In 1908, Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was appointed physician of the highest court. “He was infinitely kind. One could say that he came into the world for the sake of people and in order to sacrifice himself,” this is how his relatives remembered him.
The invitation to the position of court doctor occurred after Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna read the book “Light and Shadows of the Russo-Japanese War,” which consisted of letters from Dr. Botkin. At that time, in the active army, he held the position of Chief Medical Officer.
Red Cross in Harbin
Red Cross and science
Evgeny Botkin began his medical career in 1890 at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor, and later began working for the Russian Red Cross Society . At first he worked as an ordinary doctor, and then took the position of head physician of the sister community in the name of St. George in the capital. The peculiarity of this hospital was that it provided assistance to people from the poorest segments of the population, and among the employees, on the contrary, there were some representatives of the upper class who worked as nurses.
E.S. Botkin
All the clinic staff were united by the idea of serving their neighbors, which corresponded to the Christian aspirations of Evgeniy Sergeevich himself. Even before starting work, he began to engage in scientific work in the field of immunology, defended his dissertation in 1893, completed a two-year internship in Germany and became a private assistant professor.
Childhood and youth
In the family of the famous reformer of Russian medicine, Sergei Petrovich Botkin and his wife Anastasia Alexandrovna Krylova, on May 27 (June 8, old style), 1865, a fourth child was born, who was named Evgeniy. The boy received his primary education and a decent upbringing at home, and later continued his studies at the gymnasium.
Evgeny Botkin in his youth
In 1882, the young man successfully passed the exams and became a student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University . After a year of study, Evgeniy realized that his calling was medicine, so he transferred to the junior year of the Military Medical Academy. The future doctor graduated from the educational institution in 1889 with honors.
In young age
Family
Born in 1865 in Tsarskoye Selo into the family of doctor Sergius Petrovich Botkin, Evgeniy was raised in the Orthodox traditions inherited by his father from his parents.
His grandfather, Pyotr Kononovich, came from the Pskov province. At the end of the 18th century he came to Moscow and started trading. Having quickly become rich selling tea, he became one of the most famous philanthropists in the city. His huge family, even at that time - Peter Botkin had twenty-four children in total - was distinguished by amazing cohesion, cordiality and piety.
Sergei Petrovich graduated from the Medical Institute of the Moscow Imperial University. Soon after he began his medical career, he showed a rare talent as a diagnostician, which later brought him all-Russian fame.
S.P. Botkin
The doctor always combined his work with a very delicate attitude towards the patient. Among Sergei Botkin’s patients were N. Nekrasov and M. Maltykoa-Shchedrin, I. Repin and A. Kuindzhi, D. Mendeleev and A. Koni and other prominent figures of science and culture, as well as members of the imperial family. Doctor Botkin knew Father John of Kronstadt and revered him very much.
His wife was the daughter of an official, Anastasia Aleksandrovna Krylova. Brilliantly educated, she spoke several languages, loved and understood music. The Botkins had seven children, and it seemed that nothing could overshadow their happiness, however, in 1975, when Evgeniy was only ten years old, his mother died suddenly.
A year and a half later, her father’s new wife, Princess Obolenskaya, tried to replace her. Contrary to the prevailing stereotype, the stepmother treated the children tactfully and with love. The family added six more children.
Family S.P. Botkin
Until adolescence, Evgeniy studied at home, comprehending not only the basics of general education subjects, but also studying painting, music, and foreign languages. Possessing excellent knowledge, he was able to immediately enter the fifth grade of the 2nd classical gymnasium, a renowned educational institution in St. Petersburg.
E.S. Botkin - high school student
To continue his education, he chose the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but very soon realized the mistake, and a year later he became a student at the Imperial Military Medical Academy . In 1890, Evgeniy got married. His chosen one was the noblewoman Olga Manuilova. The marriage produced a daughter and four sons , the eldest of whom died in infancy.
In the first years, trust and mutual understanding reigned between the spouses, but in 1912 Olga left her husband, being carried away by another man. Evgeniy Sergeevich’s reaction to his wife’s infidelity makes you think: “I am punished for my pride. As before, when we were so happy... and we had such very good mutual relations, she and I, looking around and observing others, self-confidently and complacently said that how good it is with us, that with us there is nothing like what is constantly happens to others, it doesn’t and can’t happen, and then we ended all our exceptional marital happiness with the most banal divorce.”
E.S. Botkin with children
This loss was not the only one - two years later one of the sons died on the fronts of the First World War.
