Three Diveyevo oxbows canonized as locally revered saints

Three Diveyevo oxbows canonized as locally revered saints

DIVEEVO (Nizhny Novgorod region), July 31 - RIA Novosti. Three blessed old women of Diveyevo - Paraskeva (better known as Pasha of Sarov), Pelageya (Serebryannikova) and Maria Ivanovna - are canonized as locally revered saints. As RIA Novosti reports, their glorification was announced by Bishop Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas on Saturday at the Seraphim-Diveevo Convent. The honoring of the Diveyevo blesseds is timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the birth of the patron of this monastery - St. Seraphim of Sarov.

“From now on, their remains should be called holy relics and given their due veneration,” the bishop noted in his address to the believers.

For each of the now glorified saints, a separate service will be compiled, the life of the saint will be written.

Icons of Saints Paraskeva, Pelagia and Mary have already been painted and are being sold in Diveevo.

Many believers are already approaching the flower-decorated graves of the holy elders with candles and kneeling.

Blessed Pasha of Sarov (in the world - Irina) was born at the beginning of the 19th century in the village of Nikolskoye, Spassky district, Tambov province, into the family of a serf. She became a housekeeper, and one day the servants falsely accused her of stealing. The gentlemen gave Irina to the soldiers for torture. Unable to bear the injustice, she fled to Kyiv and secretly took monastic vows with the name Paraskeva, after which she began to call herself Pasha.

The blessed one lived for 30 years in caves in the Sarov Forest. And in 1884 she settled in Diveyevo. She spent all nights in prayer, and during the day after church services she reaped grass with a sickle, knitted stockings and did other work, constantly saying the Jesus Prayer.

Seeing her ascetic life, people began to turn to her for advice and prayer and noticed that she had the gift of foresight. Blessed Pasha convicted some of secret sins, and for others she accurately predicted the future.

It was to the house of Pasha of Sarov in 1903, after the canonization of St. Seraphim, that Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna came. Before the guests arrived, Blessed Pasha ordered all the chairs to be taken out and seated the imperial couple on the carpet. The blessed one predicted the catastrophe that was approaching Russia: the death of the dynasty, persecution of the Church and a sea of ​​blood. She also predicted the birth of an heir, giving the royal family a doll.

Pasha of Sarov died on October 5, 1915 at the age of approximately 120 years, and another blessed Diveyevo, Maria Ivanovna, settled in her house.

Blessed Paraskeva of Diveevskaya (1795-1915) Blessed Pasha of Sarov (in the world - Irina) was born in 1795 in the village of Nikolskoye, Spassky district, Tambov province, into the family of a serf. At seventeen she was married off. Her husband's family loved her for her gentle disposition and hard work. Fifteen years have passed. The Bulgin landowners sold Irina and her husband to the Schmidts.

Soon Irina's husband dies. The Schmidts tried to marry Irina a second time, but when they heard the words: “Even if you kill me, I won’t marry again,” they decided to leave her at home. Irina did not have to work as a housekeeper for long, she was slandered by the servants, the owners, suspecting Irina of theft, gave her to the soldiers to torture. After severe beatings, unable to bear the injustice, Irina left for Kyiv.

The fugitive was found in the monastery. For escaping, the serf peasant woman had to languish in prison for a long time before she was sent to her homeland. Finally, Irina was returned to her owners. After working as a gardener for the Schmidts for two years, Irina again decided to escape. It should be noted that during the second escape, Irina secretly took monastic vows with the name of Paraskeva, having received the blessing of the elders for the foolishness of Christ.) Soon the blessed one was detained by law enforcement officers and returned to her owners, who soon kicked Irina out themselves.

For five years, Irina, half-naked and hungry, wandered around the village, then for 30 years she lived in the caves she dug in the Sarov Forest. The surrounding peasants and pilgrims who came to Sarov deeply revered the ascetic and asked for her prayers. They brought her food, left her money, and she distributed everything to the poor.

The life of a hermit was fraught with great dangers; it was not so much the proximity to wild animals in the forest that complicated Irina’s life, but rather the meeting with “unkind people.” One day she was severely beaten by robbers who demanded money from her, which she did not have. For a whole year she was between life and death.

She came to the Diveyevo Monastery in the fall of 1884, approaching the gates of the monastery, she hit the pillar and predicted: “As soon as I crush this pillar, they will begin to die, just have time to dig graves.” Soon Blessed Pelageya Ivanovna Serebrennikova (1809-1884), to whom the reverend himself died, died. Seraphim entrusted his orphans, the monastery priest died after her, then one after another several nuns...

Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov), author of the Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, said: “During her life in the Sarov Forest, her long asceticism and fasting, she looked like Mary of Egypt. Thin, tall, completely burned by the sun and therefore black and scary, she wore short hair at that time, since previously everyone was amazed at her long hair that reached the ground, giving her a beauty that bothered her in the forest and did not correspond to her secret tonsure. Barefoot, in a man's monastic shirt - a scroll, unbuttoned on the chest, with bare arms, with a serious expression on her face, she came to the monastery and struck fear into everyone who did not know her "...

Contemporaries noted that the appearance of Blessed Pasha of Sarov changed depending on her mood; she was either overly strict, angry and menacing, or affectionate and kind: “Her childish, kind, bright, deep and clear eyes amaze so much that any doubt about her purity disappears.” , righteousness and high feat. They testify that all her oddities - allegorical conversation, severe reprimands and antics - are just an outer shell that deliberately hides humility, meekness, love and compassion."

The blessed one spent all nights in prayer, and during the day after church services she reaped grass with a sickle, knitted stockings and did other work, constantly saying the Jesus Prayer. Every year the number of sufferers who turned to her for advice and requests to pray for them increased.

Eyewitnesses said that Praskovya Ivanovna lived in a small house to the left of the monastery gate. There she had one spacious and bright room, in which the entire wall opposite the door “was covered with large icons”: in the center - the Crucifixion, on the right the Mother of God, on the left - the apostle. John the Theologian. In the same house, in the right corner from the entrance, there was a tiny cell - a closet that served as Praskovya Ivanovna’s sleeping room, where she prayed all night long. Exhausted in the morning, Praskovya Ivanovna lay down and dozed...

Pilgrims crowded under the windows of her house all day long. The name of Praskovya Ivanovna was known not only among the people, but also in the highest circles of society. Almost all of the high-ranking officials, visiting the Diveyevo Monastery, considered it their duty to visit Praskovya Ivanovna.

The blessed one answered thoughts more often than questions. People came to the blessed one for advice and consolation in an endless procession, and the Lord, through His faithful servant, revealed the future to them and healed mental and physical ailments. Here is an excerpt from the memoirs of one Moscow correspondent who was lucky enough to visit the blessed old woman: “...We were amazed and delighted that this blessed woman with the pure gaze of a child prayed for us sinners. Joyful and satisfied, she sent us off in peace, blessing us on our way. She made a strong impression on us. This is an integral nature, untouched by anything external, who has given her entire life, all her thoughts to the glory of the Lord God. She is a rare person on earth, and we must rejoice that the Russian land is still rich in such people.”

From the memoirs of nun Serafima (Bulgakova): “At the end of the 19th century, the future Metropolitan Seraphim, then still a brilliant guards colonel Leonid Chichagov, began to visit us in Sarov... When Chichagov arrived for the first time, Praskovya Ivanovna met him, looked from under his sleeve and said : “But the sleeves are priestly ones. He soon accepted the priesthood. Praskovya Ivanovna persistently told him: “Submit a petition to the Emperor so that the relics are revealed to us. Chichagov began collecting materials, wrote “The Chronicle...” and presented it to the Emperor. When the Emperor read it, he was inflamed with the desire to open the relics”...

Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov) said the following about his first meeting with the blessed old woman: “I was taken to the house where Pasha lived. As soon as I entered her, Pasha, who was lying on the bed (she was old and sick), exclaimed: “It’s good that you came, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time: St. Seraphim ordered me to tell you to report to the Emperor that the time of opening has come of his relics and glorification. I answered Pasha that due to my social status I could not be accepted by the Emperor, and I could not convey to him what she was entrusting me with...

In confusion, I left the old lady’s cell... Soon I left the Diveyevo Monastery and, returning to Moscow, involuntarily pondered the words... And suddenly one day the thought struck me that it was possible to write down everything that the nuns who remembered him said about St. Seraphim, to find other persons from his contemporaries the monk and ask them about him, get acquainted with the archives of the Sarov Hermitage and the Diveyevo Monastery... Bring all this material into a system and chronological order, then print this work... and present it to the Emperor, which will fulfill the will of the Reverend, conveyed to me in categorical form by Pasha”...

Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna came to the house of Blessed Pasha of Sarov in 1903, after the canonization of St. Seraphim. Before the guests arrived, Blessed Pasha ordered all the chairs to be taken out and seated the imperial couple on the carpet. The blessed old woman predicted the birth of an heir, warned about the upcoming persecution of the Church, about the death of the Romanov dynasty. After this, the Emperor often turned to Blessed Paraskeva Ivanovna, sending the Grand Dukes to her for advice. Shortly before her death, the blessed one often prayed in front of the portrait of the Emperor, foreseeing his imminent martyrdom.

From the memoirs of Hegumen Seraphim Putyatin: “The great ascetic and seer, Sarovskaya Praskovya Ivanovna... predicted the storm approaching Russia. She placed portraits of the Tsar, Queen and Family in the front corner with the icons and prayed to them along with the icons, crying out: “Holy Royal Martyrs, pray to God for us.”

In 1915, in August, I came from the front to Moscow, and then to Sarov and Diveevo, where I was personally convinced of this. I remember how I served the Liturgy on the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Diveevo, and then went straight from the church to Elder Praskovya Ivanovna, staying with her for more than an hour, listening carefully to her future menacing predictions, although expressed in parables, but her cell attendant and I all understood well and deciphered the unclear. She revealed a lot to me then, which I then did not understand as I should have in the current world events. She told me even then that our enemies started the war with the goal of overthrowing the Tsar and tearing Russia apart. For whom they fought and in whom they hoped, they will betray us and will rejoice in our grief, but their joy will not last long, for they themselves will have the same grief.

The seer kissed the portraits of the Tsar and his family several times in front of me, placed them with icons, praying to them as holy martyrs. Then she wept bitterly... Then the old woman took the icons of the Tenderness of the Mother of God, before whom the Monk Seraphim died, blessed the Sovereign and the Family in absentia, gave them to me and asked me to forward them. She blessed the icons of the Sovereign, Empress, Tsesarevich, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna and A. A. Vyrubova. I asked to bless the icon of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, she blessed, but not the Tenderness of the Mother of God, but St. Seraphim. She didn’t bless anyone else with icons... Nowadays it’s clear to me: she knew that they would all end their lives as righteous martyrs. Kissing the portraits of the Tsar and Family, the seer said that these were her dear relatives, with whom she would soon live together. And this prediction came true. She died a month later, passing into eternity, and now, together with the Royal Martyrs, she lives in a heavenly, quiet haven. (1920)”

Blessed Schema-Nun Paraskeva died on October 5, 1915 at the age of 120. Blessed Elder Paraskeva Ivanovna was buried at the altar of the Trinity Cathedral of the Diveyevo Monastery next to Blessed Pelagia Ivanovna. Before her death, Blessed Paraskeva blessed her successor, Blessed Maria Ivanovna, to live in the Diveyevo monastery.

Blessed Maria Diveevskaya (+1931) Blessed Maria (Maria Zakharovna Fedina) was born in the village of Goletkovo, Elatomsky district, Tambov province, into a peasant family. Since childhood, Maria loved solitude and prayer. Maria's father died when she was thirteen years old, and a year later her mother Pelageya also died. Orphaned at the age of 14, she wandered between Diveevo and Sarov, hungry, half-naked, and later settled in the Diveevo monastery.

Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna, anticipating her death, said: “I am still sitting behind the camp, and the other one is already scurrying around, she is still walking, and then she will sit down.”

On the day of the death of Blessed Paraskeva of Sarov, the nuns kicked Blessed Maria out of the monastery, annoyed by her oddities.

However, having heard the peasant’s story, testifying to the insight of blessed Mary (she told him his whole life and pointed out all his sins), they listened to the latter’s request: “Return the servant of God to the monastery.” Messengers were immediately sent for Maria Ivanovna.

