The holy and glorious venerable-martyr '''Maria Skobtsova''' (also ''Saint Mary of Paris'' or ''Mother Maria'') was a [[nun]] and [[martyr]] in Paris in the early twentieth century. She encouraged hospitality and love of one's neighbor, often in the most uncompromising of terms. She considered this to be the foundation of the Christian gospel, and she embodied it in her life. She is often compared to Dorothy Day, an American [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] who founded the Catholic Worker movement. Saint Mary died a martyr in Ravensbrück prison. She was [[glorification|glorified]] by the [[Church of Constantinople]] on [[January 16]], 2004, along with her companions, Priest [[Dmitri Klepinin]], her son [[George Skobtsov|George (Yuri) Skobtsov]], and [[Elie Fondaminsky]].
==Life==
{{stub}}Born to a well to do, upper-class family in 1891 in Latvia, she was given the name Elizaveta Pilenko. When, as a teenager, her father died, she embraced atheism. In 1906 her mother took them to St. Petersburg, where she became involved in radical intellectual circles. In 1910 she married a Bolshevik by the name of Dimitri Kuzmin-Karaviev. During this period of her life she was actively involved in literary circles and wrote much poetry. Her first book, ‘’Scythian Shards’’ was a collection of poetry from this period. By 1913 her marriage to Dimitri had ended.
== External Links ==*[http://incommunion.org/category/resources/st-maria-skobtsova/ Saint Maria Skobtsova] Through a look at InCommunion.org, the website humanity of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship == Further Reading ==*Skobtsova, Maria, with a preface by Olivier Clement and an introduction by Jim Forest, ''Mother Maria Skobtsova: Essential writingsJesus – “He also died.'' Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2003 The sweated blood. ISBN 1570754365 [[Category:Saints]] They struck his face
