This cemetery is so old that it resembles a fairy-tale scenery, consisting of tree trunks in the backdrop, carved fern foliage, spotlights transmitting the rays of the sun, and the decor of the tombstones is creeping moss. Communication with people visiting the chapel of Xenia, which is at the Smolensk cemetery , only enhances the effect of the unreality of the world in which you find yourself.
Endless stories mix the world of the dead and the living into a tart cocktail. Let's find out about those people and their stories who were helped by prayers to Saint Xenia of Petersburg .
“SOBREBERED FROM A FIVE-YEAR DELUSION”
Last year, my neighbor, an unbeliever, suffered greatly when she found out that her husband had been unfaithful to her for five years.
They talked for a long time, and she forgave him, wanting to save the family (they have two children). But he did not have the strength to break free from this connection and began to prepare to leave home. The neighbor cried and asked to pray for her. At this time, I read on one website about the testimonies of people whom Saint Xenia helped. In one letter, I found the address of the cemetery where the saint was buried and wrote her a letter (we live in Canada), asking her to help my neighbor and her husband.
Not even a month had passed, and my neighbor came joyfully and told me that her husband had learned about the terrible dishonesty and hypocrisy of this other woman, which sobered him up from a five-year delusion.
Maria
“WE HAD A DAUGHTER, KSENIA, BORN ON FEBRUARY 4”
When my husband and I got married, we always dreamed of having a daughter and calling her Ksenia.
We didn’t have children for two years, and we turned in prayer to Saint Blessed Xenia for the gift of a child. The Lord vouchsafed us to go to St. Petersburg to see Ksenyushka in the chapel. We prayed, wrote notes about health, kissed the cancer, and there was extraordinary joy in our souls! Six months later I became pregnant, and tried to read the akathist to Ksenyushka more often. Thank God, both pregnancy and childbirth went well! Our daughter Ksenia was born on February 4th! Blessed Ksenia blessed our daughter to be born almost on the day of her memory! Glory to God for all his mercies!
Priest Sergius, Mother Tatiana, Ksenia. Lipetsk.
Brief Life
Main article: Life of Ksenia of Petersburg - a love story
See also:
About the reading of the Akathist to St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg
Why do thousands of people go to the grave of Xenia of Petersburg at the Smolensk cemetery
Icon of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg: what it looks like, meaning, help of the saint
How to ask a blz. Ksenia for help: prayer and canon
The feat of Ksenia Grigorievna Petrova, a noblewoman, educated and society lady, began with the death of her husband. Beloved husband Andrei Fedorovich died within a few days, without having time to prepare for death. Xenia is believed to have been no more than 26 years old when she became a widow. They felt sorry for her, tried to help her in her grief as best they could, but she... seemed to have gone crazy. She came to Andrei's funeral in his camisole, calling herself Andrei Fedorovich.
Time passed, and she distributed her property, left the house to a good friend and went to wander, devoting her life to prayer for her husband and the feat of renunciation of the world in the most difficult form - foolishness. There is no stronger blow to pride than reproof and insults from others, especially unfair ones. That is why foolishness is so difficult. After all, a person consciously makes the decision to “cause fire upon himself” with his appearance, words, and actions. That is why the feat of foolishness leads a short way to holiness. But this path leading to life is difficult, thorny and narrow. And gracious, as the residents of the northern capital very soon saw.
Spiritual Gifts in Life
Already during the blessed one’s earthly life, people noticed Ksenia’s gift of insight. She covered him up with strange words and actions, but soon people began to notice: if Ksenia asks anyone for anything, it means the person will lose. And whoever he gives will have joy or profit. The cab drivers vying with each other called “Andrei Fedorovich” to ride at least a little way in his cart. They noticed: with whom the blessed one sits in the cab, his day will be successful.
Useful materials
However, during her lifetime, some believed in her holiness, some did not understand her, some laughed, or even annoyed her.
Interesting fact
When Saint Xenia’s earthly journey ended, the people took away the soil from her grave for blessing. A new burial mound was built, but it was also dismantled. They laid a marble slab, but it too was broken and taken home by people who wanted to have at least something “from Ksenyushka”, to somehow be part of the grace given to her by God.
Then a chapel was erected, first wooden, and in 1902 stone. There were many and frequent memorial services for Blessed Xenia. And through prayers to her, people received what they asked for.
When, after the revolution, the grave of the righteous woman was deserted and the chapel was closed, people came and went to this place, bringing notes with simple requests. How many Leningraders Ksenia helped survive during the blockade, how many she saved from death at the front - only she and the Lord know. Ksenia is just as responsive these days.
How does Ksenia Petersburgskaya help?
Someone could not get a job, someone was in need, poverty was brought to extremes, illness tormented them, the girl dreamed of marriage, marriage, family problems and the like.
Pilgrims
Helped in different ways. She often spoke incomprehensible phrases. After some time, the person who asked understood what she said. She helped everyone.