During her first years at the monastery, Blessed Mary lived in a cold, damp room. Here, as blessed Praskovya Ivanovna predicted, she lost her legs - “she developed rheumatism.” Blessed Mary was looked after by the nun Dorothea. Once, when Dorofey’s mother went to the pantry for milk, the blessed one was scalded with boiling water “to the bones” - she tried to pour tea for herself, opened the tap of the samovar, but could not turn it on. The patient's suffering was aggravated by the heat; this happened on a hot June day.

According to the testimony of Blessed Mary’s contemporaries, no one ever heard a complaint or a groan from her; it must be for her patience and humility that the ascetic was awarded the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

According to the testimony of contemporaries, Maria Ivanovna not only predicted, denounced, but through her prayers, the Lord repeatedly healed the suffering, about which eyewitness accounts have been preserved. Let's list just a few of them.

One nun, suffering from a skin disease, after numerous visits to doctors, became despondent: her hands were covered with ulcers, ointments did not help. Maria Ivanovna suggested anointing the wounds with oil from the lamp; after the nun anointed her hands twice, the wounds healed, even the marks disappeared.

A similar testimony has been preserved about the healing of a woman named Elena from an eye disease.

From the memoirs of nun Seraphima: “When I entered the monastery in 1924, abscesses appeared on my hands due to thinness. I tried to anoint them with lamp oil from the relics, but still did not receive healing. I went to Maria Ivanovna to tell about this. She answered: “How do you apply it? Just? Apply a cross and surround.” I smeared it on, and that’s how it went”...

During the years of difficult revolutionary trials for Russia, the flow of those in need of guidance and prayerful help increased. The prophecies and predictions of the blessed old woman helped many people avoid death and find the right path in difficult circumstances.

From the memoirs of nun Seraphima (Bulgakova):

— Blessed Maria Ivanovna was from Tambov. During her lifetime, Elder Paraskeva Ivanovna walked around in tatters, dirty, and spent the night under a bridge. Her real name was Zakharovna, not Ivanovna. We asked why she is called Ivanovna? She answered: “These are all of us, blessed ones, Ivanovnas - according to John the Baptist”... Blessed Maria spoke a lot and quickly, and so smoothly, even in poetry... I note that Maria Ivanovna, as a resourceful person, also had a sharp mind, and she loved to surprise of people. One day some military official came to Maria Ivanovna and wanted to come in. It was Soviet times, Dorofey’s mother warned Maria Ivanovna: “A strict man has arrived, don’t say anything in front of him in vain!” Don’t say anything about the Tsar... As soon as the “strict” one entered, she burst out and began to feel: - When Nikolashka ruled, there was cereal and porridge... And now there is a new regime - we are all lying hungry... Mikhail P. Artsybushev was devoted to the blessed with all his soul, and as director I didn’t do anything in the Astrakhan fisheries without her blessing. So, the doctors prescribed iodine for him. He took it and asked Maria Ivanovna what to do? She replied: “Iodine burns the heart, drink potassium iodide.” Somehow after his departure... the sisters... pestered the blessed one, approaching her with the same question: how does he live, how does he feel? To which she said: “Our Mishenka got in touch with a gypsy girl”... When he came to Diveevo again a year later, the sisters decided to ask Mikhail Petrovich about the “gypsy woman”. In response, Mishenka burst into laughter. Then he said: “What a blessed one!” I hadn’t smoked for many years, but then I was tempted and bought “Gypsy” cigarettes at a stall... Even in the monastery, I heard from the blessed one: “And you will wander around Moscow.” And you, mother, will be sent away.

And when I wandered around Moscow after the dispersal of the monastery, I knew very well: they would soon deport me. And so it happened...

According to the testimony of nun Seraphima, Vladyka Seraphim Zvezdinsky revered blessed Mary as “the great servant of God”...

The blessed old woman said in 1926: “What a year is coming, what a difficult year! Elijah and Enoch are already walking on earth.” And when searches began in the monastery after Easter, to the question of nun Seraphima: “Will we still live in peace?” She replied that there were only three months left.

On September 7/20, 1927, the nuns were asked to leave the monastery. After the closure of the monastery, Maria Ivanovna lived in the houses of believers. Representatives of the authorities forbade the blessed one to receive visitors. Once the blessed old woman was arrested, but after interrogation, recognizing her as abnormal, she was released.

It should be noted that although Maria Ivanovna warned the sisters about future trials during the years of godlessness: camps, exile, she at the same time confidently predicted the revival of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery, which came true in 1991.

The blessed old woman died in 1931 at the age of about 70 years, she was buried in the cemetery of the village of Bolshoye Cherevatovo.

Numerous testimonies have been preserved of miraculous healings through the prayers of the blessed elders, which have occurred in our days.

The Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, having become familiar with the godly life of Christ for the sake of the blessed elders Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria Diveevskaya, decided to canonize Christ for the sake of the holy fools, blessed elders Pelagia Diveevskaya, Paraskeva Diveevskaya and Maria Diveevskaya for local church veneration in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. The holy elders were glorified as locally revered saints in July 2004 during celebrations dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the birth of St. Seraphim of Sarov. (September 22/October 5 - Memorial Day)

Blessed Elders of the Diveyevo Monastery, Moscow, Publishing house: “Pilgrim”, 2004.

Blessed Elder Natalia Dmitrievna Diveevskaya

10 / 23 February

In the “Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery” it is reported about Blessed Natalia Dmitrievna: “There is very scanty information about her, since out of humility she never told anything about herself, but, according to the testimony collected from her contemporaries in the monastery, she was from the Orenburg province , belonged to the peasants of the state department... In the spring of 1848, she came to the Diveyevo monastery on a pilgrimage with pilgrims and remained there with the blessing of the boss Irina Kocheulova and with the consent of the treasurer Yulia Makkaveeva and the dean Tatyana Buchumova.

From the beginning of her entry, she always knew only one church, in which she was every day for every service; she never went to cells except her own, and had a sister to look after her. Her obedience was to read the Psalter at night and then at midnight to ring the bell for the Midnight Office. ...The Reverend Jeremiah, visiting the monastery, each time ordered her to dress in a black dress in order to be among the sisters of the monastery, but she did not change her path and said: “I am a fool from birth and am not worthy to wear what nuns wear.”

As they say, she took secret tonsure in Kyiv, where she received a very difficult obedience from the elder, which she fulfills sacredly. One can guess that the vow she made is extremely strict. ...She does not live in her cell always, but in periods; for the most part it sits in senki (a kind of hut), under a roof, but in the open air, in winter, summer, autumn and in all weather and bad weather.

Here she constantly prays, follows the monastery rules, talks with the visiting people, and reads and writes at night. Her food is extremely meager, and on fasting days she eats absolutely nothing. Every day she receives a particle of antidor with warmth, which constitutes her joy and food. If she eats gruel or milk with flatbread, then once a day, until Vespers, but it happens that the people do not let her have dinner until Vespers, and then she no longer eats at all that day.

To mortify the flesh, her obedience apparently obliges her not to take off her underwear and dress until it rots on her and falls off on its own. She also never washes her face or combs her hair. Then she never lies down, and if she naps, she does so while sitting. She also rarely allows those who come to her for advice and blessings to approach her; For the most part, people stop 5-6 fathoms away, and the words of Natasha, who speaks quite quietly, are conveyed to the public by a novice standing in the middle of the distance from the people to her.

She never picks up anything except sacred objects, paper and pencil; the novices feed her and do everything for her, turn the pages of books, collect money left by the people, and so on. Her obedience also includes the difficult duty of always moving sideways and certainly along the same road or floorboard both back and forth. These oddities, unusual for free people, seem unreasonable, boring, perhaps, meaningless, but that is why they were given to her by the wise old man, in order to overcome reason and will and, with the help of such difficult obediences, even unbearable for the majority, to force her to renounce the world, located not in the environment around a person, but inside him, in the heart.

Natasha has the gift of advice. Her speech is direct, clear, not allegorical. Her wisdom and erudition are great, and she is not without insight. In her younger years, Natasha acted somewhat like a fool, but in her old age she stopped.”

In the last years of her life, Elder Natalia founded her own convent, separate from Seraphimo-Diveevskaya. In 1899, admirers purchased 200 acres of land for this monastery on Melyaevskaya Polyana in Ardatovsky district. The blessed one herself did not dare to leave the Diveyevo monastery without the consent of the abbess.

Shortly before her death, Blessed Natalia raised the bell, not as usual, for the midnight office, but during mass. When Abbess Maria asked why she was calling like that, she answered: “I’m seeing off the truth to heaven. There is no more truth on earth!”

On February 22, 1900, on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, around midnight, the faithful servant of Christ, the blessed old woman of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery, Natalia Dmitrievna, quietly and peacefully reposed in the Lord.

The grave of Blessed Natalia is located behind the altar of the Trinity Cathedral, to the left of the burial place of St. Blessed Pelagia. In the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery, on the day of memory of Blessed Natalia, a liturgy and memorial service are served for the repose of her soul. The cross on her grave is decorated with flowers.

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The Lord entrusted the blessed elders of Diveyevo Pelageya, Paraskeva and Maria with one of the most difficult feats - the feat of foolishness, and the Monk Seraphim, at the behest of the Mother of God, instructed them to prayerfully guard the monastery. In this field, the three blessed women labored, replacing each other, for a whole century.

Saints Blessed Pelageya, Paraskeva and Maria of Diveyevo

For Christ's sake, foolishness is a special feat. The Lord calls to it people of extraordinary spiritual strength - real giants of the spirit.

The future women's monastery needed a reliable spiritual fence. At first the monastery was protected by the prayer of the monk himself, and after his death this mission passed to the three blessed elders.

“I am Serafimova.” Pelageya Diveevskaya.

The first was Pelageya Ivanovna Serebrennikova, who later began to be called the second Seraphim.

Long before his death, Father Seraphim took care of a successor and prayer book. The Lord brought such a man directly to him. She was a young woman with a very difficult fate, whom everyone considered a “fool.” However, the monk saw in her foolishness the real desire for God and revealed to her the meaning of her life’s path.

Pelageya Ivanovna was born into a merchant family in 1809 and was left without a father early on. The mother remarried, and the stepfather did not like his stepdaughter. We don’t know whether it was due to teenage protest or some revelation of God, but the girl began to behave strangely. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, they tried to get away with it and married her off (in 1828).

Soon after the marriage, Pelageya Ivanovna went with her husband and mother to the Sarov Hermitage. The Monk Seraphim kindly received them and, having blessed their mother and husband, sent them to the hotel, and brought Pelageya Ivanovna into his cell and talked with her for a long, long time. What the conversation was about remains a mystery. Meanwhile, the husband, who was waiting at the hotel, realizing that it was time for them to go home, but his wife was still not there, lost patience and, angry, went with his mother to look for her. Approaching Seraphim’s cell, they saw that the elder, leading Pelageya Ivanovna out of the cell by the hand, bowed to the ground and said: “Go, mother, go, without delay, to my monastery, take care of my orphans; many will be saved by you, and you will be the light of the world. “Oh, I forgot,” the priest added, “here’s your rosary, take it, mother, take it.”

When Pelageya Ivanovna left, Father Seraphim turned to the witnesses of the event and said: “This woman will be a great lamp!” Pelageya’s husband, having heard such strange speeches of the elder, and in addition seeing the rosary in his wife’s hands, turned to his mother-in-law with ridicule: “Seraphim is good! Such a holy man, nothing to say! And where is this insight? And is he sane? What does it look like? Is she a girl, or what, he’s sending her to Diveevo, and he gave her a rosary?”

View of the Sarov Desert from the north. Lithograph from 1876

A secret, long spiritual conversation with the wondrous old man had a decisive influence on the future life of blessed Pelageya. She soon became friends in Arzamas with a merchant named Praskovya Ivanovna, who also labored in the feat of foolishness for Christ’s sake, and under her guidance she learned the continuous Jesus Prayer, which began to act gracefully in her and became her constant occupation for the rest of her life.

Pelageya Ivanovna spent whole nights in prayer. One old woman, who was her peer and friend in her youth, said that at night, hidden from everyone, the blessed one prayed almost all night, facing east, in a cold glass gallery attached to the house. And the old woman knew this well, because she lived opposite the Serebrennikovs. “Well, judge for yourself,” she added in simplicity of heart, “was it fun for her husband? Obviously, I didn't like it. Eh, what can I say? I know her whole path well; She was a great servant of God.”

