In 1698, Peter the Great—deeply frustrated by Eudoxia’s conservative worldview, her opposition to his European-style modernizing reforms, and his own infatuation with his mistress Anna Mons—decided to permanently rid himself of her
In historical Russia, a Tsar could not easily divorce. The standard political solution was to force an unwanted wife to become a nun.
The Постриг (tonsure) is the sacred Eastern Orthodox ritual where a person’s hair is cut in the shape of a cross to symbolize their dead identity to the secular world and their rebirth into monastic life. Eudoxia was dragged to the Intercession Convent in Suzdal, stripped of her royal titles, and forced to take the name Nun Elena.