The Martha and Mary Convent of Love and Mercy was founded by the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna Romanova in 1907. After the tragic death of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she retired from secular life to devote herself to serving God, the poor and suffering.

The Grand Duchess saw the prototype of the activity of the future Monastery in the ministry of two evangelical sisters – the Holy Martha and Mary.

With the money from the sale of personal property and jewelry, Elisaveta Feodorovna purchased two estates with main houses, outbuildings and a garden on Bolshaya Ordynka. A hospital was set up in a two-story house, and a house church was built here in the name of the holy righteous Martha and Mary. In 1912, the construction of the church in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, erected according to the project of architect A.V. Shchusev and painted by artist M.V. Nesterov, which became a cultural landmark of Moscow, was completed.

February 10, 1909 — the date of the official opening of the Marfo-Mariinsky Monastery of Mercy.