Pelageya soon began to combine the feat of foolishness with her feats of prayer, seeming to lose her mind more and more every day. It happened that she would put on the most expensive dress, a shawl, and wrap her head in a dirty rag and go either to church or to a walk where more people gathered, so that everyone would see her, judge her, ridicule her, and insult her. This sincerely pleased her soul, which had despised all the blessings of this world.

View of the Diveyevo Monastery from the left side. Late 19th century photography

For Pelageya Ivanovna, now only the goal that the Monk Seraphim showed her made sense, and she went towards it. Hence her indifferent attitude towards her children, husband and relatives. And, by and large, they were strangers. But, of course, the pain in my soul remained. However, the more she acted like a fool, the more indignant her husband became: he beat her, even put her on a chain and, in the end, kicked her out of the house. She returned to her family, but even there her life was no easier, because Pelageya continued to act like a fool.

Pelageya Ivanovna’s mother decided to send her daughter with pilgrims to holy places in the hope of healing. First of all, the “fool” was taken to Zadonsk to Saint Tikhon, then to Voronezh to Saint Mitrofan. Arriving in Voronezh, the Arzamas pilgrims went with Pelageya to the Right Reverend Anthony, known at that time for the holiness of his life and the gift of clairvoyance.

Vladyka Anthony kindly received Pelageya Ivanovna with her prayers, blessed everyone, and said to the blessed one: “And you, servant of God, stay.” They talked alone for three hours. Pelageya’s companions were offended that the Reverend was busy with the “fool” and not with them. The perspicacious ruler guessed their thoughts and, seeing off Pelageya Ivanovna, remarked: “Well, I can’t tell you anything more. If Seraphim started your path, then he will finish it.” Then, turning to her companions, who were proud that they were able to make a donation to him, he said: “I am not looking for earthly wealth, but spiritual wealth.” And he let everyone go in peace.

Finally, seeing that the holy saints were “not helping” Pelageya Ivanovna, and hearing that the Right Reverend Anthony mentioned Elder Seraphim, the exhausted mother of the blessed one decided to once again go to the Sarov hermitage. She complained to Father Seraphim: “Well, father, my daughter, with whom we were with you, married, has gone crazy; does this and that; and is not appeased by anything; No matter where we took her, she completely got out of hand, so they put her on a chain.” “How is this possible?! - the old man exclaimed. - How could you do this?! Let her go, let her go free, otherwise you will be terribly punished by the Lord for her, leave her, don’t touch her, leave her!” The frightened mother began to make excuses: “After all, we have girls over there, they also want to get married; Well, it’s a shame for them to be with a fool. After all, you can’t persuade her with anything, she doesn’t listen. But she’s painfully strong, you can’t handle her without a chain. He’ll take it and run around the whole city with a chain, it’s a disgrace, and that’s all.”

Father Seraphim involuntarily laughed, having heard, apparently, the mother’s fair and reasonable excuses, and said: “The Lord does not call the weak on such a path, mother; chooses for such a feat those who are courageous and strong in body and spirit. But don’t keep her on a chain and you can’t, otherwise the Lord will menacingly punish you for her.”

Thanks to the elder’s words, the family somewhat improved Pelageya Ivanovna’s life: they no longer kept her on chains and were allowed to leave the house. Having received freedom, she spent almost all her time on the porch of the church. Here they saw how she prayed at night in the open air, with her hands raised in grief, with many sighs and tears, and during the day she acted like a fool, ran through the streets, screamed ugly and went crazy in every possible way, covered in rags, hungry and cold. She spent four years like this before moving to the Diveyevo Monastery.

In 1837, Pelageya finally ended up in Diveyevo. And the “mad Palaga,” as they called her in the monastery, began to live, but by no means a joyful life. At first they assigned to her a young, but extremely stern and lively girl, Matryona Vasilievna, later the nun Macrina, known for her severity and sternness. She beat the blessed one so much that it was impossible to watch without pity. And Pelageya Ivanovna not only did not complain, but rejoiced at such a life.

It was as if she deliberately called everyone in the community to insults and beatings towards her, for she was still raging, running around the monastery, throwing stones, breaking glass in the cells, banging her head and hands against the walls of the monastery buildings. She was rarely in her cell; she spent most of the day in the monastery courtyard, sitting either in a hole she dug and filled with manure, which she always carried in the bosom of her dress, or in a guardhouse in the corner, where she practiced the Jesus Prayer.

Both in summer and winter, the blessed one walked barefoot. She deliberately stood on nails, piercing her legs right through, and tried in every possible way to torture her body. I never went to the monastery refectory; I ate only bread and water, and sometimes there wasn’t even that. It happened that in the evening she would get hungry and go to the cells of those sisters who were not disposed towards her to ask for bread. Instead of bread, they gave her pushes and kicks and kicked her out. Pelageya was returning home, and then Matryona Vasilievna greeted her with beatings.

Only after the death of Abbess Ksenia Mikhailovna? The blessed one was given (not immediately) another novice, with whom she lived for 45 years. Here it was not easy for the novice with Pelageya Ivanovna - the girl, apparently, was clean, and Mother Pelageya constantly carried stones and all kinds of garbage into her cell.

She hardly slept, except that she dozed off a little while sitting, and at night she went away and stood somewhere in the monastery, despite the rain and cold. However, she was never sick. Pelagia Ivanovna did not cut her nails and did not go to the bathhouse. One night, about three years before her death, she fell in the garden during a snowstorm, froze to the ground and spent nine hours in the cold in only a sundress and a shirt.

In Diveyevo, people of different ranks and classes began to flock to Pelageya, everyone was in a hurry to see the blessed one and hear from her a wise word of edification, consolation, spiritual advice or reproof and reproach, each depending on his own need. And she, possessing the gift of insight, told everyone what was necessary and saving for him.

One day, a tall, thin woman came to her, laboring in a dugout in the Sarov forest. She was barefoot, wearing a man's monastic shirt (scroll), unbuttoned on the chest, with bare arms, and a serious expression on her face. Probably, the ascetic had some kind of spiritual problems. She silently sat down next to Pelageya Ivanovna. Blessed Pelageya looked at her for a long time and, expressing all her love for the Diveyevo “orphans,” said: “Yes! It’s good for you, you don’t have worries like I have: there are so many children!” The hermit stood up, bowed low to Pelageya and left without uttering a word. In essence, Pelageya Ivanovna’s answer to the silent question was simple: “These are your flowers, here are my berries.” The guest showed understanding, because both were of the same spirit. This visitor turned out to be the successor of Blessed Pelagia, Pasha of Sarov.

Pelageya Ivanovna illuminated her path like lightning when, under different circumstances of her life, she repeated: “I am Seraphim,” “Seraphim spoiled me,” “The old man (Seraphim) is closer to us.” Until the end of her days, she remained vigilantly vigilant over the Diveyevo monastery. The faithful and precise fulfillment of the request of the great elder was revealed more and more clearly in her: “Go, go to Diveevo, take care of my orphans.” And she cherished and preserved them for eternity. He protects it even now – through his prayer and intercession before God.

Blessed Pelageya lived in Diveyevo for 47 years and on January 30, 1884 she passed away to the Lord. She was 75 years old. The funeral service took place on the ninth day with a huge crowd of people. Pelagia Ivanovna was buried in the monastery cemetery at the altar of the Trinity Cathedral.

Monastery "mama". Paraskeva Diveevskaya.

The fate of Blessed Paraskeva Diveevskaya was even more tragic than that of her predecessor. Praskovya Ivanovna (in the world Irina) came from serfs. She was married off at the age of 17 against her will, but she fell in love with her husband, they lived together, but the Lord did not give children. Praskovya turned out to be an exemplary wife and housewife, and her husband’s family fell in love with her for her meek disposition, hard work, and fervent prayer at home and in church. She avoided guests and society and did not go to village games.

Having been widowed, Praskovya Ivanovna continued to work as a cook for her masters, serving them faithfully. One day she was unfairly accused of theft, for which she suffered a lot of bullying. Later, Praskovya was acquitted, but ran away from her owners to Kyiv on a pilgrimage. The atmosphere and spirit of the Kyiv Pechora and, apparently, conversations with one of the elders helped her find a purpose in life. She returned to the masters, but not for long, and soon began to act like a fool.

For five years Praskovya behaved like a madwoman, wandered around the village, serving as a laughing stock not only for children, but for all the peasants, and then disappeared. She developed the habit of living in the open air at any time of the year, going hungry, and enduring severe frosts. It is not known where she lived before moving to the Sarov forest; perhaps she immediately retired there from the master’s village. One thing is certain - in Kyiv the blessed one took secret tonsure with the name of Paraskeva and from that moment began to call herself Pasha.

In the Sarov forest, Pasha stayed, according to the testimony of monastics in the desert, for about 30 years in a cave that she dug herself. They say that she had several caves in different places of a vast impenetrable forest, overflowing with predatory animals and bears. During her long period of asceticism and fasting, she became like the Venerable Mary of Egypt: thin, blackened by the sun.

From time to time, the ascetic went to Sarov and Diveevo; she was often seen at the Sarov mill, where she worked for the monks living there. Once Pasha was beaten half to death by bandits who wanted to rob her, and since then the blessed one’s health was severely undermined: headaches and a tumor in the pit of her stomach tormented her constantly.. After the beating and in her old age, she began to gain weight.

Pasha appeared at the Diveyevo monastery under the following circumstances. Once during mass, Ksenia Kuzminichna, an old woman of the former, Seraphim, times, was left alone with blessed Pelageya Ivanovna and, sitting on a bench by the window, quietly combed her hair while Pelageya slept. Suddenly the blessed one jumped up, as if someone had woken her, rushed to the window, opened it and, leaning out halfway, began to look into the distance and threaten someone. Elder Ksenia went to the window and saw the monastery gate open (which is near the Kazan Church), Pasha Sarovskaya entered with a bundle over her shoulders and went straight to Pelageya Ivanovna, muttering something to herself.

Coming closer and noticing that blessed Pelageya was telling her something, Pasha stopped and asked: “What, mother, or something?” “No,” answered Pelageya Ivanovna. “So it’s still early? Isn’t it time?” “Yes,” confirmed Pelageya. Pasha bowed low to her and immediately, without entering the monastery, silently went back through the gate. After this year and a half, she did not appear at the monastery.

The cell attendant of Pelageya Ivanovna said that six years before the repose of blessed Pelageya, Pasha came to Diveevo again, with a child’s doll. A little later and with many dolls. He used to babysit and care for them, calling them children. And Pasha began to live in the monastery for several weeks, and then even months. A year before Pelageya Ivanovna’s death, she lived in Diveevo for almost the entire year, and after her death she stayed forever.

“There is no doubt that blessed Pelageya put Praskovya Ivanovna in her place for the same purpose as Father Seraphim at one time sent her to Diveevo,” wrote Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov). – Their purpose in the monastery is to save the souls of monastics from the onslaught of the enemy of humanity, from temptations and passions, known to them by insight. If the wondrous and blessed servant of God Praskovya Semyonovna (Milyukova) called Pelageya Ivanovna the second Seraphim, then we will not be mistaken if we say that the second was followed in Diveevo by a third, in spirit and suffering, who experienced for 30 years desert living in the Sarov forest, the strictest fasting, finally, bodily torture in the world, like Pelageya Ivanovna, and beating, like Father Seraphim, by the enemy who armed robbers against her.”

Already living in Diveyevo, in the late autumn of 1884, Pasha walked past the fence of the cemetery Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and, hitting a fence post with a stick, said: “As soon as I knock down this post, they will go to die - just keep up with digging graves!” These words soon came true: as the pillar—blessed Pelageya—fell, priest Felixov reposed behind her, and then so many nuns that the magpies did not stop for a whole year. It happened that two people at a time would perform the funeral service.

Blessed Pasha settled temporarily in the choir building with Tatyana Nikiforovna Sakharova, although before she had always refused when her sisters called her to their place. A week after the death of Pelageya Ivanovna, she began to grumble that it was cold for her to sleep at the door, at the threshold, where the only free place was found for her. Abbess Maria ordered the choir members to be moved in order to give her her own small cell. The cell was cleaned, papered over, arranged: a bed, a chest of drawers, a table and a chest were installed. They hung icons, a lamp, gave a pillow, a blanket, a samovar, a cup, tea, sugar and everything necessary. Pasha met the cell attendants sent with things on the porch: “You are welcome!” She was so glad when they arranged a cell for her: she began to sing cheerfully and admire that now she had “her own little closet.”

