On January 31 (February 13 by new style), 1879, in St. Petersburg, in the house on the Sergievskaya street (now - Chaikovskaya street), 16 in the family of St. Petersburg architect Ivan Ivanovich Shaposhnikov and his wife Ekaterina Vasilievna (maiden name Golenischeva-Kutuzova) a baby-girl Helena was born. The house where the girl was born stood next to the Cathedral of Saint Sergi Radonezhsky (which was at the corner of the Liteiny prospect). She was baptized there. Thus under the protection of the Patron of the Russian Land started the way of the woman who transferred the Living Ethics Doctrine to the world.
Helena Ivanovna treated Sergi Radonezhsky with particular veneration all her life. In 1934 under the pseudonym of N.Yarovskaya she wrote a big essay-research "Saint Sergi Radonezhsky" and made up a book about him, in which she included speeches of the prominent figures of the native culture V.O.Kluchevsky and N.K.Roerich.
In the kin of the future enlightener there were a lot of well-known names. The Shaposhnikovs had moved to St. Petersburg from Riga in the times of Peter the Great. Helena's mother was in kindred with a prominent field marshal M.I.Golenishev-Kutuzov, with a great composer M.P.Musorgsky, with poet and collector A.A.Golenishev-Kutuzov. The kin of Helena's grandmother is traced back to the Chingizids. Helena Shaposhnikova grew and developed in the atmosphere if rich cultural family traditions. She graduated with honours from the Mariinsky gymnasium, the biggest gymnasium for girls in St. Petersburg and entered the capital musical school. Her elder son George Nicholaevich was saying later on: "She worked a lot, played the piano. She was highly talented in music and very artistic…When she was young she was a little bit revolutionary oriented. Grandfather was concerned she would choose the revolutionary's way". That is why Helena was prohibited to enter the Conservatoire. Her parents were scared that she would be affected by the revolutionary ideas of the students' environment. Helena continued to study at home, was improving her knowledge of foreign languages, red a lot.
"The only light in her life at that time was her cousin Stepa Mitusov, her childhood fellow. He brought her some fine books of popular poets and philosophers, acquainted her with the new trends in art, most of all in music. But all this did not satisfy her spiritual aspirations, did not explain the sense of life to her, and the girl nearly fell ill…" (from the book "Dreams and Visions") When Helena was six she started seeing meaningful dreams and even visions. Some of them were accompanied by such strong emotional feelings and extraordinary facts that got engraved in her heart for all her life. And many years later Helena Ivanovna collected them in her essay "Dreams and Visions".
Helena Ivanovna spent the summer of 1899 in Bologoe with her mother, at her aunt's Eudokia Vasilievna, in the estate of her husband, prince P.A.Putiatin. He was a prominent archaeologist, collector and one of the most enlightened men of the epoch. There she met artist and archaeologist N.K.Roerich, who lovingly called her Lada. The wedding ceremony of Helena Ivanovna Shaposhnikova and Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich was held in the Church of the Imperial Academy of Arts, on Bazil Island, on October 28, 1901. All the rest of the life they spent together arm by arm, making wonderful discoveries and sharing the hardships of trips. The artist insisted that on many of his canvases by right there should have been put two signatures: his and Helena Ivanovna's. It was a creative harmony of two origins: male and female, of the heart energy and creativity, mundane action. The flame of spirit gave birth to the beauty of shapes.

H. Roerich. 1900-s

H. Roerich. 1910

In 1902 Helena Roerich gave birth to their son George, a future orientalist. In 1904 - to Svetoslav, the future artist. Helena Ivanovna was bringing up children and together with her husband took part in archaeological trips, studied Indian philosophy, works by Vivekananda and Tagor. In 1918 the Roerichs found themselves in Finland, then moved to London, in 1920 - to the USA, in 1923 - to India. In 1924 Helena Ivanovna started continuous communication with Mahatma Moria and passed to the higher spheres of consciousness. She made notes about "space building" that got the name of "Fire Experience". Since then her unique creativity started. It had the Supreme Consciousness as its source and lasted all her life. It is impossible to make up the biography of this wonderful woman on the outline of only external facts and data. First of all it is spiritual biography, and these very milestones were underlined by N.K.Roerich in his article "Great Image": "Here in my life comes a marvellous female image. <…> In the noisy, sometimes it seems even entertaining every day life, a deep, as if finished, world view creates itself. Truth, fairness, constant search for truth and love for creative work transform all the life around young and strong spirit. And the whole house, all family, everything is built according to the same blessed origins. All hardships and dangers are overcome under the same blessed guidance. Accumulated knowledge and strive for perfection give invincible solutions that lead all along the sole blessed way. All ignorance is painfully felt, physical and spiritual healings take place. The life since early morning till late night becomes purely productive for the sake of humanity. Active correspondence is kept, books are written, multi-volume works are translated, and all this is a remarkable indefatigability of spirit. Even very hard circumstances are overcome by the true faith which is being attained by the direct feeling awareness. And for this awareness huge accumulations are required".

H. Roerich. 1930-s

H.I.Roerich wrote (under the pseudonym of N. Rokotova) one of the best works in the Buddhism studies "The Basics of the Buddhism", published under the pseudonym of J.Saint-Yler "Oriental Cryptograms", translated into Russian "Mysterious Doctrine" by E.P.Blavatskaya. Her contacts with numerous correspondents in Europe and USA make up multi-volume editions. Her diaries that contain the conversation with the Oriental Teachers are preserved, as well as her "Space Notes" that reveal the peculiarities of the Space rhythms and Space energies. Her medical knowledge was also great. And of course the main work of her life became the Living Ethics Doctrine or Agni Yoga, made up and written under the guidance of her Himalayan Teachers Mahatmas. It is a scientific, philosophical and ethics doctrine which has an utmost importance for our planet and its future. In the books on Agni Yoga the main peculiarities of the new evolutionary circuit of our planet are defined: approach of new energies to the Earth, human skilful treatment of psychological energy, interaction with Space energy structures and expansion of the informational exchange with them, increase of the material and spirit synthesis level and finally forming of refined and higher species of the mankind.
The Institute of the Himalayan Research founded by the Roerichs in 1928 in the valley of Kulu (western foothills of the Himalayas) which bears the same name - Urusvati (the Light of the Morning Star) - as the one that was given to Helena Ivanovna by the Teacher Moria - had the following goals: to study human hidden strengths and features as well as interaction of micro cosmos and macro cosmos. On the basis of "Urusvati" Institute complex researches on local linguistics, history and archaeology were carried out.
Helena Ivanovna Roerich left this world on October 5, 1955 in Kruketi, Kalimpong, at the east foothills of the Himalayas.
In one of her latest letters she wrote: "I am not talking about the New Century Doctrine, since there are very few whose consciousness is mature enough to capture that the Living Ethics Doctrine is the New Prophetable Declaration. But this will happen some day. There will be time when this Doctrine will become the world wide and will make the basis of the new mankind. It will speed up the dream of the mortal decease termination and reaching of the mundane longevity and emerging of a human being in a new refined shell".