Let's read "Rockambole"
S.P. Botkin, portrait by I.N. Kramskoy (1880).
Image from wikipedia.org Botkin’s methods discouraged his contemporaries. Here, for example, are the memories of one of the patients, the seriously ill wife of physiologist Ivan Pavlov:
- Tell me, do you like milk?
– I don’t like it at all and I don’t drink.
- But we will still drink milk. You're a Southerner, and you're probably used to drinking at dinner.
- Never. Not a bit.
- However, we will drink. Do you play cards?
- What do you mean, Sergei Petrovich, never in your life.
- Well, let's play. Have you read Dumas or such a wonderful thing as Rocambole?
- What do you think about me, Sergei Petrovich? After all, I recently finished my courses, and we are not used to being interested in such trifles.
- We will read “Rocambole”.
Three months later, Serafima Alexandrovna recovered.
Another time, a student who was suffering from abdominal pain came to Sergei Petrovich. The ice pack prescribed by other doctors did not help, it only made things worse. The examination took place at his home; daguerreotypes depicting the patient on a winter hunt hung on the walls.
– Do you always wear an unbuttoned overcoat? – asked Botkin.
“Yes,” he answered. - In any frost.
“I still advise you to button up,” said Botkin. - Continue with quinine. The bubble is out. Most likely your illness is a cold.
Back then, no one knew about the stomach flu. Botkin intuitively felt that the cold, which should help, in this particular case harms. The advice took action.
Telegraph operator Ivan Gorlov. Umbilical hernia. The skin under the bandage is not pressed, which means it is not worn. Why doesn't he wear it? Shy. Prescribe him bromine so he doesn't get nervous.
Housewife Natalya Sukhova. Suffering from acne. The liver should be cleansed.
Barber Konstantin Vasiliev. Weakness, drowsiness, decreased interest in life. I recently moved into a house opposite a 24-hour printing shop. Recipe: earplugs at night.
Botkin ordered another patient to change route. He went to the Kremlin every day through the Spasskaya Tower, and Sergei Petrovich ordered through the Trinity Tower. And the disease subsided.
Fantastic? No. The fact is that the icon of the Savior Not Made by Hands, hanging over the Spassky Gate, had to take off the hat in any frost, which was the cause of the illness.
How did Sergei Petrovich come up with this? The answer is simple - he was just a genius and loved people very much.
Ivan Pavlov wrote: “His deep mind, not deluded by immediate success, looked for the keys to the great riddle: what is a sick person and how to help him... Sergei Petrovich was the best personification of the fruitful union of medicine and physiology, those two types of human activity that are before our eyes they are erecting a building of science about the human body and promising in the future to provide man with his best happiness – health and life.”
Life physician
According to eyewitnesses, constant communication with the royal family did not change Botkin’s character - he still remained attentive and kind. For the Romanovs, Evgeniy Sergeevich was not only a doctor, but also a very close person.
E.S. Botkin and Nicholas II
At the beginning of the First World War, the doctor asked to be sent to the front, but the emperor entrusted him with organizing rear hospitals in the capital.
Nikolai confessed to Pyotr Sergeevich Botkin: “Your brother is more than a friend to me.”
After the abdication of the emperor, Botkin remained close to the royal family , despite the lack of salary, and when they were sent to Tobolsk, he voluntarily went after them, taking with him two younger children. Here he treated not only the family of Nicholas II, but also all the townspeople who sought help.
When transferring the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg, the service personnel were given the right to choose. Cheka employee I. Rodzinsky wrote: “After the transfer to Yekaterinburg, there was an idea to separate everyone from them... But everyone refused. They offered Botkin . He stated that he wanted to share the fate of the family. And he refused . Evgeniy Sergeevich was shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918.
The last letter found in the archive is written in his hand:
“My voluntary imprisonment here is as unlimited in time as my earthly existence is limited. In essence, I died... I died for my children, for my friends, for the cause, I died, but not yet buried or buried alive... it’s all the same, but later they are practically the same... I don’t spoil myself with hopes, I’m not lulled by illusions and I look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye ... 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, just as Abraham did not hesitate at God’s request to sacrifice his only son to him »
Botkin Evgeniy Sergeevich
Russian doctor. Life physician of the family of Nicholas II. Nobleman. Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, passion-bearer, righteous.