Blessed Pasha of Sarov at a meal. Photo beginning XX century

Metropolitan Seraphim, compiling his chronicle, personally met the blessed one and was greatly impressed by her personality: “Her typical appearance can be very varied, depending on the mood of the inner spirit, sometimes excessively strict, angry and menacing, sometimes affectionate and kind, sometimes bitter- bitterly sad. But from her kind glance, every person comes into inexpressible delight. Her childish, kind, bright, deep and clear eyes amaze so much that all doubt about her purity, righteousness and high feat disappears. They testify that all these oddities of hers, allegorical conversation, severe reprimands and antics are just an outer shell that deliberately hides the greatest humility, meekness, love and compassion. Anyone who experiences her gaze on himself just wants to rush, hug and kiss her.”

“Wearing sundresses, she, like someone who has turned into a kindly child, loves bright, red colors and sometimes puts on several sundresses at once, as, for example, when she meets guests of honor or as a sign of joy and cheerfulness for the person entering her. On his head he wears an old woman's cap and a peasant scarf. In the summer he wears only a shirt. She is extremely clean, decent, and loves to keep her cell tidy.”

After the death of Blessed Pelageya, Pasha of Sarov periodically changed her place of residence, and her cell was often empty. The furnishings of the cell were incomparably better than those of Pelageya Ivanovna, who was sitting on the floor by the stove between three doors. Pasha's wooden, strong bed with huge pillows was rarely occupied by it, but mostly dolls rested on it. And she had no time to lie down, since all night long she prayed in front of large icons in arks. Exhausted in the morning, she lay down and dozed off, but the dawn was just breaking, she was already washing herself, tidying up, or going out for a walk to pray.

From those living with her and from those with whom she sometimes spent the night in the choir building, out of old habit, the blessed one demanded that they get up at midnight to pray, and if anyone did not fulfill this monastic rule, then she began to make so much noise, fight and swear that involuntarily everyone rose to appease her. Pasha also strictly ensured that the sisters went to services every day. If she stayed in her cell, then, after drinking tea after mass, she would sit down to work: knitting stockings or making yarn. This activity was accompanied by the Jesus Prayer. Flank yarn was so valued in the monastery that belts and rosaries were woven from it. In an allegorical conversation, the blessed one called knitting stockings an exercise in the unceasing Jesus Prayer.

So, one day a visitor approached her with the idea of ​​whether he should move closer to the marvelous Diveyevo, and she said to him in response: “Well, then? Come to us in Sarov, we’ll collect milk mushrooms and knit stockings together!” - that is, bow to the ground and learn the Jesus Prayer.

Pasha’s habit of living in nature, in the forest, forced her to retire to the fields and groves in summer and spring and spend several days there in prayer and contemplation. She prayed in her own words, but she knew some prayers by heart. She called the Mother of God “Mama behind the glass.” Sometimes she stopped rooted to the spot in front of the icon or knelt down wherever she had to - in the field, in the upper room, in the middle of the street - and prayed earnestly, with tears.

The blessed one did not forget obediences distant from the monastery, recognizing through insight the spiritual needs of the monastics living on the high road, in temptation. She strove to go there - to fight the enemy and to instruct her sisters. And everywhere she was received with joy, with special love and begged to live with them longer.

The desire to constantly change the place of exploits was a feature of the life path of Pasha of Sarov. Even when the abbess herself and through others invited her to settle in the monastery, the blessed one always answered: “No, I can’t, this is the way, I must always move from place to place!” Therefore, even on the threshold of old age, she kept wandering from cell to cell, from the monastery to distant obedience or to Sarov, to her former favorite places. This greatly embarrassed the nuns living with her, who missed her with their greatest love, grieved during the days of her absence and could barely cope with the numerous people who came to the old woman for advice and guidance.

During her travels, Pasha carried with her a stick, which she called a cane, a bundle of things, a sickle on her shoulder and several dolls in her bosom. The sickle had an important spiritual meaning: the blessed one constantly reaped grass with it and, under the guise of work, bowed to Christ and the Mother of God.

If guests came to her, especially from nobles and honorable people, with whom she did not consider herself worthy to sit next to, then the old woman disposed of the treats, tea, and she herself, bowing at the feet of the visitors, went to reap the grass - that is, to pray for these people. She valued the harvested grass and never left it in the field or in the courtyard of the monastery, but took it to the horse yard. As a sign of trouble, she reaped burdock and served prickly cones to the guests.

Like most holy fools, Pasha of Sarov preferred allegories. About the origin of her dolls, Anna Gerasimovna, who lived with the late Pelageya Ivanovna, reported: “She deals with them with zeal and makes a lot of predictions to those who come to her, roughly showing them on the dolls. Blessed Pasha washes them, feeds them, puts them on the bed, and she herself lies down on the edge of the bed. Apparently, there is no way to console Paraskeva Ivanovna more than to give her a doll. And her dolls are wonderful! For example, she washed the entire head of one of them, and as soon as the time comes for someone to die in the monastery, Pasha takes it out, cleans it and puts it to bed. Among the dolls there are both loved ones and unloved ones, which is expressed by her caresses, games with them, and so on. Pasha’s favorite pastime, out of old habit, is weeding and watering the garden, but now she combines this with the incessant Jesus Prayer, saying it while pulling out each weed. When she says: “I’ve been weeding, watering, weeding everywhere!” - this means that Pasha talks about his prayers for the one they are talking about. “No one is flying, no one is watering, I’m all working alone!” - she sometimes complains, explaining that she cannot have time to pray for everyone alone, they must turn to others. In general, blessed Pasha is constantly busy, always at work and grumbles greatly at the young people if they spend their time idle.”

In 1903, during the glorification of St. Seraphim, Paraskeva Ivanovna was visited by the most august persons - Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fedorovna. Pasha predicted to them (also allegorically) the imminent birth of the long-awaited heir, as well as the death of the autocracy and the royal dynasty, the defeat of the Church and a sea of ​​blood. After this, the Emperor turned to the old woman more than once, sending the great princes to her for advice. Shortly before her death, Paraskeva Ivanovna often prayed in front of the portrait of the sovereign, foreseeing his imminent martyrdom.

Blessed Pasha died long and hard. It was revealed to one of the sisters that with her dying sufferings she was redeeming the souls of her spiritual children from hell. S.A. Nilus describes his last meeting with her in the summer of 1915: “When we entered the room and I saw her, I was first of all struck by the change that had occurred in her entire appearance. This was no longer the former Paraskeva Ivanovna, it was her shadow, a person from the other world. A completely haggard, once full, but now thin face, sunken cheeks, huge, wide-open, otherworldly eyes, the spitting image of the eyes of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Vasnetsov’s depiction of the Kiev-Vladimir Cathedral.”

Schema-nun Paraskeva reposed on October 5 (September 22, Old Style) 1915 at the age of about 120 years. Like Blessed Pelageya, she was buried at the altar of the Trinity Cathedral.

"The Fourth Seraphim". Maria Diveevskaya.

Pasha Sarovskaya was very loved by the Diveyevo sisters, she was a caring “mama” for them, therefore, when a young replacement arrived at the monastery in the person of the blessed elder Maria Ivanovna (Fedina), some at first received her with hostility.

Maria Ivanovna received spiritual nourishment from Blessed Pasha, to whom she came for instructions. Paraskeva Ivanovna herself, anticipating her death, told her loved ones: “I’m still sitting behind the camp, and the other one is already scurrying around, she’s still walking, and then she’ll sit down.” Having blessed Maria to stay in the monastery, Pasha said: “Just don’t sit in my chair” (as a result, Maria Ivanovna lived in her cell for only two years).

On the very day of Blessed Pashenka’s death, Maria Ivanovna had a small temptation. Annoyed by her oddities, the nuns kicked Maria out of the monastery, not ordering her to come here at all, otherwise they would resort to the help of the police. The holy fool said nothing to this, turned and left.

Before the coffin with the body of blessed Pasha was brought into the church, a peasant arrived at the monastery and said: “What servant of God did you drive out of the monastery?! She now told me my whole life and all my sins. Return her quickly, otherwise you will lose her forever!” Messengers were immediately sent for Maria Ivanovna. She didn’t keep herself waiting and returned to the monastery...

The fate of the “fourth Seraphim,” as Blessed Maria Diveyevo was called, was not easy. Since childhood, she loved solitude and prayer. When the girl was 13 years old, she lost both parents within a year of each other. Orphaned, Maria wandered between Diveevo and Sarov. Having gone with her neighbors on a pilgrimage to Sarov, she never returned home; she traveled a lot to holy places and suffered hardships. In any weather, she wore bast shoes, often torn. They said that before coming to Diveevo, she lived under a bridge for 40 years in unceasing prayer. Finally, with the blessing of Blessed Paraskeva, Maria settled in the monastery.

When she was received into the monastery, “the blessed one entered and, turning to the senior sacristan nun Zinovia, said: “Look, put me in the same way, just like Pasha.” She got angry, how dare she compare herself to the old woman, and boldly besieged her, to which Maria Ivanovna only humbly remained silent.

At first she lived with the nun Maria, and then Abbess Alexandra gave her a separate cell, in which the blessed one lived for almost eight years. The room was cold and damp, especially the floor; Here Maria finally lost her legs and acquired severe rheumatism throughout her body. However, we never heard from her any complaints, despondency, irritation or complaints about injustice. And the Lord Himself glorified her among people for her godly life, greatest humility and patience.

Mother Maria raged and shouted: “The princess with bayonets!”

The nuns said that on the night of July 4-5, 1918, the night of the martyrdom of the royal family, Mother Maria raged and shouted: “The princesses with bayonets! Damned Jews! She raged terribly, and only later did everyone understand what she was talking about.

A true ascetic and a godly person, Maria Ivanovna was endowed with the gift of healing and insight. During the years of difficult revolutionary trials for Russia, the flow of those in need of guidance and prayerful help increased. The prophecies and predictions of the old woman helped many to avoid danger or death, and to find the right path in difficult circumstances.

Blessed Mary spoke quickly and a lot, sometimes in verse. At times she swore loudly, especially after 1917, so much so that the nuns went outside so as not to hear. Schema nun Paraskeva’s cell attendant Dunya once asked her: “Maria Ivanovna, why are you swearing? Mama didn’t swear like that.” “It was good for her to indulge under Nicholas, but indulgence under Soviet rule,” answered the old woman. But then it turned out that in those places where she swore, people settled who used foul language.

Mother Maria predicted the closure of Diveyevo in 1927 and its revival many decades later. Someone told her: “You keep talking, Maria Ivanovna, a monastery! There will be no monastery! "Will! Will! Will!" - the blessed one objected, banging on the table with all her might. She always hit him so hard that she broke her hand, and they put a pillow on her to soften the blow.

She assigned obediences to all the sisters in the future monastery: to whom to rake the hay, to whom to clean the Kanavka, but she never said anything to Sonya Bulgakova. And she once asked: “Will I live to reach the monastery?” “You’ll live,” mother answered quietly and squeezed her hand tightly, pressing her painfully against the table.

A line of people came to her for consolation, and when there were too many visitors, the abbess transferred Maria Ivanovna to the house of Pasha of Sarov, which stood at the gates of the monastery. The Soviet authorities, seeing a large crowd of believers, initiated persecution against the oxbow. As a result, she was transferred to a separate room at the almshouse, where she lived until the monastery was closed.

Maria Ivanovna suffered a lot from illnesses, and actually became bedridden. She was not always cared for diligently, so bedsores appeared. Actually, the feat of blessed Mary in Diveyevo was, first of all, the complacent enduring of a severe illness and often careless care.

Before her death, she predicted to her sisters close to her how many kathismas would be read for her before the 40th day. All this happened exactly. And Sonya Bulgakova remarked during her last visit to the old woman in October 1930: “But you won’t read a single kathisma about me.” Sonya, indeed, did not read anything and remembered about it only on the 40th day.

Blessed Maria died on September 8, 1931 in Cherevatovo, where she lived after the dispersal of the monastery. She was buried in the village cemetery.

