enough.

Therefore, the very next day he writes to A.G. Beloborodov a note with the following content:

"Yekaterinburg.

To the [Yekaterinburg] Regional Executive Committee

Mr Chairman.

As a doctor who has been monitoring the health of the Romanov family for ten years,currently administered by the Regional Executive Committeein general, and Alexei Nikolaevich in particular, I turn to you, Mr. Chairman, with the following most zealous request. Alexey Nikolaevich, whose treatmentled by Dr. Vl.[adimir] Nick.[olayevich] Derevenko, is subject to joint suffering under the influence of bruises, completely inevitable in a boy of his age, accompanied by sweating of liquid in them and the most severe pain as a result. Day and night in suchcases, the boy suffers so inexpressibly that none of his closest relatives,speaking of his mother, chronically ill in heart, not sparing herself for him, unable to endure caring for him for a long time. My fading powers are also lacking. Klim Grigorievich Nagorny, who is with him, after several sleepless and full of torment nights, knocks himself off his feet and would not be able to stand at all if Alexei Nikolaevich's teachers, Mr. Gibbs, and especially his tutor, Mr. Gilliard. Calm and balanced, they, replacing one another, by reading and changing impressions, distract the patient from his suffering during the day, alleviating them and giving, in the meantime, his relatives and Nagorny the opportunity to sleep and gather strength to change them in turn. Mr. Gilliard, to whom Aleksey Nikolaevich has been especially accustomed and attached during the seven years that he has been with him inseparably, sometimes spends whole nights near him during his illness, letting the exhausted Nagorny sleep. Both teachers, especially, I repeat, Mr. Gilliard, are absolutely indispensable for Alexei Nikolaevich, and I, as a doctor, must admit that they often bring more relief to the patient than the medical supplies that are in stock for such cases, to self-treatment, is extremely limited.

In view of the foregoing, I decide, in addition to the request of the parents of the pain-to disturb the Regional Executive Committee with the most zealous petitionadmit y.g. Gilliard and Gibbs to continue their selfless service underAlexey Nikolaevich Romanov, and in view of the fact that the boy is just now in one of the most acute attacks of his sufferings, which he endures especially hard due to overwork from travel, do not refuse to let them - in the extreme case, even one Mr. Gilliard - to him tomorrow.

Dr. Ev.[genius] Botkin

Passing this note to the addressee, commandant A.D. Avdeev could not resist imposing his own resolution on it, which perfectly expressed his attitude, not only to the sick child and Dr. E.S. Botkin, but also to the entire Royal Family as a whole:

“Having looked at the real request of Dr. Botkin, I think that one of these servants is superfluous, i.e. the children are all royal and can take care of the sick, and therefore I suggest that the Chairman of the Regional Council immediately show these presumptuous gentlemen their position. Commandant Avdeev.

At present, among many researchers of the royal theme, who in their works make a certain bet on the so-called "memoirs of an eyewitness" by J. Meyer. (The former prisoner of war of the Austro-Hungarian army, Johann Ludwig Mayer, who published those in 1956 in the German magazine Seven Days under the title “How the Royal Family Died.”) So, according to this “source”, a version appeared that, after visiting DON political leadership of the Urals came up with the idea to talk with Dr. E.S. Botkin, calling him to the premises of the "Revolutionary Headquarters".

« (…) Mobius, Maklavansky and Dr. Milyutin were sitting in the room of the Revolutionary Headquarters when Dr. Botkin entered. This Botkin was a giant.(…)

Then Maklavansky began to speak:

“Listen, doctor,” he said in his pleasant, always sincere voice, “the Revolutionary Headquarters has decided to let you go free. You are a doctor and want to help suffering people. For this you have enough opportunities with us. You can take over the management of a hospital in Moscow or open your own practice. We will even give you recommendations, so that no one can have anything against you.

Dr. Botkin was silent. He looked at the people sitting in front of him and seemed unable to overcome a certain distrust of them. It seemed that he sensed a trap. Maklavansky must have sensed this, for he continued convincingly:

- Understand us, please, correctly. The future of the Romanovs looks somewhat bleak.

