Julia Danzas (9 May 1879 – 13 April 1942) was a Russian historian of religion, a Catholic theologian, writer and a Catholic female religious leader.
Biography
Julia Danzas was the daughter of the Russian chargé d'affaires in Greece, Nikolai Karlovich Danzas. After her father's death in 1888, she moved with her mother to the estate of Danzas in Kharkov Governorate province, then the family moved to Saint Petersburg. After graduating from high school in 1895, Julia Danzas moved to Paris and studied philosophy and psychology at the Sorbonne. In France, she met the leading historians of early Christianity Adolf von Harnack and Abbot L. Dyushenom. Later her circle of acquaintances came to include Orthodox clergymen and sectarians.
Returning to Russia, Danzas collaborated with the newspaper Border regions of Russia, wrote articles for the book Inquiries thought. These articles she signed with the pseudonym "Yuri Nikolaev." In them, she strongly opposed the socialist ideas against separatism in Finland. In 1907, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) invited Julia Danzas to work in the Empress' charities. Danzas agreed and became Lady-in-waiting to the Empress.