All three blessed Christs for the sake of the Diveyevo eldress were canonized as locally revered saints in 2004, during the celebration of the 250th anniversary of St. Seraphim. The church-wide glorification took place the following year, 2005. Their holy relics are in the Kazan Cathedral. The sisters of the monastery believe that together with Father Seraphim, the blessed mothers will prayerfully guard Diveevo until the Last Judgment.

Blessed indeed, when they revile you, and persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you, who lie to me for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven. (Matthew 5:11)

Elena Vladimirova

Pravoslavie.Ru

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Blessed Pelageya Diveevskaya (†1884)

There is no greater and more difficult feat in the Church of Christ than the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake. The Lord Himself blesses only His rare chosen ones on this path. It was on this path that God placed blessed Pelageya Ivanovna .

She was born in October 1809 in the city of Arzamas in the family of merchant Ivan Surin and his wife Praskovya Ivanovna, née Bebesheva. Her father lived quite richly, traded well, had his own tannery and was an intelligent, kind and pious man. He soon died, leaving behind a wife and three young orphans. Their stepfather, the widowed merchant Korolev, disliked them. The life of little Pelageya became unbearable, and a desire was born in her to leave such relatives. Even from a young age, something strange happened to her. She fell ill and, after lying in bed for a whole day, she didn’t look like herself. “From a rarely smart child, she suddenly became something quite stupid. He used to go into the garden, lift up his dress, stand and spin around on one leg, as if he were dancing. They persuaded her and shamed her, even beat her, but nothing helped, so they abandoned her.”

She grew up slender, tall, beautiful, and her mother, as soon as she was 16 years old, tried to get the “fool” married as quickly as possible. The groom, tradesman Sergei Vasilyevich Serebrennikov, according to ancient custom, came to the bride's viewing with his godmother. Pelagia, in order to push him away from her, began to play the fool. The groom, who saw her pretense, despite the advice of her godmother, still decided to get married.

Soon after the marriage, Pelageya Ivanovna went with her husband and mother to the Sarov Hermitage. Father Seraphim brought Pelageya Ivanovna into his cell and talked with her for a long, long time. Then, handing her the rosary, he escorted her with the words: “Go, mother, go immediately to my monastery, take care of my orphans, and you will be the light of the world, and many will be saved by you!” “This woman will be a great lamp!” - the priest said about her afterwards.

The conversation with the wondrous old man had a decisive influence on the future life of Pelageya Ivanovna. Soon, under the guidance of one holy fool, she learned the continuous Jesus Prayer, which began to act gracefully in her and which became her constant occupation for the rest of her life. At night, hidden from everyone, she knelt, facing east, praying in the cold glass gallery attached to their house. She soon began to combine with her feats of prayer the feat of foolishness for Christ's sake, and as if every day she was losing more and more of her mind. It happened that she would put on the most expensive dress, a shawl, and wrap her head in some of the dirtiest rags and go either to church or somewhere for a walk, where more people gathered, so that everyone would see her, judge her and make fun of her.

But it was all the more painful for her husband, who did not understand his wife’s great journey. Sergei Vasilyevich asked and persuaded her, but she remained indifferent to everything. Even when her sons were born, she was definitely not happy about their birth, saying: “God gave it, but I ask you to take it.” Soon, through the prayer of the blessed one, both boys died. From that time on, her husband stopped sparing her and began to beat her terribly, as a result of which Pelageya Ivanovna, despite her healthy and strong nature, began to waste away. She began to walk the streets of Arzamas from church to church, and whatever they gave her for the sake of pity or whatever fell into her hands, she took everything with her and distributed it to the poor or lit candles in the Church of God. The husband catches her, beats her, sometimes with a log, or with anything, a ban and starves her, but she does not let up and repeats one thing: “Leave me alone, Seraphim has spoiled me.” Mad with anger, he went to the police and asked the mayor to flog his wife. He punished her so cruelly that even her mother shuddered and became numb with horror. At night, the mayor saw a cauldron with fire in a dream and heard a voice that the cauldron had been prepared for him for torturing the chosen servant of Christ. Waking up in horror, he forbade the city entrusted to him not only to offend, but also to touch the spoiled one, as the people called her.

Believing that she was spoiled, her husband took her to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra for treatment, where she immediately became meek, quiet and intelligent. On the way back, he was happy to let her go home alone, handing her all the money and things. However, she returned home as a beggar, behaving worse than before, giving away everything to the last half and trying to take everything she could out of the house. The distraught Sergei Vasilyevich ordered an iron chain with a ring for his wife, like for a wild animal, and with his own hands he chained his wife in it, chaining her to the wall, and mocking her as he wanted. Sometimes she broke loose and ran naked around the city and everyone was afraid to shelter and help her. “Sergushka (husband) searched for the mind in me and broke my ribs; I couldn’t find my senses, but I broke all my ribs,” she used to say later.

Soon her husband completely disowned her, kicked her out of the house, dragged her to her mother and handed Pelageya Ivanovna over to her parents. The mother decided to go to the Sarov Hermitage herself again. Father Seraphim said: “On this path the Lord chooses those who are courageous and strong in body and spirit. But don’t keep her on a chain and you can’t, otherwise the Lord will menacingly punish you for her.” For 4 years, blessed Pelagia acted like a fool, ran through the streets of the city, screamed outrageously and went crazy, covered in rags, hungry and cold, and at night she prayed on the porch of the church.

Finally, the relatives released the blessed one to Diveevo. Before leaving, the blessed one bowed at the feet of her family and said quite sensibly and reasonably: “Forgive Christ for my sake, I will never come to you again until the grave.”

She herself chose the simple maiden Anna Gerasimovna as her cell attendant, knelt before her, bowed to the ground and, raising her hands, exclaimed: “Benedict, Venedict! Serve me, for Christ's sake." Anna Gerasimovna came up to her, feeling sorry for her poor thing, stroked her head and saw that her head was all broken, covered in blood, and insects were swarming in it. And she felt so sorry for her, but she didn’t dare say anything. Subsequently, this kind peasant girl served her for 45 years, with the zeal and devotion of an ascetic of God.

And the “mad Palaga,” as many in Diveyevo called her, began to live her holy fool’s life, known only to God. At first, she continued to go crazy: she ran around the monastery, broke windows in cells, and challenged everyone to insult her and beat her. He’ll take a handkerchief, a napkin or a rag, cover it all with large stones to the top and carry it from place to place, he’ll carry a cell full of them, you won’t end up with a litter. Or he will pick up an armful of bricks, stand at the very edge of the pit and from the hem and throw one brick at a time with all the urine he has into the pit, into the very water. A brick will splash and drench her all over from head to toe, but she won’t budge, she stands rooted to the spot, as if she’s really doing some important work. Having left the collected bricks, he climbs into the very water, almost waist-deep, and picks them out from there. Having chosen, he climbs out and again, standing on the edge, begins the same trick. And this is what he does throughout the church service. “I,” he says, “go to work too; You can’t, you have to work, I work too.” She was rarely in her cell, and spent most of the day in the monastery courtyard, sitting either in a hole dug by herself and filled with all sorts of manure, which she always carried in the bosom of her dress, or in a guardhouse in the corner, where she practiced the Jesus Prayer . Sometimes she stood with her feet on nails, piercing them right through, and tortured her body in every possible way. She ate only bread and water. Patience and hardship were her lot: she never asked for food, but ate when it was offered, and even then very sparingly. She never sought or took anything from anyone, she was completely non-acquisitive; I walked barefoot all year round, didn’t wash, didn’t cut my nails; slept on the floor on a felt mat. She spoke allegorically, but very wisely and had the gift of insight.

Diveevo

Once her husband, Sergei Vasilyevich, came to see her: “You’re going to be a complete fool; Let’s go to Arzamas.” Pelageya Ivanovna bowed and said: “I didn’t go to Arzamas and I won’t go, even if you tear all my skin off.” Hearing this, he bowed silently and left, and after that he never returned. And only one day, many years later, Pelageya Ivanovna suddenly jumped up, cowered, crouched, walked back and forth around the room, moaned and cried. “Oh,” he says, “father! After all, that's what you are! He’s dying, but how is he dying?! No communion!” It turned out that with her appearance and actions she showed everything that happened to Sergei Vasilyevich. He was really grabbed; he writhed just like that, ran around the room, moaned and said: “Oh, Pelageya Ivanovna, mother! Forgive me for Christ's sake. I didn’t know that you were enduring for the Lord’s sake. And how I beat you! Help me. Pray for me". Yes, without communion, he died of cholera. From time to time the blessed one, Fyodor Mikhailovich Solovyov, a former military man, came from Arzamas. It’s so incomprehensible to the mind what they did together; fear will take over, it happened; you don’t know where to go. Once they started their war, there was no way to calm it down. Both are huge and long, they run back and forth, chasing each other, Pelageya Ivanovna with a stick, and Fyodor Mikhailovich with a log, hitting each other. “You, Arzamas fool, why did you leave your husband?” - Soloviev shouts. “Why did you leave your wife, you Arzamas soldier?” - Pelageya Ivanovna objects. “Oh, you big barn, Kolomenskaya mile!” - Fyodor Mikhailovich shouts. And so their own squabble and conversation go on without interruption, and they are the only ones who can understand it.

During the unrest in the monastery, the blessed one fought for the truth in her own way - she beat and pounded whatever came to hand, and even, having denounced the bishop, hit him on the cheek. Vladyka is leaving the service in a droshky, and Pelageya Ivanovna is standing on the road, rolling eggs, just after Easter. He saw Pelageya Ivanovna, apparently he was delighted, got off the droshky and went up to her, taking out the prosphora. “Here,” he says, “servant of God, you have the prosphora of my service.” She turned away silently; he should have left; sees - it’s not okay, it’s a direct matter. Who wrote the law for them, blessed ones? That's why they are blessed. And he, you know, came in from the other side and served again. How does she get up, straighten up, and so menacingly, and hit him on the cheek with the words: “Where are you going?” Apparently, she denounced correctly, because the Lord not only did not become angry, but humbly turned the other cheek, saying: “Well? In the gospel way, hit the other way too.” “You will have one,” answered Pelageya Ivanovna; and again began to roll eggs.

After the end of the turmoil, the blessed one changed, fell in love with flowers and began to work with them. Holding them in her hands, she thoughtfully fingered them, quietly whispering a prayer. Lately, she almost always had fresh flowers in her hands, because they were brought to her by those who wanted to please her, and these flowers apparently consoled her. Looking through them and admiring them, she herself became bright and joyful, as if her mind was already in another world.

And I almost stopped running; He used to sit in his cell more and more. Her favorite place was right on the road, between three doors, on the floor, on the felt by the stove. I hung a portrait of Father Seraphim and Mother (Mary) here, and he used to talk to them all night and give them flowers. Abbess Maria did nothing without her advice. Pelagia Ivanovna called everyone in the monastery her daughters and was a true spiritual mother to everyone.

Many stories have been preserved about cases of her insight.

The artist M.P. Petrov, whom she named her spiritual son, enjoyed a special favor with Pelageya Ivanovna. He described his first visit as follows. “When I entered her cell, I was so struck by its furnishings that I could not immediately understand what it was: on the floor on felt sat an old, crouched and dirty woman, with huge nails on her hands and bare feet, which made an amazing impression on me. impression. To my question “should I go to a monastery or get married?” she didn't answer. A month later, on a second visit, she immediately stood up upon my arrival and straightened up in front of me to her full height. She was a beautifully built woman with unusually lively sparkling eyes. Standing in front of me, she began to run around the room and laugh, then ran up to me, hit me on the shoulder and said: “Well, what?” This hand had been hurting for a long time due to paralysis, but after this emphasis from Pelageya Ivanovna, the pain in it instantly and completely disappeared. Some kind of panic attack attacked me, and I could not say anything to her; was silent and shaking all over with fright. Then she began to tell me my whole past life with such amazing details that no one knew about except me, and even told me the contents of the letter that I sent to St. Petersburg that day. This struck me so much that the hair on my head stood on end, and I involuntarily fell on my knees before her and kissed her hand. And from that time on I became her zealous visitor and admirer. She pulled me out of hell."

After 20 years of asceticism in Diveevo, Pelageya Ivanovna suddenly dramatically changed her lifestyle. One day she said to her roommate, Anna Gerasimovna: “Just now Father Seraphim came to see me and told me to be silent and to stay in my cell rather than in the yard.” And she fell silent, and rarely deigned anyone with her conversation, spoke little, in abrupt phrases, sat more in her cell and, like the Monk Arsenius the Great, began to avoid people and listen more closely to herself.