The doctor seemed to slowly understand. His gaze shifted from one to the other. Slowly, almost stammering, he decided to answer:

- I think I understood you correctly, gentlemen. But, you see, I gave the king my word of honor to stay with him as long as he lives. For a man of my position, it is impossible not to keep such a word. I also cannot leave an heir alone. How can I reconcile this with my conscience? You still need to understand this...

Maklavansky cast a brief glance at his comrades. After this, he turned again to the doctor:

- Of course, we understand this, doctor, but you see, the son is incurable, you know this better than we do. Why would you sacrifice yourself for... well, shall we say, for a lost cause... For what, doctor?

- Lost business? Botkin asked slowly. His eyes faded.

- Well, if Russia dies, I can die too. But in no case will I leave the king!

- Russia will not perish! Mobius said sharply.

- We'll take care of it. Big people will not die...

- Do you want to separate me by force from the king? - asked Botkin with a cold expression on his face.

“I still don’t believe this, gentlemen!

Mobius looked intently at the doctor. But now Dr. Milyutin has entered.

"You bear no responsibility for a lost war, doctor," he said in a sugary voice.

- We can’t reproach you with anything, we only consider it our duty to warn you about your personal death ...

Dr. Botkin sat for several minutes in silence. His gaze was fixed on the floor. The commissioners already believed that he would change his mind. But suddenly the face of the doctor changed. He got up and said:

- I am glad that there are still people who are concerned about my personal fate. I thank you for coming forward to meet me... But help this unfortunate family! You will do a good job. There, in the house, the great souls of Russia bloom, which are covered with mud by politicians. I thank you, gentlemen, but I will stay with the king! - said Botkin and stood up. His height exceeded all.

"We're sorry, Doctor," Mobius said.

- In that case, go back again. You can think more."

Of course, this conversation is pure fiction, as well as the personalities of Maklavansky and Dr. Milyutin.

And, nevertheless, not everything in the "memoirs" of J. Meyer turned out to be the fruit of his unbridled imagination. So, the "Revolutionary Headquarters" he mentioned actually existed. (Until May 1918, it was called the Headquarters of the Revolutionary Western Front for the fight against counter-revolution, after which its employees were enrolled in the staff of the Central Siberian District Commissariat for Military Affairs, in which J. Meyer began to occupy a very modest position as a copyist of the Agitation Department).

Like all prisoners of the Ipatiev House, Dr. E.S. Botkin wrote letters and received answers to them from distant Tobolsk, where his daughter Tatyana and his youngest son Gleb remained. (Currently, the RF GA has several letters from T.E. Botkina, which she wrote to her father in Yekaterinburg.)

Here is an excerpt from one of them dated May 4 (April 23), 1918, in which she puts all her daughter love:

« (…) Precious, golden darling my daddy!

Yesterday we were terribly delighted by your first letter, which had been coming from Ekaterinburg for a whole week; nevertheless, this was the most recent news about you, because Matveev, who arrived yesterday with whom Gleb spoke, could not tell us anything except that you had renal colic<неразб.>I was terribly afraid of this, but judging by the fact that you already<неразб.>wrote that he was healthy, I hope that this colic was not strong.(…)

I can't imagine when we'll see each other, because I have no hope for<неразб.>leave with everyone, but I will try to come closer to you. Sitting here without you<неразб.>very boring and pointless. Do you want something to do, but you don’t know what to do, and how long will you have to live here? During this time, there was only one letter from Yura, and even that was an old one dated March 17, but nothing more.

Until I finish, my dear. I don't know if my letter will reach you. And if it does, then when. And who will read before you(This phrase is inscribed between the lines in small handwriting. - Yu.Zh.)

I kiss you, my precious, many, many and hard - as I love.

Goodbye, my dear, my golden, my beloved. Hope to see you soon. I kiss you many more times.

Your Tanya".

« (…)I am writing to you already from our new rooms and I hope that this letter will reach you, because he is being driven by Commissar Khokhryakov. He also said that he could deliver you a chest of things, in which I put everything that we had from your things, i.e. several photographs, boots, underwear, a dress, cigarettes, a blanket and an autumn coat. I also handed over the pharmacies to the commissioner as family property, I don’t know if you will receive our letter. I hug you very, very tightly, my beloved, for your such good and affectionate letters.

