Nun T., currently residing in retirement at the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery, reports an example of her miraculous healing through the prayers of Mother Alexandra.
In the 40-50s, she was a little over 20 years old, she lived with her mother in the village of Koshelikha. From hard work (carrying bags), she fell ill. Her whole body was convulsing, she could not do anything, but only sat crouched. Treatment in the hospital did not help, and she was told that with such an illness, few people survive. She suffered for several years, and her relatives had everything ready for her death.
One day she had a vision in her dream. She saw that she was standing on a hill, and three wanderers, pious in appearance, were walking along the road. They stopped and looked at her. One of them came up and asked: “What, are you sick and suffering, dear?” She replied: “Oh, how much I am sick.” “Nothing, you will be healthy, you will still be an average horse, you will still work hard. And then come to me in Diveevo. After unsuccessful treatment in the hospital, her relatives suggested that she turn to fortune tellers, and she asked: “Is there, in Diveevo, there is a fortune teller?” Mother answered her, “Yes, there is a skillful “sorcerer” (in the sense of a doctor) there.
She remembered that her mother was slightly hook-nosed and swarthy, and she asked her godmother: maybe some kind of grace-filled person appeared to her, and she said to her: “Are there any grace-filled black ones?” After this dream, she woke up in a completely different mood - all came to life. After two years, she gradually recovered completely and was able to work.
In the church of the village of Kremenki she met John. Raisa from the then closed Diveyevo Monastery and told about her dream. She asked what mother looked like in the vision, showed her a portrait, and M.T. immediately recognized mother Alexandra on it. Mother Raisa said that Mother Alexandra rarely appears, only sometimes heals sick people, and added: “She loved you, go to her grave in Diveevo on Memorial Day.”
All her life, M.T. prayed to Mother Alexandra and came to Diveevo on all memorable days, working as a cathedral prosphora maker in the city of Arzamas. When the Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery was opened, in 1993 in Arzamas on the feast of the Resurrection of the Word, she approached Mother Abbess Sergius with a request to take her to the monastery, saying that the original Mother Alexandra commanded her so. The mother abbess replied that she needed to pray for an almshouse to open at the monastery, and then she could be accepted.
After 5 years, the ruined ensemble was transferred to the Serafimo-Diveevsky monastery under the courtyard Smolensk church Arzamas with an almshouse near the house where M. T. lived. Upon the arrival of the abbess from Diveevo, while inspecting the transferred buildings, the headman of the Resurrection Cathedral suggested visiting the nuns living at the cathedral, in one of whom the mother recognized the former prosphoron of the cathedral, already tonsured to monasticism. She was reading the monastic rule and was surprised when she saw the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveevo monastery in front of her. M. T. again spoke about the dream, the healing and the blessing of Mother Alexandra to ask for the Diveevsky Monastery. Mother abbess gave her blessing to gather in Diveevo. So she became a resident of the Diveevo monastery, where she was tonsured a monk.
Servant of God Alexandra Bezmestina, a pensioner from the city of Arzamas, wrote on July 30, 1994: “On April 20, 1992, my left side was paralyzed. Was in bed for 2 years. They gave me disability, the first group indefinitely, and then I lost heart: “They wrote it off! .. The disease is a harbinger of death,” but such a one cannot be treated in any way. Longing, despair ... And then the only consolation was books, otherwise I would have gone crazy: everyone is burdened, everyone is tired. They brought me the Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery. I read: in difficult hours of trials, all the chiefs and sisters of the Diveevo community went to the grave of the unforgettable and great old mother Alexandra, asking for her help. Father Seraphim advised the patient to go to the grave of Mother Alexandra in Diveevo, take some land for himself and make as many prostrations as possible in this place: “She is sorry for you and wishes you healing.” Mother Alexandra is commemorated on June 26, on this day I was brought to Diveevo. After praying at the grave, they collected land, poured some water at the source and returned home. At home, I pour earth into a glass of water and drink it, wet my hand and foot - and I get healed. The hand began to bend; I am now, though very slowly, but dressing myself, and then with bitter tears I asked and waited for someone to come to me and help me undress and dress. From that day on, I felt better. My joy knows no bounds. Now we have to go to Diveevo to serve a memorial service at the grave of Mother Alexandra and a thanksgiving service Mother of God"Joy to All Who Sorrow."
Sister A., who lives in a monastery, has a chronic stomach disease. A few years ago there was such an aggravation of the disease that she could not eat anything - there were severe pains. On the third day of her illness, she walked past the spring of Mother Alexandra, and thinks: “Here, people come to this holy place, get healed, but I have no faith!” And as if a guardian angel says: “Go down to the source, drink some water!” She went into the chapel, prayed: “Lord, if my illness is to death, strengthen me, if not, heal for the prayers of Mother Alexandra. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. She drank three times from the palm of her hand, washed herself and went on. Goes, feels - wanted to eat. She quickly went home and ate with appetite, feeling no pain and thanking the Lord and the Mother of God, through the prayers of Mother Alexandra, who performed a miracle of healing for her.
In 1999, a miraculous healing took place through the intercession of St. Martha. Novice of the Diveevo Monastery N. long time suffered from recurrent nasal furuncles. The treatment had only short-term success. Sister N. always revered the schema nun Marfa, and one evening, according to custom, she went to the grave, revered the prayer commanded by St. Seraphim, and asked for healing in her own words, because she was in severe pain. With reverence, she took a drop of oil from the lamp burning on the grave and anointed the sore spot with a cross. By the morning the pains were gone, pus came out, for 2-3 days she continued to smear the sore spot with oil, after which everything went away, and only once after that the furuncle of the nose recurred, and then she was completely healed.
In a miraculous way, the Lord arranged the life of the nun S., who now lives at the monastery. "On this Holy place arrived miraculously. I, a sinner, never thought to be here. Somehow I didn’t revere Father Seraphim, but I revered St. Sergius of Radonezh - this was when I was still living in the world, but I was already at the church. When I approached the icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov, as if a voice was heard from the icon: “Soon you will be with us.” I, moving away from the icon with discontent, looked at the icon with bewilderment and said: “I will never! And how will I get there? I never knew about Diveevo, and I never read, and I was not going to go anywhere. When she said this in confession spiritual father, his answer was: pray to Father Seraphim, he is praying for you. By the grace of God, I then humbled myself, but still I approached his icon just like a saint, asking for prayers. Time passes - I fall ill with a serious illness, they make a diagnosis after a thorough examination: bowel cancer; insisted on urgent surgery. I went to Russia to be operated on by a doctor I knew, with my mother, because she was in a serious condition. On the way, a relentless desire arose to visit Diveevo, although, as I already wrote, I didn’t know and never read about this holy place, but it’s so relentless that I first decided to go to Diveevo. When she arrived, she venerated the relics of Father Seraphim, went to the Kanavka, asking for help, but at the same time she made a vow that if everything went well and if there was some relief, then I, a sinner, until the last days of my life, I would stay here, on holy place, i.e. in this, Diveevsky monastery. By the grace of God, but not by human merit (I am not writing the vision that I had - I omit it), after this my petition for help, I was healed of my serious illness. A little time passed, the enemy began to tempt to go back, and forgetting that I had made a vow, I began to look for opportunities to go back, confusion began, sorrows began, and now, in a dream, I saw Mother Alexandra; she stood near her grave and said sternly: “Why are you rushing about ...” And when I woke up in a fright, as if it were in reality, and, crossing myself, I thought: “Thank God that I am in Diveevo.” It happened here, in Diveevo, as I testify, gr. mon. WITH.". Under the letter is the date 12/4/99, and an extract from the medical history of 1996-97 is attached.
