Commemorated on April 19 (May 2)
Matrona
was born in 1881 into a poor family in the village of
Sebino-Epifaniskaya (now Kimovski) in the Tula region of Russia. Blind
from birth, she bore her infirmity with humility and patience, and God
made her a vessel of grace. At the moment of her baptism, the priest saw
a cloud above the child, which shed forth a sweet fragrance as a sign
of divine favor. From the age of six or seven, she exhibited an
extraordinary gift of insight, discerning sicknesses of soul and body in
the many people who visited her, revealing to them their secret sins
and their problems, and healing them through prayer and wise counsel.
Around the age of fourteen, she made a pilgrimage to the great holy
places in Russia along with a devout benefactress. When they arrived at
Kronstadt to receive the blessing of St. John, they became lost in the
crowd. St. John suddenly cried out, “Matrona, come here! She will be my
heir, and will become the eighth pillar of Russia.” At that time, no
one understood the meaning of this prophecy.
When
she turned seventeen, Matrona became paralyzed and was unable to walk
from then on. Knowing that this was God’s will, she never complained
but thanked the Lord. For the rest of her life – over fifty years – she
lived in a room filled with icons, sitting cross legged on her bed.
With a radiant face and a quiet voice, she received all who came to
seek divine consolation through her presence. She foretold the great
misfortunes that were to sweep down upon the country after the
Bolshevik revolution, placing her gift of insight at the service of the
people of God. One day when some visitors commiserated with her about
her disablement, she replied:
“A day came on which God opened my eyes, and I saw the light of the sun, the stars and all that exists in the world: the rivers, the forests, the sea and the whole of creation.”
In
1925 she left her village to settle in Moscow and, after her mother’s
death in 1945, she moved frequently, welcomed secretly into the houses
of the faithful. This was because the Communists, fearing her influence
among the people, wanted to arrest her. But, every time, she had
advance knowledge, and when the police arrived they learned that she
had moved an hour or two earlier. One day, when a policeman arrived to
arrest her, she advised him to return home as quickly as possible,
promising him that she would not escape. When the man arrived home, he
discovered that his wife was on fire, and was just in time to take her
to the hospital.
St.
Matrona led an ascetic life on her bed of pain. She fasted constantly,
slept little, her head resting on her chest, and her forehead was
dented by the innumerable signs of the Cross that she made. Not only
the Muscovites but also people from afar, of all ages and conditions,
thronged around her to ask her advice and her prayers. In this way she
truly became the support of afflicted people, especially during World War II. To those who came to ask her for news of their relatives in
battle, she reassured some and counseled others to hold memorial
services.
She spoke to some directly, and to others in parables, having
in view their spiritual edification and recommending them to keep the
Church’s laws, to marry in the Church and to regularly attend
Confession and take Communion. When the sick and possessed were brought
to her, she placed her hands on their heads, saying several prayers or
driving the demons out with authority, always insisting that she was
doing nothing of herself but that God was healing by her mediation.
When asked why the Church was undergoing such great persecutions, she
replied that it was because of the sins of the Christians and their
lack of faith. “All the peoples who have turned away from God have
disappeared from off the face of the earth,” she affirmed. “Difficult
times are our lot, but we Christians must choose the Cross. Christ has
placed us on His sleigh, and he will take us where He will.”
Having
foretold the day of her death, she gave instructions for her funeral.
Before falling asleep in peace on April 19, 1952, she cried out, “Come
close, all of you, and tell me of your troubles as though I were alive!
I’ll see you, I’ll hear you, and I’ll come to your aid.” Miracles were
multiplied at her tomb and, ever since her translation to the women’s
monastery of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God (March 13, 1998),
the faithful who, in their thousands, line up to venerate Moscow’s new
protectress, turn to her icon and bring her their various problems as
though St. Matrona were alive in front of them.
From Volume Four of the Synaxarion, compiled by the Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra, Mount Athos.
See also
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