Wrote letters from the Ipatiev house and Evgeny Sergeevich. He wrote to his younger children - Tatyana and Gleb in Tobolsk, to his son Yuri, and also to his younger brother Alexander Sergeevich Botkin. To date, at least four of his messages to the last two persons are known. The first three, dated April 25 (May 8), April 26 (May 9) and May 2 (15), were addressed to Yuri, and the fourth, written on June 26 (July 9), Alexander ...

Their content is also very interesting. So, for example, in his first letter he talked about the weather and extremely short walks:

“... Especially after being outdoors, in the garden, where I sit most of the time. Yes, and so far, due to the cold and unpleasant weather, it has been very short: only the first time they let us out, but yesterday we walked for 55 minutes, or even 30, 20 and even 15. After all, the third day we had another 5 degrees of frost, and this morning it was still snowing, now, however, it is already over 4 degrees of heat.

The second letter mentioned above was more lengthy. However, it is noteworthy that in it he not only does not complain about fate, but even in a Christian way pities his persecutors:

“... While we are still in our temporary, as we were told, room, which I do not regret at all, as because it is quite good, and because in the "permanent" withoutthe rest of the family and their escorts would probably be very empty if, hopefully, it was at least the same size as the house in Tobolsk. It's true, the garden here is very small, but so far the weather hasn't made us especially regret it. However, I must make a reservation that this is purely my personal opinion, because with our general obedience to fate and the people to whom she handed us over, we do not even ask ourselves the question of “what the coming day is preparing for us”, because we know that “ his wickedness prevails for the day ... and we only dream that this self-sufficing malice of the day would not be really evil.

... And we had to see a lot of new people here: the commandants change, or rather, they are often replaced, and some kind of commission came to inspect our premises, and they came to interrogate us about money, with an offer in excess (of which, by the way, I have , as usual, it didn’t turn out) to transfer for storage, etc. In a word, we cause them a lot of trouble, but, really, we didn’t impose on anyone and didn’t ask for it anywhere. I wanted to add that we weren’t asking for anything, but I remembered that it would be wrong, because we are constantly forced to disturb our poor commandants and ask for something: either denatured alcohol has come out and there is nothing to warm food or to cook rice for vegetarians, then we ask for boiling water, then the water supply is clogged, then the linen needs to be washed, then the newspapers need to be received, etc., etc. It’s just ashamed, but it’s impossible otherwise, and that’s why it is especially expensive and comforting every kind smile. And now I went to ask permission to take a walk a little in the morning: although it is fresh, the sun shines affably, and for the first time an attempt was made to take a walk in the morning ... And she was also amiably allowed.

... I end with a pencil, because. due to the holidays I could not yet get either a separate pen or ink, and I still use strangers, and even then more than anyone else.

In his third letter to E.S. Botkin also told his son about the new events that took place in the place of their new imprisonment:

“... Since yesterday, the weather has sharply turned to heat, a piece of the sky, visible from my window that has not yet been painted with lime, is exactly gray-blue, indicating cloudlessness, but from all the caresses of nature we are destined to see a little, because . we are allowed only an hour a day of walking in one or two steps ...

… Today I am updating my stationery, which was kindly delivered to me yesterday, and I am writing with my new pen and ink, which I updated yesterday in a letter to the children. taking possession of someone else's pen and inkwell, I constantly prevented someone from using them, and the gray paper, laid out for me by Tanyusha, I had long ago worn out and wrote on pieces of writing; He also took out all the small envelopes, except for one.

... Well, we walked for exactly an hour. The weather turned out to be very pleasant - better than one could have imagined behind the smeared windows. I like this innovation: I no longer see a wooden wall in front of me, but I sit as if in a comfortable winter apartment; you know, when the furniture is in covers, like we have now, and the windows are white. True, the light, of course, is much less and it turns out to be so scattered that it hurts weak eyes, but after all, things are moving towards summer, which can be very sunny here, and we, Petrograders, are not spoiled by the sun.