In 2000, a parishioner and employee of the church in the name of St. Seraphim of Sarovsky in Novosibirsk Alevtina Yakovlevna Belikova. “I found out that schema-nun Mother Alexandra would be canonized, so I want to tell an incident that happened to me when I was in the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery in 1994.
I arrived sick inflammatory process in a feminine way. She had been sick since childhood, was treated by doctors, professors, and was given injections every month. I was always afraid of colds, drafts, I always dressed warmly, took care of my feet from the cold, cold water, in summer time I never even wet my feet.
I lived in Diveevo for three days. In those days there were severe February frosts, I was in early February. With a group of women I went only once to the source of schema-nun mother Alexandra. There was ice and snow everywhere around the spring, I drank holy water from the spring and plunged three times and poured three buckets of water from the spring on myself. My hair then was long and thick, but by the time we got to the house where we stopped (15-20 minutes walk), it dried up.
After returning home, I have not been to the doctors again until today. At the age of 58, I forgot about my illness, forgot that I had a thick card in two volumes at the clinic. Thus, through the prayers of the schema-nun mother Alexandra, I was completely healed of my illness.”
Tatyana B. in 1998 came as a pilgrim to Diveevo with her parents. Here is what she wrote about the miracle that happened to her during this trip: “Since childhood, my calf muscle on my right leg hurt - there was a sprain. I couldn't walk long distances and couldn't wear shoes even with small heels.
Having visited the holy land, already before leaving home, we went to the bus station through the spring of mother Alexandra, and my father offered to drink some water. I started to refuse, referring to the fact that they were late for the bus. We stopped anyway, my father went for water and gave everyone a drink. After I took a few sips, I felt as if the pain and heaviness that had always been in my leg went into the ground. I already went to the bus station with a healthy leg and to this day my leg does not hurt. ” After that, she ordered a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord.
Servant of God L.A. from Noginsk, Moscow Region, due to constant sedentary work and worries, when she wrote her graduation project at the institute, she suffered from intestinal obstruction. None medicines didn't help. As soon as she defended her diploma, she immediately, on the same day, went on a pilgrimage trip to Diveevo. The disease became so complicated that her stomach was swollen and hurt, her temperature rose. She could not eat anything, she drank only water from holy springs. She prayed to the Lord and the Mother of God and Father Seraphim, but especially asked Mother Alexander for help and promised her that if Mother healed her, she would tell about the miracle through her prayers. The patient noticed with surprise that when she attended services in the temples of the Diveevsky Monastery, the temperature disappeared, and when she decided to lie down in a hotel and did not go to the temple, the temperature rose again. In the last days of her stay in Diveevo, she went to the spring of mother Alexandra. “Its water seemed to me icy, and I could hardly endure the douche. But, probably, with this severity of dousing, my illness left me, ”she wrote. On the way home, she ate for the first time. At home, the intestines stopped bothering her. “Thanks to the holy prayers of the Mother of God and the holy saints of God, including schema-nun Alexandra, the Lord saved me from the operation, which was difficult for me because of a sick heart. Thank God for everything!" - she finishes her letter, sent in 2000.
In 1999, on the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, Yuri Bukhanovsky from the Ukrainian city of Khust visited the healing springs of Diveevo with a group of pilgrims. I plunged with a prayer into the Iberian spring, and then after 5 minutes into the spring of mother Alexandra. Coming out of the water, Yuri felt healed from a long-term illness. In the cold season, even at a positive temperature, his toes swelled and turned red, and the pain caused a lot of inconvenience. Yuri writes: “He froze to the point of numbness in the spring, but when he came out, he immediately felt as if pierced all over his skin with hundreds of fiery needles (without pain) and healthy from this disease. It is noteworthy that while dipping, he did not ask and did not even remember this disease, since it was still summer, and the manifestation of the disease always began in autumn. The healing took place 10 minutes before the evening service for the Dormition of the Mother of God.” Yuri wrote a testimony of this miracle almost 2 years later on July 7, 2001. “I did not report earlier about the healing out of false modesty,” he explains. winter (very harsh that year) to continue trading in the market, which supported his family for several years after the layoff. On the day of the commemoration of Seraphim in the winter of 2000, after the Liturgy, allowed himself many vain worldly affairs, after which on the same day part of my illness returned. Only the next year he was healthy again.
Rimma Bogdanas from the city of Obninsk, Kaluga region testifies to the miraculous healing of her eight-year-old son Roman. He had a large swelling of his index finger. After the boy venerated the relics of the saints and their holy icon, bought here, the swelling went away within an hour and there was no pain left. “Glory to the Lord our God, through the prayers of the saints who gave us healing!” - this is how Rimma ends her letter.
In the summer of 2000, the sister of the Diveevsky Monastery, I., caught a cold. All joints hurt so much that it was impossible to sleep. After several days of illness, Sister I. began to lose heart, but suddenly the idea came to her to take oil from the lamps from the graves of mothers Alexandra, Martha and Elena. Overcoming the pain, she went to the graves, and the sisters helped her pour oil. Returning to the cell, she dipped a cotton ball in oil and began to smear each joint in the same way as the blessed Diveyevo Maria Ivanovna taught: to smear a sore spot with a cross and surround it. At the same time, Sister I. read "Theotokos". Started with the elbow of the left hand. As anointed, he immediately stopped hurting. In amazement, I. anointed the carpal joint, it also immediately stopped hurting, and the joints that were not anointed continued to hurt. Surprised by the miracle happening to her, she anointed the other joints as well. The pain immediately passed, her soul felt light and joyful from the mercy of God revealed to her, and at last she managed to fall asleep at night. After that, a turning point occurred in the illness of sister I., and she soon recovered.
“Last autumn, in September, I went to Diveevo for the first time. In Arzamas, getting off the train, I carelessly stepped onto the platform. The foot hurt a lot. During the day in Diveevo I bathed in the spring of Mother Alexandra, and by evening, with great difficulty, I reached the monastery hotel. The pain intensified, it was impossible to walk. Even lying on the bed, she could not move her leg. I woke up in the morning - the swelling subsided, and there was absolutely no pain. Servant of God Anna, who received this quick healing, testifies that she really hoped for intercession before the Lord and the prayers of Mother Alexandra.
