The Mother’s Cry of Holy Russia by Princess Natalia Vladimirovna Urusova

Translation from Russian by Marsh Parker

Concerning Princess Natalia Urusova (†1964), Fr. Seraphim Rose wrote:

"From her childhood she led a highly spiritual life, something rare for someone of high society at her time. After the Second World War, having lost all of her six children (three of her sons were martyred for Christ), she wrote her complete biography, which was never fully published. Her book is a highly moving piece of evidence concerning the price Orthodox Christians had to pay to be in the saving enclosure of the True Orthodox Church.

Due to her spiritual training she was able to discern quite easily the falseness of the Sergianist position, and in her book she offers a first-hand account of how Metropolitan Sergius personally, without pressure from the authorities, suggested which churches should be closed or blown up, and which clergy should be arrested. Hence it is not strange that her book has never been published. It is a mother’s lamentation over the death of her catacomb children.

She has provided information on the following New Martyrs: Metropolitan Joseph, Child Sergius and Elder Anatole (of Optina), Priest Vladimir, Abbess Antonina, Priest Alexander - who drew fire from heaven while celebrating the Liturgy on a stump in the midst of a forest, and Archbishop Barlaam.

In the last days of her life she wrote profound poetry which reflected the hopelessness of Orthodox Christians in the free world, simply because it was apparent to her that they were losing the savor of True Christianity - Orthodoxy. Archbishop Averky (of Jordanville), her spiritual father, entrusted her memoirs to the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood for publication, expressing his hope that this book would see light in the English language for the preparation of our neophytes and converts for martyrdom."

Natalia V. Urusova

The Mother’s Cry of Holy Russia

Table of Contents

1. Before the Revolution

2. Abdication of Nicholas II

3. Miracle of Yaroslavl

4. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna 5. Miracle of St. Nicholas

6. Yaroslavl Uprising

7. Dacha

8. Volga

9. Resurrected from the Dead

10. Sergiev Posad

11. Love for the Tsar

12. Venerable St. Seraphim of Sarov

13. Fates of Monastics

14. Metropolitan Agafangel

15. All-Russian Council of 1919

16. Patriarch Tikhon

17. Husband

18. Father Alexei Mechov

19. Vladikavkaz

20. Abbess Antonina

21. Famine

22. Nalchik

23. Derbent

24. Chechens

25. Teenager's Feat

26. Yeisk

27. God the Judge

28. Women Executioners

29. Righteous Ones

30. Animal Fear

31. Holy Martyr Father Vladimir

32. Holy Martyr Father Valentin

33. Young Martyr Andrey

34. Communist Educator Shetenov

35. Suffering

36. Catacomb Church

37. Metropolitan Joseph

38. Mozhaysk

39. The End

In the bright memory of Archbishop Averky, the spiritual father of the Righteous Sister Natalia Urusova, our Brotherhood was blessed by Elder Herman of Alaska to publish "Memories of Sister Natalia" with the hope that over time it would be possible to decipher the names of the individuals concealed under not always accurate initials from the prying eyes of the NKVD. Unfortunately, this was not possible, and we are printing it as is. The late righteous woman made several attempts to enter a monastery. She led a monastic life. She was not devoid of a poetic gift. Her memories are a remarkable document of the lives of genuine Christians under the severe yoke of godless satanic power. The new generation of Russians has no right not to know and not to appreciate at what cost the Orthodox Faith survived in Russia! This is the strength of her writings. As a brief introduction, we include a few words from the obituary of Archimandrite Konstantin Zaitsev, who partially published her poetry, preserved in its entirety and passed on to us by her longtime friend, Elena Yuryevna Kontsevich, who considered Natalia Vladimirovna a saint.

Princess Natalia Vladimirovna Urusova

UShe quietly passed away at the age of 90 into eternity, the venerable Eldress, Princess Natalia Vladimirovna Urusova, ending her days in one of the suburbs of New York, Sea Cliff, in October 1963. She was surrounded there by the care of attached Russian people and lovingly cared for by Father Mitrofan Znosko. She lost her close ones and accompanied her foreign life in loneliness, finding solace in the proximity to the Church, to which she belonged with all her soul. She experienced much in Russia, where she was transferred from a high position in society to the catacomb Church by the events... A high spirit was evident in her, which did not leave her until her last days and was expressed in the sounds of her songs, kept in her heart and reflecting her entire life. During the past few years, they occasionally appeared in the columns of our periodical publications, but not under her surname, but signed: N. Turenina... The deceased was buried in Sea Cliff after numerous memorial services, conducted by her spiritual father amid a large gathering of worshippers. With his participation, a memorial service was performed by Bishop Averky in the church, and then the deceased was laid to rest, escorted by the prayers of the brethren, led by the Bishop, and those especially close to her who arrived with her coffin. May the Lord rest her soul in the dwellings of the righteous, who experienced so much and managed to pass on to us from her spiritual and prayerful experience.

Archimandrite Konstantin Zaitsev.