His last birthday in the life of E.S. Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin also met in Ipatiev's house: on May 27 (14) he turned 53 years old. But, despite such a relatively small age, Evgeny Sergeyevich already felt the approach of death, which he wrote about in his last letter to his younger brother Alexander, in which he recalls the past days, pouring out all the pain of his soul ... (His rather voluminous text , it is hardly worth citing, since he has been published more than once in various publications. Tatyana Melnik (nee Botkina) " The life of the Royal Family before and after the revolution, M., Ankor firm, 1993; "Royal Life Medic" THOSE. Botkin, edited by K.K. Melnik and E.K. Miller. St. Petersburg, ANO "Publishing House" Tsarskoye Delo ", 2010, etc.)

This letter remained unsent (currently stored in the State Archives of the Russian Federation), which was later recalled by the already mentioned G.P. Nikulin:

“Botkin, then... So I repeat that he always interceded for them. He asked me to do something there for them: to call a priest, you understand, here ..., take them out for a walk or, there, fix the watch, or something else, there, some little things.

Well, once I, then, checked Botkin's letter. He wrote it, he addressed it to his son (younger brother. - Yu.Zh.) in the Caucasus. So he writes something like this:

“Here, my dear (I forgot, there, what his name was: Serge or not Serge, no matter how), here I am there. Moreover, I must tell you that when the tsar-sovereign was in glory, I was with him. And now, when he is in misfortune, I also consider it my duty to be with him. We live this way and that way (he “so” - he writes in a veiled way). Moreover, I don’t dwell on the details because I don’t want to bother ..., I don’t want to bother the people whose duties are to read [and] check our letters.”

Well, that was the only letter I had... He didn't write anymore. The letter [this], of course, was not sent anywhere.”

And his last hour E.S. Botkin met with the Royal Family.

July 17, 1918 at approximately 1 o'clock. 30 minutes. midnight Evgeny Sergeevich was awakened by Commandant Ya.M. Yurovsky, who informed him that in view of the alleged attack on the house by an anarchist detachment, all those arrested should go down to the basement, from where they might be transported to a safer place.

After Dr. E.S. Botkin woke everyone else, all the prisoners gathered in the dining room, from where they proceeded through the kitchen and the adjacent room to the landing of the upper floor. According to the stairs of 19 steps available there, they, accompanied by Ya.M. Yurovsky, G.P. Nikulina, M.A. Medvedev (Kudrina), P.Z. Ermakov and two Latvians with rifles from among the internal guards descended along it to the lower floor and through the door there they went out into the courtyard. Once on the street, they all walked a few meters around the yard, after which they again entered the house and, having passed through a suite of rooms on the lower floor, found themselves in the very one where they were martyred.

It makes no sense to describe the whole course of further events, since this has been written about many times. However, after Ya.M. Yurovsky announced to the prisoners that they were “forced to be shot”, Evgeny Sergeevich could only utter in a voice slightly hoarse with excitement: “So they won’t take us anywhere?”

After, through considerable efforts, Ya.M. Yurovsky finally stopped the shooting, which took on a careless character, many of the victims were still alive ...

But when at last I managed to stop(shooting. - Yu.Zh.), he later wrote in his memoirs, I saw that many were still alive. For example, Dr. Botkin was lying, leaning on the elbow of his right hand, as if in a resting position, with a revolver shot[I am] done with him…”

That is, Ya.M. Yurovsky directly confesses that he personally shot the former Life Medic E.S. Botkin and is almost proud of it ...

Well, time put everything in its place. And now those who considered themselves "heroes of October" have moved into the category of ordinary and murderers and persecutors of the Russian people.

And the Christian feat of Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin, as the successor of the glorious medical dynasty and a man of duty and honor, even decades later did not go unnoticed. At the Local Council of ROCOR held on November 1, 1981, he was canonized as the Holy New Martyrs of Russia who suffered from the power of the godless under the name of the Holy New Martyr Eugene Botkin.

On July 17, 1998, the remains of E.S. Botkin were solemnly buried along with the remains of the members of the Royal Family in the Catherine's chapel of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

, passion-bearer, righteous doctor

He was educated at home and in the year was admitted immediately to the fifth grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg classical gymnasium. After graduating from the gymnasium, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, however, having passed the exams for the first year of the university, he left for the junior department of the opened preparatory course of the Military Medical Academy.

One of the reasons for such a cautious attitude was the non-Orthodox confession of some of them; however, the report did not mention the Old Believers of E. S. Botkin. The motive for the canonization of non-Orthodox persons in ROCOR was the precedents of the Church glorifying the victims of persecution of Christians who were not baptized - for example, pagans who joined Christians during the execution.