In January 2001, Tatyana Gordeeva from Yoshkar-Ola learned about the raising of the holy relics of the newly glorified wives of Diveevo and began to prayerfully ask them to visit Diveevo. For several years she could not get here. After this petition, Tatyana came to Diveevo three times during the summer. On her second visit, venerating the relics, she prayed to Saints Alexander, Martha and Elena to help her find out where she was and visit the place where the holy martyrs Eudoxia, Darius, Darius and Mary are buried. For some time, Tatyana did not receive an answer, but suddenly she was presented with an icon of the martyrs and was reminded of the day of their execution - August 18th. In two words, Tatyana explains the spiritual reason why she did not immediately receive what she asked for: "for grumbling." But on the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs revered by her, Tatyana was fortunate, by the grace of God, to make another trip and attend a festive celebration in the village of Suvorov.
The 38-year-old servant of God Lyudmila had a severe pain in her leg, and she had to be operated on. There was little water left from Mother Alexandra's spring. Lyudmila began to read prayers and, zealously asking the holy wives of Diveevsky for help, moistened the sore spot with some water. Help she received immediately and so clearly that she soon forgot about her bad leg. Lyudmila concludes her testimony of this miracle with the words of a prayer: “Mother Alexandra, mother Martha, mother Elena, pray to God for us.”
A warm feeling of gratitude lies in the nameless letter, under which many of those who visited the marvelous Diveevo places could sign: “Glory to the Lord and the Reverend Mother Alexandra. On a pilgrimage, you have to walk a lot, and in the evening your legs hurt incredibly. As soon as you ask mother Alexandra to heal her legs, in the morning - as if nothing had happened. Or you stand in the source at the Reverend, all the pain and fatigue pass, as you were born again. Thank you, Holy Reverend Mother Alexandra!”
“08/14/2000 on the honey Spas, my mother and I were here in Diveevo. The relics of the venerable mothers Alexandra, Martha and Elena at that time had not yet been discovered. At the source of mother Alexandra was procession and we took part in it. Honey was consecrated at the source, and, of course, many wasps were circling, they managed to bite us, because of which I was forced to squeal twice, ”writes the servant of God Fotinia. When her mother poured water from the spring behind her, she repeated in her mind: “Mother Alexandra, help us!” On the third day, when they left, there were no bite marks or discomfort. With grateful feelings, Photinia left a written testimony of this small miracle performed on the feast of the Lord. “Please pray for me and my mother Lyudmila,” a young pilgrim from Yekaterinburg ends her letter.
Irina Frolova from Moscow suffered from a severe headache. Arriving in Diveevo, she received a blessing to bathe in miraculous springs. At the spring of Father Seraphim, Irina plunged up to her neck three times, but could not do it with her head. “Go to Mother Alexandra,” she felt in an inaudible voice. She had a stone with the image of Father Seraphim and Mother Alexandra, which was drawn without a halo. “Soon there will be a glorification of the original mother Alexandra,” Irina heard from her sister selling candles. Her headache was unbearable, she had never had such pain before. Irina found the source of mother Alexandra. She was afraid to enter it, a woman from Satis helped her. When I plunged for the first time, something invisible receded from my head. The second time it was easier to plunge, and the third time it was very joyful. The headache disappeared without a trace. Dressing, Irina heard: “Sisters! Go to the graves, they are digging them up." It was at 10.20-10.30 am. Irina hurried to the graves of the saints for the last memorial service before the excavations, which the priests served, and took the sand. “After Mother Alexandra healed me, there was inexpressible joy and lightness in my soul. She's like family, that's all. In the evening they sang "Christ is risen", the excavations continued. On the soul - Easter, the feast of the Resurrection of the Word. There was so much grace that day, as if everything else on earth had faded. My head never hurts again,” writes a woman, a mother of four children, who received blessed healing from the holy relics on the memorable day of finding them.
Tatyana Maksimovna Smirnova from Volgograd, on the days of finding the holy relics of the venerable wives of Diveevsky, received healing through the prayers of St. Martha. Digging potatoes, she lifted the heavy sack, then felt all the insides sink. She had to lie down in bed, and she began to earnestly beg St. Martha for help and read the prayer “Virgin Mary, rejoice ...” Her stomach was torn from childhood. In the morning she got up healthy, and her stomach no longer hurts.
“On the Feast of Epiphany in 2001, my son and I came to the night service,” writes Lyubov Zateeva from Nizhny Novgorod. “We prayed and cried very hard so that our husband and father, the servant of God Michael, Good work. I promised that if he gets a job, then the first salary will be brought to the construction of a church for the holy wives of Diveevsky. A week later, my husband was offered a well-paid job. He studied for 4 months, and now, with his first salary, we are the whole family - me, my son, my husband and my mother came here again: to thank these saints. Because my husband is the only breadwinner in the family (I am disabled, my son is small), and for six years he could not find a good job.”
Raisa Ivanchenko from Sevastopol reports about the miraculous help of St. Elena. June 18, 2001, about to go to the source of St. Seraphim to Tsyganovka, she forgot her bag with documents and money near the bus station and remembered it only on the bus. She had to get off the bus and look for her bag. From the place where Raisa left it, the bag disappeared, it was not handed over to the cashier. After praying to the Monk Elena Diveevskaya, Raisa turned to the police. She believed that the saint could help her. Driving around various places in a search engine, Raisa continued to pray to St. Elena and read the Jesus Prayer. Soon the car received a notification that the bag had been brought to the bus station. She was handed over from Tsyganovka in complete safety. “It's hard to even imagine how I could return home,” writes Raisa. Miraculous Help Rev. Elena, the head of Diveevskaya, to whom the pilgrim turned with faith, was obvious to her, quick and saved her from many troubles.
On May 24, 2001, servant of God N., a lawyer by profession, anointed her hand with oil from the relics of Saints Alexandra, Martha and Elena and was healed of osteoma.
Lyudmila Levina from Sterlitamak (Bashkiria) testifies of the miraculous relief of the suffering of her dying mother. The patient was paralyzed, she was in a coma from high blood pressure with a severe headache, everything was on fire inside. When she was given some water from the healing Diveyevo spring of Mother Alexandra and applied a compress from this water, the pain subsided, the pressure became normal, and the patient calmed down. It was May 31, 2001.
Servant of God Catherine wrote about the imminent relief from coughing: “I went up to Mother Martha, kissed, and - passed.”
After suffering from the flu, the servant of God M. from the village of Satis had one eye closed. She was anointed with oil from the relics of the Mothers and came to venerate their holy relics. After that, the eye opened and began to see again.