The iron chain that once chained her husband, and which she brought with her to Diveevo, now sometimes served as her head. She always slept and sat on the floor and always near the entrance door to her cell, so that people passing often stepped on her or poured water on her, which apparently gave her pleasure. Such exploits of Pelageya Ivanovna began to attract the attention of the Diveyevo nuns to her; and the former dislike of many of them was replaced by respect. But among the sisters there were also those who hated her and slandered her in every possible way. Pelageya Ivanovna especially loved them and tried to repay them for evil with good. The nuns, attached to the ascetic, deeply believed in the power of her prayer and sought spiritual guidance from her. One day, one pious nun dared to ask the Lord to reveal to her whether the path that the ascetic of God was following was correct, because she often heard contradictory rumors. The Lord heard her prayer. She saw in a dream that Pelageya Ivanovna was walking through the monastery courtyard and two angels were leading her by the arms. When, having woken up, this nun went to Pelageya Ivanovna to tell her her dream, she preceded her story with a strict prohibition not to tell anyone about it.

The human mind cannot accommodate the feat of God's servant Pelageya. Truly, her soul, hidden from those around her by visible madness, shone with purity and love. Only an attentive and compassionate gaze could see the heavenly beauty of her soul. Thus the prediction of Father Seraphim was fulfilled. She spent forty-six years in the monastery, year after year bearing the heavy burden of heroism, protecting the holy monastery with her prayer.

The blessed one died on January 30/February 12, 1884 . They put her in a white shirt and a sundress, put a large gray woolen scarf on her shoulders, and tied a white silk scarf around her head; dressed up the way she dressed up during her life. They gave her a bouquet of flowers in her right hand, and Father Seraphim’s black silk rosary was placed on her left. For nine days her body stood in the stuffy temple without the slightest change in front of a large crowd of people. Although it was winter, she was covered from head to toe with fresh flowers, which she loved so much during her life; these flowers were constantly replaced by new ones and were immediately snapped up by the masses of people, who took them home with reverence.

Well-kept graves of blessed Paraskeva, Pelageya, Mary

On July 31, 2004, Blessed Elder Pelagia Diveevskaya was glorified among the locally revered saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. In October 2004, the Council of Bishops made a decision on her church-wide veneration. The holy relics of Blessed Pelagia, found in September 2004, were placed for veneration in the Kazan Church of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery.

Troparion You appeared as an adornment of the Russian land, / Our blessed mother Pelageya, / who fulfilled the blessing of the Queen of Heaven, / and who gained boldness towards the Lord, / pray at the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity for the salvation of our souls.

Kontakion, tone 2 Having exhausted your body with fasts, / you begged the Creator with vigil prayers for your deeds, / so that you would receive complete abandonment: / you found it in reality, / having shown the path of repentance.

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Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna - Paraskeva Diveevskaya

Blessed Paraskeva of Diveyevo

Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna, known as Irina, was born at the beginning of the 19th century in the village of Nikolskoye, Spassky district, Tambov province. Her parents, Ivan and Daria, were serfs of the Bulygins. When the girl was seventeen years old, the gentlemen gave her in marriage to the peasant Fyodor.

Submitting meekly to her parents' and master's will, Irina became an exemplary wife and housewife, and her husband's family fell in love with her for her meek disposition, her hard work, the fact that she loved church services, prayed fervently, avoided guests and society, and did not go out to village games. So they lived with their husband for fifteen years, but the Lord did not bless them with children.

After these fifteen years, the Bulygin landowners sold them to the German landowners, the Schmidts, in the village of Surkot. Five years after the resettlement, Irina’s husband fell ill with consumption and died. Subsequently, when the blessed one was asked what kind of husband she had, she answered: “Yes, just as stupid as me.”

After the death of her husband, the Schmidts took her on as a cook and housekeeper. Several times they tried to marry her off again, but Irina resolutely refused: “Even if you kill me, I won’t marry again!” So they left her.

A year and a half later, disaster struck - two canvases were discovered missing from the manor’s house. The servants slandered Irina, showing that it was she who stole them. The police officer arrived with soldiers, and the landowners persuaded him to punish Irina. The soldiers, on the orders of the police officer, brutally tortured her, pierced her head, and tore her ears. But Irina, even amid the torture, continued to say that she did not take the canvases. Then the Schmidts called a local fortune teller, who said that the canvases were stolen by a woman named Irina, but not this one, and they were lying in the river. We started searching and actually found them where the fortune teller indicated.

After the torture she suffered, Irina was unable to live with the infidel gentlemen and, leaving them, went to Kyiv on a pilgrimage.

The Kyiv shrines and the meeting with the elders completely changed her inner state - she now knew why and how to live. She now wanted only God to live in her heart - the only merciful Christ who loves everyone, the dispenser of all blessings. Unfairly punished, Irina felt with particular depth the indescribable depth of Christ’s suffering and His mercy.

Meanwhile, the landowner filed a missing person report. A year and a half later, the police found her in Kyiv and sent her along to the gentlemen. The journey was painful and long, she had to experience hunger, cold, cruel treatment by escort soldiers, and the rudeness of male prisoners.

The Schmidts, feeling guilty towards Irina, “forgave” her for running away and made her a gardener. Irina served them for more than a year, but, having come into contact with shrines and spiritual life, she could not stay on the estate and... fled.

The landowners put her on the wanted list again, and a year later the police found her again in Kiev and, having arrested her, escorted her along the stage to the Schmidts, who, wanting to show their power over her, did not accept her and angrily kicked her out onto the street - naked and without a piece of bread. Having taken monastic vows with the name Paraskeva during her stay in Kyiv, she now did not grieve - she knew her path, and the fact that the landowners kicked her out was only a sign that the time had come to be filled with the blessing of the elders.

Blessed Paraskeva of Diveyevo

For five years she wandered around the village like a madwoman and was the laughing stock of not only the children, but all the peasants. She developed the habit of living all year round in the open air, enduring hunger, cold and heat. And then she retired to the Sarov forests and lived here for more than two decades in a cave that she dug herself.

They say that she had several caves in different places of the vast impenetrable forest, where there were then many predatory animals. She sometimes went to Sarov and Diveevo, but more often she was seen at the Sarov mill, where she came to work.

Pasha once had a surprisingly pleasant appearance. During her time living in the Sarov forest, her long asceticism and fasting, she began to look like Mary of Egypt: thin, blackened by the sun, with short hair - long hair bothered her in the forest. Barefoot, in a man's monastic shirt, a scroll unbuttoned on the chest, with bare arms, the blessed one came to the monastery, instilling fear in everyone who did not know her.

Before moving to the Diveyevo monastery, she lived for some time in the same village. Seeing her ascetic life, people began to turn to her for advice and asked her to pray. The enemy of the human race taught evil people to attack her and rob her. She was beaten, but she did not have any money. The blessed one was found lying in a pool of blood with a broken head. She was sick for a year after that, but she could not recover completely for the rest of her life. The pain in her broken head and the swelling in the pit of her stomach tormented her constantly, but she hardly paid any attention to it, only occasionally saying: “Oh, mummy, how it hurts here! No matter what you do, mummy, it won’t go down in the pit of your stomach!”

When she was still living in the Sarov Forest, Tatars drove past, having just robbed a church. The blessed one came out of the forest and began to scold them, for which they beat her half to death and broke her head. The Tatar arrived in Sarov and said to the hotel: “There, an old woman came out and scolded us, we beat her.”

The guest says: “You know, this is Praskovya Ivanovna.” He harnessed the horse and rode after it.

After the beating, everything healed, but her hair grew haphazardly, so her head itched, and she kept asking to “look.”

Before she moved to Diveevo, Praskovya Ivanovna often visited the blessed Pelageya Ivanovna of Diveyevo. Once she came in and silently sat down next to the blessed one. Pelageya Ivanovna looked at her for a long time and said: “Yes! It’s good for you, you don’t have worries like I have: there are so many children!”

Pasha stood up, bowed to her and quietly left without saying a word.

Several years have passed. One day Pelageya Ivanovna was sleeping, but suddenly she jumped up, as if someone had woken her, rushed to the window and, leaning out halfway, began to look into the distance and threaten someone.

A gate opened near the Kazan Church, and Praskovya Ivanovna entered and went straight to Pelageya Ivanovna, muttering something to herself.

Coming closer and noticing that Pelageya Ivanovna was saying something, she stopped and asked:

- What, mother, or something? - No. - So it’s still early? Isn't it time? “Yes,” confirmed Pelageya Ivanovna.

Praskovya Ivanovna bowed low to her and, without entering the monastery, went into the same gate.

Six years before the death of Blessed Pelageya Ivanovna, Pasha again appeared at the monastery, this time with some kind of doll, and then with many dolls: she nursed them, looked after them, called them children. Now she lived in the monastery for several weeks, and then months. For the last year of the life of Blessed Pelageya Ivanovna, Pasha remained inseparably at the monastery.

In the late autumn of 1884, she walked past the fence of the cemetery Church of the Transfiguration and, hitting a fence post with a stick, said: “As soon as I knock down this post, they will go to die; just hurry up and dig graves!”

These words soon came true - blessed Pelageya Ivanovna died, and there were so many nuns behind her that the magpies did not stop for a whole year, and it happened that they held funeral services for two at once.

Praskovya Ivanovna lived in a very small house, to the left of the monastery gates

When Pelageya Ivanovna died, at two o’clock in the morning they rang the large monastery bell, and the choir members, with whom blessed Pasha lived at that time, were alarmed and jumped out of bed, wondering if there was a fire. Pasha stood up all radiant and began to place and light candles everywhere near the icons.

“Well,” she said, “what kind of fire is there?” Not at all, it’s just that your snow melted a little, and now it will be dark!

Several times the cell attendants of Blessed Pelageya Ivanovna invited her to live in the cell of the deceased.

“No, you can’t,” answered Praskovya Ivanovna, “my mother doesn’t tell me to,” she pointed to the portrait of Pelageya Ivanovna.

- What is it I don’t see?

- Yes, you don’t see, but I see, he doesn’t bless!

And she left and settled first near the choir, and then in a separate cell at the gate. In the cell there was a bed with huge pillows, which she rarely occupied; dolls rested on it. From those who lived with her, she certainly demanded that they get up to pray at midnight, and if anyone did not agree, then she would become so noisy, start fighting and scolding, that everyone inevitably got up to appease her.

At first, Praskovya Ivanovna went to church and strictly ensured that the sisters went to services every day. In the last ten years or so, some of the blessed one’s rules have changed: for example, she did not leave the monastery, and she did not go far from her cell, she did not go to church at all, but received communion at home, and then very rarely. The Lord Himself revealed to her what rules and way of life she should adhere to.

Having drunk tea after mass, the blessed one sat down to work, knitting stockings or spinning yarn. This activity was accompanied by the incessant Jesus Prayer, and that is why its yarn was so valued in the monastery; belts and rosaries were made from it. She referred to knitting stockings in an allegorical sense as an exercise in the unceasing Jesus Prayer. So, one day a visitor approached her with the idea of ​​whether he should move closer to Diveev. And she said in response to his thoughts: “Well, come to us in Sarov, we’ll collect milk mushrooms and knit stockings together,” that is, bow to the ground and learn the Jesus Prayer.

At first, after moving to Diveevo, she wandered from the monastery to distant obediences or to Sarov, to her former favorite places. On these trips, she took with her a simple stick, which she called a cane, a bundle with various things or a sickle on her shoulder, and several dolls in her bosom. With a cane, she sometimes frightened people pestering her and those guilty of some kind of misconduct.

One day a stranger came and wished to be let into his cell, but the blessed one was busy, and the cell attendant did not dare to disturb her. But the wanderer insisted:

– Tell her that I’m just like her!

The cell attendant was surprised at such insubordination and went to convey his words to the blessed one.

Praskovya Ivanovna did not answer anything, but took her cane, went outside and began to hit the stranger with it with all her might, exclaiming:

- Oh, you murderer, deceiver, thief, pretender...

The wanderer left and no longer insisted on meeting the blessed one.

The sickle had great spiritual significance for the blessed one. She reaped grass for them and, under the guise of this work, bowed to Christ and the Mother of God. If someone came to her from an honorable person with whom she did not consider herself worthy to sit in the same company, the blessed one, having disposed of the treat and bowing at the guest’s feet, left to reap the grass, that is, to pray for this person. She never left the harvested grass in the field or in the courtyard of the monastery, but always collected it and took it to the horse yard. As a sign of trouble, she served burdock and prickly cones to those who came...