On October 7 of that year, at a regular meeting of the working group to coordinate the calendars of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Abroad, chaired by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and with the participation of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, "the results of studying the feat of persons revered in the Russian diaspora were noted. The possibility of church-wide glorification was recognized the following saints, previously canonized by the Russian Church Abroad: ‹…› the passion-bearer of the righteous Evgeny the doctor (Botkin), who accepted suffering together with the royal family in the Ipatiev House (+1918, Comm. 4 / 17 July) ".

Religious reading: holy passion-bearer evgeny botkin prayer to help our readers.

name of St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea

Altai branch

Orthodox societies

Russian doctors

Martyr Eugene (Botkin)

In February 2016, he was glorified as a saint doctor of the Imperial Romanov family, Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin. When getting acquainted with his life, it is impossible not to be imbued with deep reverence and love for this saint. How was the life of a person who chose the profession of a doctor and through it achieved the sanctity of life? Attentive, interested reading and viewing of materials about the holy doctor of the recent past will bring undoubted benefits, first of all, to modern doctors, and indeed to all our fellow tribesmen.

Loyal to Emperor, Loyal to Christ(life and deed of the holy martyr Evgeny Botkin). Passion-bearer Yevgeny Botkin, the last medical officer of Emperor Nicholas II, was canonized at the Council of Bishops. Materials for his canonization were submitted by the Yekaterinburg commission for the canonization of saints, chaired by the confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Novo-Tikhvin Convent in Yekaterinburg, Schema-Archimandrite Abraham. On the Life and Feat of the Holy Passion-Bearer Eugene. More.

Terletsky O.V., Candidate of Medical Sciences, Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service (graduate of the Military Medical Academy, 1989), deacon.

Holy Passion-Bearer Doctor Yevgeny Botkin: “There is no greater love than if someone lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). More.

Christian Orthodox newspaper of the North of Russia "VERA". More.

VIDEO: Life physician of the royal family

Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin

(the story of the grandson of Martyr Eugene)

VIDEO: 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 a holy doctor to his wife from the front, most clearly and reliably testifies to the personality traits of Yevgeny Sergeevich Botkin. After reading this book by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Evgeny Sergeevich became the personal doctor of the imperial family. Download.

TSAR'S LIFE MEDIC: THE LIFE AND FEAT OF EVGENY BOTKIN

Comp. FROM. Kovalevskaya - St. Petersburg: "Tsar's business", 2014. - 536 p., ill.

The book includes the memoirs of the daughter of Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin - T.E. Botkina and letters to the relatives of E.S. Botkin. Download.

VIDEO: BOTKIN EVGENY SERGEEVICH (part 1)

About the feat of the royal servants

Lessons of Orthodoxy (TV - “SOYUZ”).

VIDEO: BOTKIN EVGENY SERGEEVICH (part 2)

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passion-bearer righteous doctor Evgeny Botkin

Information

In 1893, Evgeniy Sergeevich defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the topic "On the question of the effect of albumose and peptones on some functions of the animal organism." The official opponent on defense was I.P. Pavlov.

In 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Evgeny 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 the differences rendered in cases against the Japanese" was awarded officer military orders - orders of St. Vladimir III and II degree with swords, St. Anna II degree, St. Stanislav III degree, Serbian Order of St. Sava II degree and Bulgarian - "For civic merit.

Evgeny Sergeevich described his memories of the war in the book “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War”, after reading which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna chose this true doctor as the Life Physician of the Royal Family. Evgeny 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, Evgeny Sergeevich was a sincere believer, who in fact realized the ideals of Christianity, as evidenced by the reviews of his contemporaries, archival documents and his letters.

During the revolution, Evgeny Sergeevich was one of the few close associates who remained devoted 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 with members of the Imperial family in the basement of the merchant Ipatiev's house in Yekaterinburg.

The memory of Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin has been preserved all these years, he was revered by the Orthodox in Russia and abroad. In 1981, he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, along with others shot in the Ipatiev House.

On February 3, 2016, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted a decision on the general church glorification of the passion-bearer, the righteous Evgeny 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 to glorify Dr. Yevgeny Botkin. I think this is a long-awaited 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.”