Tatyana I., now living in Diveevo, wrote that her son had an infection in the intestines from the first months of his life - staphylococcus aureus. Biopreparations had to be abandoned because of their high cost. They tried to give the child communion as often as possible - this made his condition improve. When he began to be vaccinated, he immediately became worse, he lost a lot of weight. On the day the excavations began, Tatyana asked mothers Alexandra, Elena, and especially Martha for help. Shortly thereafter, it turned out that vaccinations were harmful to the baby, and they were abandoned. After the glorification of St. She often went to the Diveevsky wives to venerate their relics and asked for the recovery of her son. Over time, they simply forgot about the problem that bothered them.
She herself suffered from sinusitis. From the time she began to often venerate the relics of the holy wives of Diveevsky, a cold at the very beginning went away by itself and rather quickly. She and her husband also felt their help in resolving worldly and spiritual problems.
"At. Martha herself suffered, her stomach hurt, and our baby was granted health by her holy prayers.
Mother Alexandra also heals mental illnesses - passions that have taken root in the soul. Servant of God Elena reported that she suffered greatly from anger. One day, after bathing in the spring of Mother Alexandra, her daughters, looking at her in fright, advised her to look at herself in the mirror. It turned out that she had a terrible grimace on her face. “After that, I have not been angry for several years,” she writes.
No less than bodily illnesses, mental illnesses are painful for us. “Today I had complete despondency, bodily fatigue, thoughts inappropriate for a Christian. When, by the providence of God, I went to the relics and venerated them, I felt a surge of strength, clarity of mind, faith, hope, love. Praise God for His saints. Rev. Alexandra, Martha and Elena, pray to God for us,” wrote Oleg Smelov from Kanash (Chuvashia) on July 31, 2001.
A wonderful incident in Diveevo happened to a little girl Evgenia from the city of Volsk, Saratov Region, in the summer of 2001. She had strabismus, loss of light and color sensitivity of vision, farsightedness of +10 and +5. On the first visit, the girl's vision improved. On the second trip, it happened that at the spring of Matushka Alexandra, while bathing, Evgenia hit her head, after which the strabismus disappeared and her vision became even better.
Several cases of healings and relief of headaches and toothaches from the application of earth from the graves and particles of bricks from the crypts of St. Alexandra, Martha and Elena are recorded in the Diveevsky Monastery.
Servant of God I., who works in the Diveevo Monastery, once had an attack of acute cholecystitis. There was severe pain in the right hypochondrium, such that she was trembling. As soon as the earth from the crypt of mother Alexandra was applied to the sore spot, the trembling immediately disappeared, I. felt a slight cold, the pain began to ease and disappeared within 40 minutes.
Girl A. badly hurt her toe, so that the nail turned red and blood came out from under it. In pain, she screamed and cried and did not allow to touch the sore spot. She was persuaded to apply earth from the crypt of mother Alexandra to her leg, at least far from bruising. The girl immediately calmed down a little and asked to move the bag of earth closer to the site of the bruise, and then asked to put it on the very sore spot and tie it. She said, "Now I feel so good that I just can't do anything wrong." She fell asleep peacefully. In the morning, only slight redness remained from the bruise without pain.
The mother of one of the novices of the Diveevo Monastery suffered from a boil on her face. No medicine helped. Once she applied earth from the grave of Mother Alexandra to him and rubbed it in. Unexpectedly, soon everything went away, and the boil did not appear again.
The servant of God, Igor D., considered it his duty not to hide the mercy of God shown to him. Once he cut the little finger of his left hand and started the wound so that soon the decay reached the bone and gangrene could begin. From a pilgrimage trip, he brought parts of the bricks of the crypts of St. Alexandra and Martha Diveevsky and land from the graves of N.A. Motovilova, M.V. Manturov, as well as from the Kanavka of the Queen of Heaven. Putting a finger on all sides and crying out for help to the Lord, the Most Holy Theotokos, St. Seraphim and St. Alexandra and Martha and all the saints, felt a strong burning sensation from the shrines, especially from the particles of the bricks of the crypts of the saints. After that, the pain subsided and there was a turning point to recovery. “From the bottom of my heart I thank the Lord, His Most Pure Mother, as well as the Heavenly Powers of the Bodiless and the saints, who grants me a sinful, erring healing.”
According to the testimony of a pilgrim from the Ukrainian city of Solntsevsk, a brick from the crypt of St. Martha began to myrrh and began to smell fragrant at the priest of the local church. There are known cases of healing from it and its beneficial effect on those possessed by unclean spirits.
“The Lord, through the prayers of our reverend mothers Alexandra, Martha and Elena, healed me a sinner from a malignant tumor,” says Diveyevo sister O.
“After the first operation to remove the tumor, the tests showed that the tumor was “very bad”, as the doctor said, and ordered another operation to remove organs that are susceptible to rapid infection, after which I had to undergo a very painful treatment - chemotherapy - 5 or 6 once a year. I already had time to see enough of its consequences in the hospital. After it, everyone had severe vomiting for several days and many of their hair came out.
When they took tests again in another city, the new doctor confirmed the need new operation and after chemotherapy. When I was already in the hospital, they told me that they were going to glorify our mothers. And then I began to ask them to let me attend worship, and then return to the hospital for treatment. I don’t remember how much I asked them, but not for long, although sincerely and with love, especially St. Marfa. Then, after the operation, the doctor came seriously, quietly, and said that the tests were calm, that he had consulted with one scientist and that he was canceling the chemotherapy treatment and letting him go home. In the ward, all the women were surprised that they let me go without radiation and chemotherapy, since everyone in this ward underwent this treatment. Through the prayers of our reverend mothers Alexandra, Martha and Elena, the Lord still gives me bodily health. To him for this and for all glory forever and ever. Amen".
Published according to the edition: "Lives of Saints Alexandra, Martha and Elena Diveevsky." - Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Convent, 2001. - 168 p.
Reverend wives of Diveevsky
Alexandra, Martha and Elena
Troparion general, tone 4:
Appeared naturally to the land of Russia, an ornament, / the heads of the Diveevsky Monastery / our reverend mothers Alexandro, Marfo and Elena, / having fulfilled the blessing of the Queen of Heaven / and having acquired boldness to the Lord, / pray at the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity / for the salvation of our souls.
General kontakion, tone 8:
Diveevstii lamps of the all-bright / our reverend mothers Alexander, Marfo and Elena, / in fasting, vigil, prayer and labors labored for good / and after death you illuminate us with miracles / and heal ailing souls; / pray to Christ God for forgiveness of sins to grant / love to those who honor the saint your memory.
(The text of the life is adapted for the modern reader)
Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova lost her husband at a young age (she was about 25 years old) and arrived in Kyiv with her three-year-old daughter. Here she decided to devote the rest of her life to God. She accepted monasticism at the Florovsky Monastery under the name of Alexandra. Undoubtedly, Alexander's mother thought in this monastery to rest from earthly labors, but the Lord was pleased to entrust her with the duties of the founder of the new monastery.