She prayed her own prayers, but knew some by heart. She called the Mother of God “Mama behind the glass.” Sometimes she stopped rooted to the spot in front of the image and prayed or knelt down anywhere: in the field, in the upper room, in the middle of the street - and prayed earnestly with tears. It happened that she entered the church and began to extinguish the candles, the lamps near the images, or did not allow the lamps to be lit in the cell.

Asking for blessings from the Lord for every step and action, she sometimes asked loudly and immediately answered herself: “Should I go? Or wait?.. Go, go quickly, stupid!” - and then she walked. “Still pray? Or cum? Nicholas the Wonderworker, father, is it okay to ask? Not good, you say? Should I leave? Go away, go away, quickly, mummy! I hurt my finger, mommy! To treat, or what? No need? It will heal on its own!”

In the days of spiritual struggle with the enemy of the human race, she began to talk incessantly, but nothing could be understood; she broke things, dishes, was worried, screamed, cursed.

One day, the blessed maiden Ksenia from the village of Ruzina came to ask for a blessing to go to the monastery.

- What are you saying, girl! - the blessed one screamed. “We must first go to St. Petersburg and serve all the gentlemen first, then the Tsar will give me money, I’ll build you a cell!”

After some time, Ksenia’s brothers began to share, and she again came to Praskovya Ivanovna and said:

- The brothers want to share, but you don’t bless! Whatever you want, if I don’t listen to you, I’ll build a cell!

Blessed Pasha, alarmed by her words, jumped up and said:

- What a stupid girl you are! Well, is it possible! After all, you don’t know how many babies there are above us!

Having said this, she lay down and stretched out. And in the fall, Ksenia’s daughter-in-law died, and a girl, an orphan, was left in her arms...

One day Praskovya Ivanovna went to see the priest of the village of Alamasova, who at that time had a psalm-reader on business. She approached him and said:

- Master! Please, take a good nurse or nanny.

And what? The hitherto perfectly healthy wife of the psalm-reader fell ill and died, leaving behind a baby.

One of the peasants of the surrounding village was buying lime. He was offered to take a few extra pounds without money; he thought and took it. Returning home, he met with Pasha, and the blessed one told him:

“You’ll be richer for it because you’re listening to the devil!” You better live the truth you lived!..

One bishop came to the monastery. She waited for him to come to her, but he went to the monastery clergy. She waited for him until the evening, and when he arrived, she rushed at him with a stick and tore the mark. Out of fear, he hid in the cell of his mother Seraphim. When the blessed one fought, she was so formidable that she put everyone in awe. And it later turned out that the bishop was attacked by men and beaten.

One day Hieromonk Iliodor (Sergei Trufanov) came to see her from Tsaritsyn. He came with a religious procession, there were a lot of people. Praskovya Ivanovna received him, sat him down, then took off his hood, the cross, took off all his orders and distinctions - she put it all in her chest and locked it, and hung the key to her belt. Then she ordered a box to be brought, put onions there, watered them and said: “Onions, grow tall...” - and she went to bed. He sat as if debunked. He needs to start the all-night vigil, but he can’t get up. It’s good that she tied the keys to her belt and was sleeping on the other side, so they untied the keys, took everything out and gave it to him.

Several years passed - and he withdrew from the priesthood and renounced his monastic vows.

Well-kept graves of blessed Paraskeva, Pelageya, Mary

One day Bishop Hermogenes (Dolganov) came to her from Saratov. He was in big trouble - they threw a child into his carriage with a note “yours from yours.” He ordered a large prosphora and went to the blessed one with the question, what should he do? She grabbed the prosphora, threw it against the wall so that it bounced off and hit the partition, and did not want to answer. The next day the same.

On the third day, she locked herself in and did not go out to the bishop at all. What to do? He himself, however, revered the blessed one so much that he did not want to go without her blessing, despite the fact that the affairs of the diocese required his presence. Then he sent a cell attendant, whom she received and gave tea to. The Bishop asked through him: “What should I do?” She replied: “I fasted and prayed for forty days, and then they sang Easter.”

The meaning of her words was, apparently, that all current sorrows must be endured with dignity, and they will be resolved safely in due time. Vladyka took her words literally, went to Sarov and lived there for forty days, fasting and praying, and during that time his problem was truly resolved...

Sometimes Praskovya Ivanovna began to make noise, and said to the nuns who came to her: “Get out of here, rascals, here is the cash register.” (After the monastery was closed, a savings bank was located in her cell).

Once Evdokia Ivanovna Barskova, who did not go to the monastery and did not intend to get married, went on a pilgrimage to Kyiv. On the way back, she stopped in Vladimir with a blessed merchant who received all wanderers. The next morning he called her, blessed her with the image of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and said:

- Go to Diveevo, there the blessed Pasha of Sarov will show you the way.

How Dunya flew on wings to Diveevo, and blessed Praskovya Ivanovna throughout her two-week journey - she walked about three hundred miles - went out onto the porch, howled and beckoned with her hand:

- Hey, my little girl is coming, my servant is coming.

She came in the evening, after the all-night vigil, and immediately to Praskovya Ivanovna.

Mother Seraphim, the senior cell attendant of the blessed one, came out and said:

- Go away, girl, go away, we are tired, you will come tomorrow, tomorrow you will come after early.

She sent her out the gate, and Praskovya Ivanovna fought:

- Are you chasing my servant, are you chasing my servant, my servant has come! My servant has arrived!

In the morning Dunya came to the blessed one; she met her, laid scarves on the stool, blew off the dust and sat her down, began to give her tea and treat her; So Dunya remained with the blessed one. Praskovya Ivanovna immediately entrusted everything to her, and the head cell attendant, Mother Seraphima, fell in love with her.

Nun Alexandra (Trakovskaya), the future abbess, asked Dunya:

- Aren’t you afraid of the blessed one?

- Not afraid.

And as soon as Mother Alexandra left, the blessed one said:

- This will be the mother (that is, the abbess. - I.D.).

Every night at twelve o'clock Praskovya Ivanovna was served a boiling samovar.

She drank only when the samovar was boiling, otherwise she would say “dead” and not drink. However, even then he will pour a cup and, as it were, forget, it will get cold. And when he drinks a cup, and when he doesn’t drink; then she lights the candles all night and puts them out... All night until the morning she prayed in her own way.

Raphael's mother said that when she entered the monastery, she often had to watch at night. From a distance, she could clearly see Praskovya Ivanovna’s cell. Every night at twelve o'clock candles were lit in the cell and a fast figure of the blessed one moved, either extinguishing them or lighting them. Raphaila really wanted to see how the blessed one prayed.

Having been blessed by the sister who was on duty with her to walk along the alley, she headed to Praskovya Ivanovna’s house. All of his windows had curtains open. Having crept up to the first window, she was just about to climb onto the cornice to look into the cell, when a quick hand drew the curtain; she went to another window, to a third; the same thing happened again. Then she walked around to that window, which was never curtained, but everything was repeated there. So she didn’t see anything.

After some time, Raphael’s mother came to the blessed one. She accepted it and said:

- Pray.

She began to pray on her knees.

- Now lie down.

And the blessed one herself began to pray. What a prayer that was! She suddenly became completely transformed, raised her hands, and tears flowed like a river from her eyes; It seemed to Raphaila that the blessed one rose into the air - she did not see her feet on the floor.

Raphael’s mother also said that six months before her mother’s death she came to Praskovya Ivanovna; she began to look as if at the bell tower, but there was no one there.

“They fly, they fly, here’s one, followed by another, higher, higher,” and she slammed her hands, “even higher!”

Raphael's mother immediately understood everything. Six months later, my mother died, and six months later my grandfather died.

When Raphaila entered the monastery, she was constantly late for services. She came to the blessed one, and she said:

“The girl is good, but she’s a couch potato,” your mother is praying for you.

Schema-Archimandrite Barsanuphius of Optina was transferred from Optina Hermitage and appointed Archimandrite of the Golutvin Monastery. Having become seriously ill, he wrote a letter to blessed Praskovya Ivanovna, whom he visited and had great faith in. This letter was brought by Raphael’s mother. When the blessed one listened to the letter, she only said: “365.” Exactly 365 days later, the elder died. This was also confirmed by the elder’s cell attendant, in whose presence the blessed woman’s answer was received.

When they made tea for her, she tried to take the packet away and pour it all out. He'll spill it out, but won't drink. When the tea was poured, she tried to push her hand so that more would wake up, and then the tea would be very strong, and she would say: “Broom, broom,” and she poured all this tea into a rinsing cup, and then took it outside. Evdokia will take one edge, the blessed one will take the other and say: “Lord, help, Lord, help,” and with this they carry this cup. And when they brought it out onto the porch, the blessed one poured it out and said: “Bless, Lord, on the fields, on the meadows, on the dark oak groves, on the high mountains.”

If someone brings jam, they try not to give it to her, but if he does, he immediately carries it to the restroom and turns the jar upside down into the basin, saying: “By God, from the inside, by God, from the inside.”

Dunya said that the blessed one loved her very much and fussed with her as if she were a friend. Dunya will deliberately approach the blessed one without a scarf. She will immediately take out a new scarf and cover it. After a while she will approach her again; Seraphim’s mother will say: “Dunya, you’ll lure all her scarves out of her.”

And Dunya distributed them to others.

September 22/October 5 is the day of remembrance of Blessed Paraskeva Ivanovna of Diveyevo, better known as Pasha of Sarov. Photo of the Diveyevo Monastery

Praskovya Ivanovna spent whole days studying with people. Her cell nun, Mother Seraphim, performed all the rules for her. Praskovya Ivanovna was tonsured into the schema, but she had no time to read the rule, and Mother Seraphim celebrated her monastic rule and Praskovya Ivanovna’s schematic rule. In the monastery, Mother Seraphima had a separate cell and, for the sake of appearance, she had a bed with a feather bed and pillows, on which she never lay down, but rested while sitting in a chair.

They lived with one spirit. And it was better to insult Praskovya Ivanovna than Mother Seraphim. If you insult her, then don’t come close to Praskovya Ivanovna.

Seraphim's mother died of cancer, the disease was so painful that she rolled on the floor in pain. When she died, Praskovya Ivanovna came to church. The sisters immediately took notice of her, since she rarely went to church. And she tells them: “They are stupid, they look at me, but don’t see that she is wearing three crowns,” - this is about mother Seraphim.

On the fortieth day, Praskovya Ivanovna expected the priests to come and sing a requiem in her cell. She was waiting for them that evening, and they passed by, she was upset and said reproachfully: “Eh, priests, priests... they passed by... waving a censer - and that’s a joy to the soul.”

One day Evdokia had a dream. Beautiful house, room and those, as they are called, Italian windows, large. These windows are open to the garden, extraordinary golden apples hang, knock directly on the windows, and everything is laid and tidied up everywhere. She sees Seraphim, who tells her: “I’ll take you and show you the place where Praskovya Ivanovna is.” Then she woke up, went up to Praskovya Ivanovna, she just wants to say something, but she covers her mouth...

It is also known that in 1903, during the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov, she was visited by the most august persons - Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . The blessed one predicted for them the imminent birth of the long-awaited Heir, as well as the death of Russia and the royal dynasty, the defeat of the Church and a sea of ​​blood, after which the Tsar more than once turned to the predictions of Paraskeva Ivanovna, sending the Grand Dukes to her from time to time for advice. Shortly before her death, the blessed one often prayed in front of the portrait of the Emperor, foreseeing his imminent martyrdom.

Despite the many miracles that people saw in the seventy years since the repose of St. Seraphim, there were difficulties with the discovery of his relics and glorification. They say that the sovereign insisted on glorification, but almost the entire Synod was against it, only Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) and Archbishop Kirill (Smirnov) supported it. At this time, blessed Praskovya Ivanovna fasted for fourteen or fifteen days, did not eat anything, so that she could not even walk, but crawled on all fours.

One evening Archimandrite Seraphim (Chichagov) and said:

“Mother, they refuse to reveal the relics to us.”

Praskovya Ivanovna said:

- Take my hand, let's go free.

On the one hand, her mother Seraphim grabbed her, on the other - Archimandrite Seraphim.