Recall that the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia took an active part in the preparation of the glorification of the passion-bearer Evgeny (Botkin). At the V All-Russian Congress of Orthodox Doctors, which took place on October 1-3, 2015 in St. Petersburg, through the efforts of the Orthodox medical community at the Military Medical Academy, a memorial plaque dedicated to the life physician of the Royal Family was opened, in preparation for the Congress, an icon of a 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 Yevgeny Botkin by the Russian Orthodox Church. Location: Moscow, Russia

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This is the first church in Russia consecrated in honor of the holy passion-bearer, life physician of the family of Nicholas II, Evgeny Botkin, recently canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, according to the website of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service.

Holy Passion-Bearer Eugene Botkin

Holy Passion-Bearer Eugene 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 Kamensky and Alapaevsky celebrated the All-Night Vigil in the Church-on-the-Blood.

The archpastors were co-served by numerous clerics of the Yekaterinburg diocese.

At the end of the service, Metropolitan Kirill and Bishop Methodius with a host of clergy served a panikhida for the deceased servant of God, the murdered Yevgeny Sergeevich Botkin.

After that, Vladyka Kirill addressed the worshipers:

“Today, for the last time, we served here a memorial service for Yevgeny Sergeevich Botkin, who was killed 98 years ago at this place. Killed along with the royal family and instead of those who could stay with them. There were four people with them, not because there were only four of them left, but because the others were not allowed. But even those who were admitted - they were still a handful of people. Just like at the Cross of the Lord, there were also few people left when Christ was crucified.

Today we are standing here, at this sacred place, at this Russian Golgotha, and let's think that it took us, the Church, 98 years to canonize those who martyred for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland laid down their lives. And 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 life with you?

In the meantime, we live the way we used to live, and as long as neither rumors about the war, nor the ongoing troubles, nor illnesses and other terrible events concern us, we live as we lived, we bury our heads in the sand so as not to see or hear, so that know nothing and feel nothing. And the time is approaching, and we must be aware of 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 today, strive for this, so that our life turns into prayer. So that we begin to pray consciously, frankly, sincerely, and pray not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but in a special way again and again pray for our Motherland, for our holy Church.

And to be believers and faithful, like Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin was - a great man and a man who - we know and believe - today stands before the throne of God and prays for all those standing here and covers us with his blessed prayer cover - the cover of a martyr. Today we commemorated him for the last time, “God 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 with the clergy of the Yekaterinburg diocese, in accordance with the decision of the Council of Bishops, will glorify in the Face of Saints the Passion-bearer Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin.

And after the Liturgy, Vladyka Kirill will open the exhibition “God is Wonderful in His Saints” in the Temple-on-the-Blood, dedicated to the feat in the name of faith of the holy martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church of the 20th century.

Holy Righteous Evgeny Botkin, physician, martyr

Evgeny Botkin with his children

Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin was born on May 27, 1865 in Tsarskoe Selo, St. Petersburg province, in the family of a famous Russian general practitioner, professor of the Medical and Surgical Academy, Sergei Petrovich Botkin.

He came from the merchant dynasty of the Botkins, whose representatives were distinguished by deep Orthodox faith and charity, helped 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 guardianship of parents, many virtues were laid in the heart of Eugene 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.

Eugene received a thorough home education, which in 1878 allowed him to immediately enter the fifth grade of the 2nd St. Petersburg classical gymnasium. In 1882, Evgeny graduated from the gymnasium and became a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at 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 opened preparatory course of the Imperial Military Medical Academy.

From the very beginning, his choice of the medical profession was conscious and purposeful. Pyotr Botkin wrote about Evgeny: “He chose medicine as his profession. This corresponded to his vocation: to help, support in a difficult moment, relieve pain, heal without end. In 1889, Eugene successfully graduated from the academy, receiving the title of doctor with honors, and from January 1890 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 Manuylova. Four children grew up in the Botkin family: Dmitry (1894–1914), Georgy (1895–1941), Tatyana (1898–1986), Gleb (1900–1969).