Her ascetic life in the Florovsky Monastery did not last very long. “One thing is certain,” testify the priests Dertev and Sadovsky, as well as the student N. A. Motovilov, “that once after a long midnight prayer vigil, Alexander’s mother, being either in a light slumber, or in a clear vision, God knows, was honored to see the Most Holy Mother of God and hear from Her the following: “It is I, your Lady and Mistress, to whom you always pray. I have come to proclaim My will to you: it is not here that I want you to end your life, but as I brought My servant Anthony out of My Athos lot, My holy mountain, so that he here, in Kyiv, would establish My new lot - so you now I say, get out of here and go to a land that I will show you. Go to the north of Russia and go around all the Great Russian places of My holy abodes, and there will be a place where I will tell you to end your godly life, and glorify My Name there, for in your place of residence I will establish such a great abode of Mine, on which I will send down all blessings God's and mine, from all three of my lots on earth:, and Kyiv. Go, My servant, in your way, and the grace of God, and My strength, and My grace, and My mercy, and My bounties, and the gifts of the saints of all My lots will be with you!”
Waking up from this vision, although Alexander's mother admired the spirit, she did not immediately decide to surrender to faith in everything she heard and saw. Composing everything in her heart, she first reported the vision to her spiritual father, then to other experienced confessors of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the old women, who at the same time labored with her in Kyiv. Alexander's mother asked them to sort it out, judge and decide what kind of vision she received, and is it not a dream, a play of imagination and charm? But the holy elders and old women, after prayers and long reflections, unanimously decided that the vision was true, and the Most Pure Virgin chose Mother Alexandra to arrange Her Fourth Destiny.
The fathers and mothers advised Mother Alexandra to hide her tonsure and, under the former name of Colonel Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, fearlessly set off on the path indicated to her by the Mother of God and wait again for the instructions of the Most Holy and Most Pure Virgin: where and when She commands, then to do with full faith in the truth of what was said and specified.
Information about where and how long Alexander's mother wandered was lost over the years and does not appear anywhere in the notes and stories. According to the testimony of old-timers, in 1760 she walked from the city of Murom to. Not reaching 12 versts, Alexander's mother stopped to rest in the village of Diveevo, 55 versts from Arzamas and 24 versts from Nizhny Novgorod Ardatov. The location attracted her eyes, as the bank of the river, on which the village was located, was high, and from the hill, a view of the surrounding area opened. Whether because she was frightened by the rampant factory population engaged in the extraction of iron ore, or simply as an ascetic nun, Alexandra's mother chose a lawn near the western wall of a small wooden church as her resting place, where she sat down on a stack of lying logs. Tired, she fell asleep while sitting and in a light slumber again was honored to see the Mother of God and was honored, according to the words of the above-mentioned persons, to hear from Her the following:
“This is the very place that I ordered you to look for in the north of Russia, when I appeared to you for the first time in Kyiv; and here is the limit that divine providence has set for you: live and please the Lord God here until the end of your days, and I will always be with you and will always visit this place, and within the limit of your residence I will establish here such My abode, which is not equal was, is not and never will be in the whole world: this is My fourth lot in the universe. And like the stars of heaven, and like the sand of the sea, I will multiply here serving the Lord God, and Me, the Ever-Virgin Mother of Light, and magnifying My Son Jesus Christ: and the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God and the abundance of all the blessings of earth and heaven with small human labors will not be impoverished from this place of my beloved!”
When the vision ended, Alexander's mother woke up, looked around the area, began to pray with hot tears, and barely recovered. She reached the Sarov Hermitage in great joy, since this monastery then flourished with the sanctity of the life of many great and wondrous ascetics, fasters, cave-dwellers, elders and hermits. They could help her with advice and guidance.
The communal Sarov desert made a strong impression on the God-loving mother Alexandra with its location and majesty. She had not seen anything like it in all of Russia, since the monastery stood in the midst of a dense pine forest on a mountain, washed on three sides by the rivers Satis and Sarovka. It was a real desert, secluded from human dwellings, standing, like a majestic monument to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, in the middle of an uninhabited country, calming everyone who enters with its silence, powerful nature and chants of birds glorifying God. Strict deanery, lengthy church service, the simplicity, wretchedness and severity of the monastics, the old pillar singing according to the order of Mount Athos, the scarcity of food and the whole atmosphere delighted the soul of mother Alexandra. The ascetic elders served as a spiritual adornment and set an example of firm hope in the help of the almighty God. They remained in silence and in unceasing prayer, always conversing mentally with God. With the assistance of the grace of God, these ascetics possessed a wise and subtle knowledge of the human heart and, like lamps, illuminated with the pure light of the teachings of Christ all those who approached them, showing everyone the true path leading to salvation.
Acquainted with them, Agafia Semyonovna opened her soul to them and asked from them, as well as from the Kiev-Pechersk elders, advice and admonition on what to do in such amazing circumstances. The Sarov elders confirmed to her the words and explanations of the Kiev-Pechersk monks and also advised her to completely surrender to the will of God and fulfill everything indicated to her by the Queen of Heaven. Having enjoyed the conversation and prayers in Sarov, Alexander's mother, obedient to the will and instructions of the Queen of Heaven, was going to move to live in Diveevo. “Live and please God here until the end of your days!” the Lady told her.
But the diversified and striped village of Diveevo was then very inconvenient for the life of a nun seeking prayerful peace. Therefore, the Sarov elders advised Mother Alexandra, in order to fulfill the will of the Mother of God, to settle near Diveevo, in the village of Osinovka, which is only two miles from the village.
Agafia Semyonovna followed the advice of the holy Sarov elders and settled in the village of Osinovka with Mrs. Zevakina. Here, the mother's ten-year-old daughter soon fell ill and died. Mother Alexandra saw in the death of her only daughter another indication of God and a confirmation of everything proclaimed to her by the Queen of Heaven. The last link that connected her with the world was broken.
Then Agafia Semyonovna, with the blessing of the Sarov elders, decided to really renounce all her property and finally dispose of her estates. To do this, she left Osinovka and Sarov and went to her estates. It took her a lot of time to arrange things: having set her peasants free for a small payment, and those who did not want freedom, selling them for a similar and inexpensive price to those good landowners whom they had chosen for themselves, she was completely freed from all earthly worries and significantly increased its already large capital. Then she put part of the capital in contributions to monasteries and churches to commemorate her parents, daughter and relatives, and, most importantly, she hurried to help where it was necessary to build or renew the temples of God. Mother Alexandra is a lot of orphans, widows, beggars and those who require the help of Christ for the sake of it. Her contemporaries indicate 12 churches built and restored by Agafia Semyonovna. Among them is the Assumption Cathedral of the Sarov Hermitage, which Mother helped to complete with significant capital.