Evgeny Botkin was born on June 8, 1865 in the city of St. Petersburg. He was the fourth child in the family of the famous Russian doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin and Anastasia Alexandrovna Krylova. In 1878 he was admitted to the 5th grade of the Second St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium. Then, in 1882, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the St. Petersburg Imperial University, however, having passed the exams for the first year of the university, he went to the junior department of the opened preparatory course of the Military Medical Academy. In 1889 he graduated from the academy, receiving the title of doctor with honors.
Since January 1890, Botkin worked as a medical assistant at the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor. In December, he was sent abroad at his own expense for scientific purposes. He studied with leading European scientists and became familiar with the structure of Berlin hospitals. At the end of his business trip in May 1892, he became a doctor at the court chapel, and in January 1894 he returned to the Mariinsky Hospital as a supernumerary resident.
Evgeny Botkin defended his dissertation at the Academy for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, “On the question of the influence of albumin and peptones on some functions of the animal body,” dedicated to his father. The official opponent for the defense was Ivan Pavlov.
In the spring of 1895, Evgeniy Sergeevich was sent abroad and spent two years in medical institutions in Heidelberg and Berlin, where he listened to lectures and practiced with leading German doctors - professors G. Munch, B. Frenkel, P. Ernst. In May 1897 he was elected privat-docent of the Military Medical Academy.
In 1904, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Botkin volunteered for the active army and 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 the Order of St. Vladimir III and II degree with swords, St. Anna II degree, St. Stanislav III degree, the Serbian Order of St. Sava II degree and the Bulgarian Order “For Civil Merit.”
In the fall of 1905, Evgeny Botkin returned to St. Petersburg and began teaching at the academy. In the same year he became an honorary physician. In 1907, he took the position of chief physician of the community of St. George. At the request of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, he was invited as a doctor to the royal family and in April 1908 he was appointed personal physician to Nicholas II.
Evgeniy Sergeevich was an advisory member of the Military Sanitary Scientific Committee at the Imperial Headquarters, a member of the Main Directorate of the Russian Red Cross Society. In 1910 he became a full state councilor.
In 1917, after the fall of the monarchy, Botkin remained with the royal family in Tsarskoye Selo and then followed them into exile. In Tobolsk he opened a free medical practice for local residents. In April 1918, together with the royal couple and their daughter Maria, he was transported from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg.
Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin was shot on the night of July 17, 1918, along with the entire imperial family, in the basement of the Ipatiev House.
In 1981, Evgeny Botkin was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. In 2009, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. In February 2021, 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.
Works of Evgeny Botkin
Works of Evgeny Botkin
“On the question of the influence of albumin and peptones on some functions of the animal body”
“Light and shadows of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905: From letters to his wife” 1908.
Memory of Evgeny Botkin
Memory of Evgeny Botkin
On March 25, 2021, on the territory of the Moscow City Clinical Hospital No. 57, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky consecrated the first church in Russia in honor of the righteous Evgeniy Botkin
In July 2021, in the Ekaterinburg Akademichesky microdistrict, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Romanov Tsar, a boulevard adjacent to the buildings of the Ural State Medical University and a plant for the production of pacemakers was named after Evgeniy Botkin.
Family of Evgeny Botkin
Family of Evgeny Botkin
Father - Sergei Petrovich Botkin (1832-1889), a Russian general practitioner and public figure, created the doctrine of the body as a single whole, subject to the will
Mother - Anastasia Alexandrovna Krylova
Wife - Olga Vladimirovna Manuilova (1872-1946). Married from 1891 to 1910
Children:
Sergei (1892), died at the age of six months
Dmitry (1894-1914), cornet of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, participant in the First World War
Yuri (1896-1941), a student of the Alexander Lyceum (1916, did not graduate), captain of the Life Guards of the 4th Infantry Regiment. In exile in France
Gleb (1900-1969), illustrator, publicist, American novelist, founder and bishop of the neo-pagan Church of Aphrodite. In exile in the USA
Tatyana (1899-1986), married to lieutenant of the Kolchak army K. S. Melnik (1893-1977). In exile in France, she left “Memories of the Royal Family”
Grandson - Konstantin Melnik (1927-2014), coordinated the activities of the French intelligence services in the 1960s
13.07.2019
Memory
In 2009, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation rehabilitated Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin, as well as members of the family of Emperor Nicholas II.
His veneration as a saint began in 1981, when he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In 2021, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to canonize Evgeny Botkin as a saint as a passion-bearer and righteous doctor. An akathist (author - E. Khrapovitsky) and prayers were compiled for him.
Prayer
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.
In the link
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. Related article Dr. Sergei Botkin - doctor, teacher and enemy of death
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 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.