Righteous Evgeny Botkin, physician, martyr

Simultaneously with his work in 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, Evgeny Sergeevich was sent abroad, where he practiced at medical institutions in Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1897, E. S. Botkin was awarded the title of Privatdozent in Internal Medicine with a clinic. At his first lecture, he told students about the most important thing in a doctor's work: "Let's all go with love to a sick person, so that we can learn together how to be useful to him."

Evgeny Sergeevich considered the service of a physician to be a truly Christian deed, he had a religious view of illnesses, saw their connection with the state of mind of a person. In one of his letters to his son George, he expressed his attitude to the medical profession as a means of knowing 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 secrets of God's creations, and it is impossible not to enjoy their expediency and harmony and His highest wisdom.

Since 1897, E. S. Botkin began his medical practice in the communities of sisters of mercy of the Russian Red Cross Society. On November 19, 1897, he became a doctor in the Holy Trinity Community of Sisters of Mercy, and on January 1, 1899, he also became 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 attendants were selected in it with special care.

Some women of the upper class worked there as simple nurses on a general basis and considered this occupation an honor for themselves. Such enthusiasm reigned among the employees, such a desire to help suffering people that the people of St. George were sometimes compared with the early Christian community. The fact that Yevgeny 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 the chief physician of the community could only be entrusted to a highly moral and believing person.

In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began, and Evgeny 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 a decree of the Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society, he was appointed assistant to the Commissioner-in-Chief for the active armies for the medical unit. Occupying this rather high administrative position, Dr. Botkin was often at the forefront.

During the war, Evgeny Sergeevich not only showed himself to be an excellent doctor, but also showed personal courage and courage. He wrote many letters from the front, from which a whole book was compiled - “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.” This book was soon published, and many, having read 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, after reading Botkin's book, wished that Evgeny Sergeevich became the personal doctor of the Royal Family. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1908, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree appointing Dr. Botkin as a medical officer of the Imperial Court.

Now, after the new appointment, Evgeny Sergeevich had to constantly be with the emperor and members of his family, his service at the royal court proceeded without days off and holidays. The high position and closeness to the Royal family did not change the character of E. S. Botkin. He remained as kind and considerate to others as he had been before.

When the First World War began, Evgeny Sergeevich asked the sovereign to send him to the front to reorganize the sanitary service. However, the emperor instructed him to stay with the empress and the children in Tsarskoe Selo, where infirmaries began to open through their efforts. At his home in Tsarskoye Selo, Evgeny Sergeevich also set up an infirmary for the slightly wounded, which the Empress and her daughters visited.

In February 1917, a revolution took place in Russia. On March 2, the sovereign signed the Manifesto on abdication. The royal family was arrested and taken into custody in the Alexander Palace. Yevgeny Sergeevich did not leave his royal patients: he voluntarily decided to stay with them, despite the fact that his position was abolished and his salary was stopped. At this time, Botkin became more than a friend for the royal prisoners: he took upon himself the duty of mediating between the imperial family and the commissars, interceding for all their needs.

Holy Righteous Evgeny Botkin, physician, martyr

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. Dr. Botkin's letters from Tobolsk are striking in 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, unfailingly 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 citizens. A scientist who for many years communicated with the scientific, medical, and administrative elite of Russia, he humbly served, like a zemstvo or city doctor, ordinary peasants, soldiers, and workers.

In April 1918, Dr. Botkin volunteered to accompany the royal couple to Yekaterinburg, leaving his own children in Tobolsk, whom he loved passionately and tenderly. 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 them all 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, their entourage, including Dr. Botkin, were shot in the basement of the Ipatiev house.

A few years before his death, Evgeny Sergeevich received the title of hereditary nobleman. For his coat of arms, he chose the motto: "By faith, fidelity, work." In these words, as it were, all the life ideals and aspirations of Dr. Botkin were concentrated. Deep inner piety, most importantly - sacrificial service to one's neighbor, unshakable devotion to the Royal family and fidelity to God and His commandments in all circumstances, fidelity to death. The Lord accepts such fidelity as a pure sacrifice and gives for it the highest, heavenly reward: Be faithful unto 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 martyr Evgeny (Botkin) († 1918, Comm. 4/17 July) previously canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Holy righteous passion-bearer doctor Eugene, pray to God for us!

PHOTO GALLERY

Pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville. Oct-2017