Nowhere is it said in what year Agafia Semyonovna returned to Sarov and Diveevo, but it must be assumed that it took several years for the sale of estates and peasants. In the notes of N. A. Motovilov it appears that she lived in the village of Osinovka for 3.5 years before the death of her daughter. Probably, her return took place around 1764-66. The Sarov elders blessed her to settle with the parish priest of Diveyevo, Father Vasily Dertev, who lived alone with his wife, known for his spiritual life, with whom Alexandra's mother had already known during her stay in the village of Osinovka.
Thus, Agafia Semyonovna built herself a cell in the courtyard of the Diveyevo priest Father Vasily Deretev and lived in it for 20 years, completely forgetting her origin and gentle upbringing. In her humility, she practiced the most difficult and menial jobs, cleaning the barn of Father Vasily, walking after his cattle, washing clothes.
The appearance of mother Alexandra is known from the words of her novice, Evdokia Martynovna, recorded by N. A. Motovilov: “Agafia Semyonovna’s clothes were not only simple and poor, but also many-tailored, and moreover, winter and summer were the same; on her head she wore a cold, black, round woolen cap trimmed with hare fur, because she often suffered headache; wore paper handkerchiefs. On the field work she walked in bast shoes, and at the end of her life she walked in cold boots. Matushka Agafia Semyonovna wore a sackcloth, was of medium height, and looked cheerful; her face was round, white, her eyes were gray, her nose was short onion, her mouth was small, her hair in her youth was light blond, her face and hands were full.
In 1767, Alexander's mother started building a stone church in Diveevo to replace the old wooden church that was falling into disrepair. She resolved this important issue for her in all respects with the blessing of the new Sarov ascetic, Fr. Pachomius, who was distinguished by extraordinary spiritual gifts and especially fell in the spirit of his mother Alexandra. Subsequently, he became the builder of the Sarov Hermitage, and together with the treasurer Isaiah, they always helped her with prayer and advice, being her confessors.
Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky writes in his notes that the old people told him about terrible hunger in 1775 and how mother Agafia Semyonovna gathered them all then, still underage, to the Kazan Church under construction and forced them to bring bricks to the layers. For this, she fed them biscuits with water in the evening and paid each a nickel a day, ordering them to give the money to their parents. Thus, the Diveyevo parishioners lived through the hungry summer with the help of mother Alexandra without need, when the surrounding peasants were in dire need and suffered with their families.
It is not known exactly when the Kazan Church was consecrated, but it must be assumed that its construction was completed, judging by the holy antimension, after five years, that is, in 1772.
The right aisle, by a special miraculous instruction of God, is dedicated to the name. Mother Alexandra was at a loss as to which saint to dedicate the third chapel, and therefore one day she prayed all night in her cell to the Lord to indicate His will. Suddenly heard in small window her knock and behind it a voice: “Let this throne be the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen!” With trembling and joy, Alexander's mother rushed to the window to see who was talking to her, but there was no one, and on the windowsill she found miraculously and invisibly from where the image of the holy First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen appeared, written on a simple, almost unhewn log stump.
This image was always in the church, and later transferred to the cell of the original Diveevo monastery. Interior view the cell corresponded to the difficult and mournful life of this great chosen one of the Queen of Heaven. The house had two rooms and two closets. In one closet, near the stove, there was a small couch made of bricks, next to the couch there was only space so that at one time there, at the dying mother, Rector Pachomius could stand, and Hierodeacon Seraphim, who received her blessing to take care of Diveyevo sisters. There was no more room. Immediately there was a door to a dark closet - Matushkin's chapel, where only one could fit in prayer in front of a large Crucifix with a lamp warmed in front of it. There was no window in this chapel.
This “prayerful contemplation of Matushkino before the Crucifixion left an imprint on the whole spirit of the life of the Diveyevo sisters. Prayer on mental Golgotha, compassion for the Crucified Christ is the deepest of prayers. The blessed Diveev was created on the basis of these prayer deeds of Mother Alexandra.” (Arch. S. Lyashevsky).
After the construction of the temple, Mother Alexandra traveled to the city of Kazan, where she received the most faithful copy of the miraculous and revealed icon of the Kazan Mother of God, and to the city of Kyiv to ask for particles of holy relics for her church. Her relics were placed in a silver and gilded cross. From Moscow, she brought a bell worth 76.5 pounds and the necessary utensils. The iconostasis in the Kazan Church was given from the old Sarov Cathedral by the builder Father Ephraim. It was green with gilding, but later the green paint was replaced by red.
The great servant of God, Agafia Semyonovna, as was mentioned, labored in her cell, built in the yard of the parish priest Dertev, for 20 years. She spent her whole life in such great labors and deeds that she was filled with the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Richly gifted with a rare mind, she was extremely educated, well-read and finely educated. Then she so thoroughly studied all the statutes, laws and regulations of the church that in all important cases they turned to her for guidance and explanation.
Her cell exploits remained unknown, but Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky wrote down everything that Father Seraphim, Father Vasily Dertev, sisters of the Diveevo community, neighbors, her admirers and Diveevo peasants told him about mother Alexandra, who preserved memories of her deep humility and secret charity. In addition to performing the most difficult and menial work with Father Vasily Dertev, Alexander's mother went to the peasant field and there she reaped and tied the bread of lonely peasants into sheaves, and in a bad time, when everyone in poor families, even housewives, spent their days at work, drowned in oven huts, kneaded bread, cooked dinner, washed the children, washed their dirty linen and put them on clean clothes for the arrival of their tired mothers. She did all this on the sly, so that no one would know or see. However, despite all the efforts and cover-ups, the peasants gradually began to recognize the benefactor. The children pointed to their mother Alexandra, and she looked with surprise at those who thanked her and refused her actions and actions. Agafia Semyonovna embroidered hats for the poor - magpies and beautiful towels.
For 12 years, on holidays and Sundays, Agafia Semyonovna never left the church straight home, but at the end of the Liturgy she always stopped at the church square and instructed the peasants, telling them about Christian duties and about worthy reverence for holidays and Sundays. These spiritual conversations of Agafia Semyonovna with the people were remembered with gratitude by the parishioners of the village of Diveevo even many years after her death. From all sides flocked to her, not only one simple people, but also high-ranking officials, merchants and even the clergy, to listen to her instructions: to receive blessings, advice and receive her greetings. In family matters, disputes and quarrels, she was treated as a righteous judge and, of course, unquestioningly obeyed her decisions. If the mother deigned to agree to be the manager of any especially important church celebration, then this was considered the greatest honor. So, when a temple was consecrated in the large nearby village of Nucha, everyone came on purpose to ask Mother Alexandra to be the manager of this holiday, to which she agreed. Everyone was amazed at how well she ordered and arranged everything. There were so many people that it seemed impossible to accommodate everyone, and the mother connected the nobles together, the clergy in another department together, the merchants planted with the merchants and the peasants separately. Everyone was comfortable, good and everything was enough. Mother also directed the church ceremony, and those present looked at her with special respect and reverence.