- Take the piece of iron. Dig to the right - here are the relics...

The examination of the remains of St. Seraphim was carried out on the night of January 11, 1903.

At this time, in the village of Lomasovo, twelve miles from Sarov, they saw a glow over the monastery and, crossing themselves, ran there and asked:

-Where was the fire? We saw the glow.

But there was no fire anywhere. And only then one hieromonk quietly said:

“Tonight a commission came and opened the remains of Father Seraphim.

Father Seraphim had only bones, so the Synod was confused: whether to go somewhere into the forest, there were no incorruptible relics, only bones. One of the still living elders who knew the monk said then: “ We bow not to bones, but to miracles .

The sisters said that the monk himself appeared to the sovereign, after which he, with his authority, insisted on the opening of the relics.

When it was decided to glorify and open the relics, the great princes came to Sarov and Diveevo to visit blessed Praskovya Ivanovna.

At this time, there were four daughters in the royal family, but there was no boy heir. We went to the monk to pray for an heir. Praskovya Ivanovna had the custom of showing everything on dolls, and then she prepared a boy doll. She laid the scarves softly and high on him and laid him down. “Hush, hush - he’s sleeping...” Everything she said was conveyed over the phone to the sovereign, who himself arrived later.

Evdokia Ivanovna said that Seraphim’s mother was going to Sarov for the opening, but suddenly broke her leg. Praskovya Ivanovna healed her. It was announced to the blessed one that, as soon as the sovereign was greeted in the abbot's building, a concert would be sung, he would seat his retinue for breakfast, and he himself would come to her.

Seraphim’s mother and Dunya returned from the meeting, but Praskovya Ivanovna won’t let anything be cleaned up. There is a frying pan of potatoes and a cold samovar on the table.

While they were fighting with her, they heard in the hallway: “ Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us .” And Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna enter.

Already in their presence they laid out the carpet and cleared the table; They immediately brought a hot samovar. Everyone went out and left them alone, but they could not understand what the blessed one was saying, and soon the sovereign came out and said: “The eldest is with her, come in.”

And a conversation took place in front of her. The cell attendant later said that the blessed one said to the Emperor: “ Sovereign, come down from the throne yourself .”

When they began to say goodbye, Praskovya Ivanovna opened the chest of drawers. She took out a new tablecloth, spread it on the table, and began to put the gifts. A linen canvas of her own making (she spun the threads herself), a loaf of sugar, painted eggs, and more pieces of sugar. She tied it all into a knot: very tightly, with several knots, and when she tied it, she even squatted from the effort and gave it into his hands:

- Sir, carry it yourself.

And she extended her hand:

- Give us some money, we need to build a hut.

The sovereign did not have any money with him. They immediately sent and brought it, and he gave her a purse of gold, which was immediately handed over to the mother abbess.

When Nikolai Alexandrovich was leaving, he said that Praskovya Ivanovna was a true servant of God. Everyone and everywhere accepted him as a king, she alone accepted him as a simple person.

The righteous death of Blessed Paraskeva of Diveyevo

Praskovya Ivanovna died on September 22/October 5, 1915 . Before leaving, she kept bowing to the ground in front of the portrait of the Emperor. She was no longer able to stand on her own, and she was lifted and lowered.

“Why are you praying to the Emperor like that, Mama?”

- Fools. He will be taller than all kings.

She said about the sovereign: “I don’t know - the venerable one, I don’t know - the martyr.”

Shortly before her death, the blessed one took down the portrait of the sovereign and kissed his feet with the words: “Darling is already at the end.”

The blessed one died hard and for a long time. She was paralyzed before her death. She suffered a lot. Some were surprised that such a great servant of God was dying so hard. It was revealed to one of the sisters that with these near-death sufferings she “ransomed” the souls of her spiritual children from hell.

When she was dying, one nun in St. Petersburg went out into the street and saw how the blessed soul ascended to heaven... Her grave is located at the altar of the Trinity Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery.

This is how S.A. describes it. Nilus last meeting with her in the summer of 1915:

“When we entered the blessed woman’s room and I saw her, I was first of all struck by the change that had occurred in her entire appearance. This was no longer the former Paraskeva Ivanovna, it was her shadow, a person from the other world. A completely haggard, once full, but now thin face, sunken cheeks, huge, wide-open, otherworldly eyes, the spitting image of the eyes of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Vasnetsov’s depiction of the Kiev-Vladimir Cathedral.”

Before her death, Blessed Paraskeva blessed her successor, Blessed Maria Ivanovna, .

Blessed Maria Diveevskaya

Maria Zakharovna Fedina was born in the Tambov province into a peasant family. Subsequently, she began to call herself Ivanovna, saying that all blessed Ivanovnas are according to John the Baptist. Since childhood, Maria was distinguished by many oddities; she loved solitude and prayer. Orphaned at the age of 14, she wandered between Diveyevo and Sarov, hungry, half-naked, persecuted, until she settled in the Diveyevo monastery. No one ever heard from her a complaint, a groan, despondency, irritability or lamentation about human injustice. And the Lord Himself, for her godly life, glorified her with the gift of clairvoyance from a young age.

Maria Ivanovna spoke quickly and a lot, sometimes in poetry and at times swore strongly, especially after 1917, but under her words there were insightful denunciations. Through the prayers of the blessed one, who herself suffered a lot from painful illnesses and accidents, which she caused for herself, the Lord repeatedly healed the suffering, about which eyewitness accounts have been preserved.

During the years of difficult revolutionary trials for Russia, the flow of those in need of guidance and prayerful help increased. Her prophecies and predictions helped many people avoid danger and death, and find the right path in difficult circumstances.

The Soviet authorities initiated persecution against the blessed one and forbade receiving visitors. After the closure of the monastery in 1927, Maria Ivanovna found shelter in the homes of believers. Shortly before her death, the blessed one was arrested and interrogated, but after recognizing her as abnormal, she was released. She died in 1931 at the age of about 70 and was buried in the cemetery of the village of Bolshoye Cherevatovo, where her grave is revered to this day. Maria Ivanovna, foreseeing future trials with camps, exile and years of atheism, strengthened the sisters of the monastery, confidently predicting the revival of the Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery, which came true in 1991.

Numerous testimonies have been preserved about miraculous events and healings that have occurred and continue to occur today through the prayers of the blessed elders. The Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, having familiarized itself with the godly life spent in the harsh feat of the foolishness of Christ for the sake of the blessed elders Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria Diveevsky, did not find any obstacles to their glorification as saints.

After reviewing the materials about the life of the ascetics of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, I hereby determine with love and reverence:

1. To canonize the saints of Christ for the sake of the holy fools, glorified by the grace of God, the blessed elders Pelagia Diveevskaya, Paraskeva Diveevskaya and Maria Diveevskaya for local church veneration in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.

2. The honorable remains of the blessed Pelagia Diveevskaya, Paraskeva Diveevskaya and Maria Diveevskaya and the Venerable Maria, Abbess Diveevskaya, resting in the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Convent of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, will henceforth be called holy relics and given them due veneration.

3. Commemorate Blessed Pelagia Diveyevo on the day of her repose—January 30/February 12, Blessed Paraskeva Diveyevo on the day of her repose—September 22/October 5, Blessed Maria Diveyevo on the day of her repose—August 26/September 8. Also to celebrate the common memory of the blessed Diveyevo and the Venerable Maria, Abbess of Diveyevo, on the day of the celebration of the Council of the Holy Wives of Diveyevo on July 8/21.

4. To compose a special service for the newly glorified Diveyevo saints for each one, and until the time of compiling them, send general ones - according to the order of Christ for the sake of the holy fools.

5. Paint the newly glorified blessed Pelagia of Diveyevo, Paraskeva of Diveyevo and Mary of Diveyevo icons for veneration according to the definition of the VII Ecumenical Council.

6. Print the lives of the blessed Pelagia Diveevskaya, Paraskeva Diveevskaya and Maria Diveevskaya for the edification of the children of the church in piety.

7. We bring this definition to the attention of clergy and believers of Orthodox parishes and monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.

Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna was glorified as a saint on October 6, 2004.

Through the prayers of the newly glorified Pelagia Diveevskaya, Paraskeva Diveevskaya and Maria Diveevskaya, may the Lord give His mercy to all who with faith and love resort to their heavenly intercession. Amen.

Blessed Pelageya, Paraskeva and Maria Diveevsky

Troparion of Diveyevo Blessed Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria, tone 1

He heard the voice of the Apostle Paul saying: We are fools for Christ's sake, Thy servants, O Christ God, Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria, who were holy fools on earth for Thy sake; Moreover, we honor their memory and pray to You: Lord, save our souls.

Kontakion of Diveyevo Blessed Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria, tone 8

Having lusted after the highest beauty, the lower bodily pleasures were languidly left to nature, by the non-acquisitiveness of the vanity world, the angelic life passing away, having passed away, Pelagie, Paraskeva and Mary of the Blessed: Pray to Christ God unceasingly for all of us.

Glorification of Diveyevo as blessed Pelagia, Paraskeva and Maria

We bless you, our blessed holy mothers Pelagie, Paraskeva and Mary, and honor your holy memory, for you pray for us to Christ our God.

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Pilgrim page. Stories about holy places.

“Oh, oh, my joy! Four pillars - four relics! What a joy we are, father! Four pillars - this means that four relics will rest here! And we will have this tomb of relics, father! What a joy we are! What a joy!” said the Venerable Father Seraphim to Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov in 1829 about the Diveyevo Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: And indeed, the joy of greatness visited the Diveyevo sisters and all admirers of the Diveyevo monastery when on September 13/26, 2000 the relics of the Venerable Alexandra were found, Martha and Elena Diveevsky, and on December 9/22, 2000, on the day of the celebration of the icon of the Mother of God “Unexpected Joy”, they were glorified as locally revered saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. The Venerable Seraphim himself spoke about their future glorification and that their incorruptible relics would openly rest in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

Reverend Alexandra (in the world Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova) is the founder of the Diveevo community - “Wonderful Diveevo”, a monastery that is the fourth Destiny of the Queen of Heaven. The Monk Seraphim called her “a holy and great wife.” Marvelous was her humility, marvelous her exploits, marvelous her life.

The Venerable Martha (in the world Maria Semyonovna Melyukova), a 19-year-old schema-monastery, remained in the monastery for 13 years with the blessing of the Monk Seraphim, filled with amazing obedience; the Monk Seraphim confided many secrets to her.

Reverend Elena (in the world Elena Vasilyevna Manturova) is the sister of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, the benefactor of the Deveyevo community. An ascetic, she died out of obedience for her brother at the age of 27.

At the graves of the saints, when prayers were addressed to them, miracles and healings were performed more than once. According to the behest of St. Seraphim, the sisters went to their graves every morning and evening with prayer: at the grave of Mother Alexandra: “Our lady and mother, forgive me and bless me! Pray that I too may be forgiven, just as you are forgiven, and remember me at the Throne of God!”, at the grave of Schema-nun Martha: “Our Lady and Mother Martha, remember us at the Throne of God in the Kingdom of Heaven,” at the grave of Mon. Helen: “Our Lady and Mother Helen, remember us at the Throne of God in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

And now - glorification.

The people have arrived! More than on the summer holiday of St. Father Seraphim, which is August 1st! And usually in the summer on this day tons of people come, it seems impossible anymore! But so many pilgrims gathered for the glorification of Saints Alexandra, Martha and Helena that the sisters were amazed.

After the discovery of the relics, which took place on September 26, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the relics were located in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, where memorial services were constantly served. In the three days before the glorification, six (!) funeral Liturgies were performed in different churches. They even served in the Kazan Church at the Kazan Spring. The glorification itself took place on December 22 during the late Divine Liturgy in the Trinity Cathedral. During the glorification, the relics stood open.

The sisters tell how beautiful, solemn everything was, there was such grace! Many obedient sisters did not sleep for days - and noticed that they did not feel tired at all, and did not want to sleep!

All day long everyone venerated the relics. Then the relics were transferred by the clergy to the Transfiguration Cathedral. There, too, the relics were opened for veneration. And on Sunday evening, December 24, the sisters transferred the relics to the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. The Reverend’s prediction was fulfilled that the sisters themselves would carry the relics.

And now the relics rest in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and are open for worship every day.

And on October 6, 2004, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church determined to canonize the venerable wives of Diveyevo as church saints and include them in the Months of the Russian Orthodox Church.