; she served with everything she knew how and to the best of her ability. Her manifold deeds so softened her heart and pleased the Lord God so much that she was rewarded with the high gift of grace-filled tears (Fr. Seraphim often recalled this).
After the consecration of all three aisles of the Kazan Church, Agafia Semyonovna, shortly before her death, decided to organize a community in order to fully fulfill everything ordered by the Mother of God. This presented a special case. Six months before her death, in 1788, one of the landowners of the village of Diveeva, Mrs. Zhdanova, having heard a lot about the promised Agafia Semyonovna Mother of God monastery, wanting to be zealous in the implementation of this matter, donated to mother Alexandra 1300 square sazhens of her manor land next to the church.
On the advice of the Sarov elders and with the permission of the diocesan authorities, Alexander's mother built three cells on this land with an outbuilding and enclosed the space with a wooden fence; she occupied one cell herself, provided another for the rest of the wanderers, who were going in large numbers through Diveevo to Sarov, and assigned the third for the three novices invited to live.
When my mother was the goddaughter of Father Vasily Dertev, an orphan, the maiden Evdokia Martynova from the village of Vertyanovo, then three more novices: the peasant widow Anastasia Kirillova, the peasant maiden Ulyana Grigoryeva and the peasant widow Fyokla Kondratiev.
So Alexander's mother lived until the end of her days, leading a charitable, ascetic, extremely severe life, in constant work and prayer. Strictly fulfilling all the difficulties of the Sarov Charter, she was guided in everything by the advice of Father Pachomius. She and her sisters, in addition, sewed scrolls, knitted stockings and worked all the necessary needlework for the Sarov brethren. Father Pachomius, in turn, gave the small community everything they needed for their earthly existence; so that even food was brought to the sisters once a day from the Sarov meal. The community of Alexandra's mother was the flesh and blood of the Sarov desert. The life of Alexandra's mother and her sisters fully corresponded to the idea of begging, working for a daily sustenance.
The great old woman, mother Alexandra, addressed with special respect the then young novice, monk and then hierodeacon Seraphim, as if seeing in him the executor of the work of God begun by her, with the great grace that should appear in him to the world.
In June 1788, anticipating the approach of her death, Alexander's mother wished to take on the great angelic image. To do this, she sent Evdokia Martynovna with some other girl to Sarov, and Father Isaiah, arriving in Diveevo, tonsured her during Vespers in the schema and gave her the name of Alexandra. This tonsure was a week or two before his death, c.
A few days after the tonsure, Fr. Pakhomiy, with the treasurer Fr. Isaiah and hierodeacon Fr. Seraphim, went on an invitation to the village of Lemet, located six versts from the present city of Ardatov, Nizhny Novgorod province, to the funeral of the rich benefactor of their landowner Alexander Solovtsev, and stopped on the way to Diveevo to visit Agafia Semenovna Melgunova.
Alexandra's mother was sick and, having received from the Lord a notice of her imminent death, she asked the ascetic fathers, for the love of Christ, to unify her. Father Pachomius at first offered to postpone them until they returned from Lemet, but the holy old woman repeated her request and said that they might not find her alive on the way back. The great elders performed the sacrament of unction over her with love. Then, saying goodbye to them, Alexander's mother gave her father Pachomius the last thing she had. According to the testimony of the maiden Evdokia Martynova, who lived with her, to her confessor, Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky, mother Agafia Semyonovna handed over to the builder Father Pakhomiy a bag of gold, a bag of silver and two bags of copper, in the amount of forty thousand, asking her to give her sisters everything needed in life, since they they are unable to manage themselves. Mother Alexandra begged Father Pachomius to commemorate her in Sarov for repose, not to leave or leave her inexperienced novices, and also take care in due time of the monastery promised to her by the Queen of Heaven. To this, Father Pachomius replied: “Mother! I do not renounce to serve, according to my strength and according to your will, the Queen of Heaven with care for your novices, and not only will I pray for you until my death, but our entire monastery will never forget your good deeds. However, I do not give you my word, for I am old and weak, but how can I take on something, not knowing whether I will live to see this time. But Hierodeacon Seraphim - you know his spirituality, and he is young - will live to see this; entrust him with this great work.” Matushka Agafia Semyonovna began to ask Father Seraphim not to leave her monastery, as the Queen of Heaven Herself would deign to instruct him on that.
The elders said goodbye, left, and the marvelous old woman Agafia Semyonovna died on June 13, the day of the holy martyr Akilina. At the death of my mother, only Evdokia Martynovna and the old woman Thekla were there, to whom she said: “And you, Evdokiya, as I leave, take the image Holy Mother of God Kazanskaya, and put it on my chest so that the Queen of Heaven is with me during my departure, and light a candle in front of the image. On that day she partook of the Holy Mysteries, which she had been taking every day lately, and as soon as the priest left the cells, she died at midnight.
On the way back, Father Pachomius and the brethren just arrived in time for the burial of Mother Alexandra. Having served the Liturgy and the funeral service in a cathedral, the great elders buried the founder of the Diveevo community at the altar of the Kazan Church. All that day it rained so torrentially that no dry thread was left on anyone, but Father Seraphim, in his chastity, did not even stay to dine at the convent, and immediately after the burial he went on foot to Sarov.
Our Reverend Mother Alexandra is the founder of the Fourth Ecumenical Lot of the Queen of Heaven, the founder of the great Seraphim-Diveevo monastery.
Approximately around 1760, a certain wealthy landowner of the Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Ryazan (Pereyaslav) provinces, a widow, colonel Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, nee Belokopytova, a noblewoman of the Nizhny Novgorod province, arrived in Kyiv with her three-year-old daughter.
Here she took monastic vows at the Florovsky Monastery under the name of Alexandra. Once, after a long midnight prayer vigil, she was vouchsafed to see the Most Holy Theotokos and hear from Her the following: “It is I, your Lady and Lady, to whom you always pray. I have come to proclaim My will to you: it is not here that I want you to end your life, but how I brought My servant Anthony out of My Athos lot, My holy mountain, so that he here, in Kyiv, founded My new lot - the Lavra of Kiev-Pechersk so now I say to you: get out of here and go to a land that I will show you. Go to the north of Russia and go around all the Great Russian places of My holy abodes, and there will be a place where I will tell you to end your godly life, and glorify My Name there, for in your place of residence I will establish such a great abode of Mine, on which I will send down all blessings God's and mine, from all three of my lots on earth: Iberia, Athos and Kyiv. Go, My servant, on your path, and the grace of God, and My strength, and My grace, and My mercy, and My bounties, and the gifts of the saints of all My lots will be with you! "And a vision of the finger."
The elders of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra advised Mother Alexandra to hide her tonsure and, under the former name of Colonel Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, fearlessly embark on the path indicated to her by the Mother of God.
Information about where and how long Alexander's mother wandered was lost over the years and does not appear anywhere in the notes and stories. According to the testimony of old-timers, in 1760 she went from the city of Murom to the Sarov Desert. Not reaching 12 versts, Alexander's mother stopped to rest in the village of Diveevo, 55 versts from Arzamas and 24 versts from Nizhny Novgorod Ardatov. Alexandra's mother chose a lawn near the western wall of a small wooden church as her resting place. Tired, she fell asleep while sitting and in a light slumber again was honored to see the Mother of God and was vouchsafed, according to the words of the priests Father Vasily Dertev and Father Vasily Sadovsky, as well as Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, to hear the following from Her:
“This is the very place that I ordered you to look for in the north of Russia, when I appeared to you for the first time in Kyiv; and here is the limit that divine providence has set for you: live and please the Lord God here until the end of your days, and I will always be with you and will always visit this place, and within the limit of your residence I will establish here such My abode, which is not equal was, is not and never will be in the whole world: this is my fourth lot in the universe.
And like the stars of heaven, and like the sand of the sea, I will multiply here serving the Lord God, and Me, the Ever-Virgin Mother of Light, and magnifying My Son Jesus Christ: and the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God and the abundance of all the blessings of earth and heaven with small human labors will not be impoverished from this place of my beloved!"
The communal Sarov desert made a strong impression on the God-loving mother Alexandra with its location and majesty. The Sarov elders advised her, in order to fulfill the will of the Mother of God, to settle near Diveevo, in the village of Osinovka, which is only two miles from the village.
Agafia Semyonovna followed the advice of the holy Sarov elders and settled in the village of Osinovka with Mrs. Zevakina. Here, her 9 or 10-year-old daughter soon fell ill and died. Mother Alexandra saw in the death of her only daughter another indication of God and a confirmation of everything proclaimed to her by the Queen of Heaven. The last link that connected her with the world was broken.
Then Agafia Semyonovna, with the blessing of the Sarov elders, decided to really renounce all her property and finally dispose of her estates. To do this, she left Osinovka and Sarov and went to her estates. It took her a lot of time to arrange things: having set her peasants free for a small payment, and those who did not want freedom, selling them for a similar and inexpensive price to those good landowners whom they had chosen for themselves, she was completely freed from all earthly worries and significantly increased its already large capital. Then she put part of the capital in contributions to monasteries and churches to commemorate her parents, daughter and relatives, and, most importantly, she hurried to help where it was necessary to build or renew the temples of God. Mother Alexandra provided for many orphans, widows, the poor and those who needed help for Christ's sake. Her contemporaries indicate 12 churches built and restored by Agafia Semyonovna. Among them is the Assumption Cathedral of the Sarov Hermitage, which Mother helped to complete with significant capital.
Nowhere is it said in what year Agafia Semyonovna returned to Sarov and Diveevo, but it must be assumed that it took several years for the sale of estates and peasants. In the notes of N. A. Motovilov it appears that she lived in the village of Osinovka for 3.5 years before the death of her daughter. Probably, her return took place around 1764-66. The Sarov elders blessed her to settle with the parish priest of Diveyevo, Father Vasily Dertev, who lived alone with his wife, known for his spiritual life, with whom Alexandra's mother had already known during her stay in the village of Osinovka.
Thus, Agafia Semyonovna built herself a cell in the courtyard of the Diveyevo priest Father Vasily Dertev and lived in it for 20 years, completely forgetting her origin and gentle upbringing. In her humility, she practiced the most difficult and menial jobs, cleaning the barn of Father Vasily, walking after his cattle, washing clothes.
The appearance of mother Alexandra is known from the words of her novice, Evdokia Martynovna, recorded by N. A. Motovilov: “Agafia Semyonovna’s clothes were not only simple and poor, but also many-tailored, and moreover, winter and summer were the same; on her head she wore a cold, black, round woolen cap trimmed with hare fur, because she often suffered from headaches; wore paper handkerchiefs. She went to field work in bast shoes, and at the end of her life she walked around in cold boots. Matushka Agafia Semyonovna wore a sackcloth, was of medium height, and looked cheerful; her face was round, white, her eyes were gray, her nose was short, bulbous, her mouth small, her hair in her youth was light blond, her face and hands were full.
In 1767, Alexander's mother set about building a stone church in Diveevo in the name of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan to replace the old wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which was falling into disrepair. She resolved this important issue for her in all respects with the blessing of the new Sarov ascetic, Fr. Pachomius, who was distinguished by extraordinary spiritual gifts and especially fell in the spirit of his mother Alexandra. Subsequently, he became the builder of the Sarov Hermitage, and together with the treasurer Isaiah, they always helped her with prayer and advice, being her confessors.
Mother Alexandra, in constant concern for the fulfillment of the will of God, proclaimed by the Queen of Heaven, and completely free from worldly thoughts and deeds, with wise caution set about building a community, which was later to grow into a monastery. Undoubtedly, during her tireless prayer, the Mother of God revealed to her that, first of all, she should take care of building a stone parish church and it was in honor of Her Kazan icon. The Sarov elders with Father Pachomius, for whom Alexandra's mother felt a special spiritual love, for their part prayed, received inspiration and blessed the righteous woman to build a church. Agafia Semyonovna filed a petition with the diocesan authorities and, when she received permission, she began construction on the very spot where the Queen of Heaven had appeared to her.
Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky writes in his notes that the old people told him about the terrible famine in 1775 and how mother Agafia Semyonovna gathered them all then, still minors, to the Kazan Church under construction and forced them to bring bricks to the layers. For this, she fed them biscuits with water in the evening and paid each a nickel a day, ordering them to give the money to their parents. Thus, the Diveyevo parishioners lived through the hungry summer with the help of mother Alexandra without need, when the surrounding peasants were in dire need and suffered with their families.
It is not known exactly when the Kazan Church was consecrated, but it must be assumed that its construction was completed, judging by the holy antimension, after five years, that is, in 1772. The antimension of the main altar in the name of the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan was celebrated by His Eminence Pallady, Archbishop of Ryazan. The left chapel in memory of the wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, which was on this site, is dedicated to the name of the same saint, and the antimension was consecrated in 1776 by Ryazan Bishop Simon. The right aisle, by a special miraculous command of God, is dedicated to the name of the holy First Martyr and Archdeacon Stephen, and its antimension was also celebrated in 1779 by Simon, Bishop of Ryazan. Mother Alexandra was at a loss as to which saint to dedicate the third chapel, and therefore one day she prayed all night in her cell to the Lord to indicate His will. Suddenly, her knock was heard in the small window, and behind it a voice: “Let this throne be the first martyr, Archdeacon Stephen!” With trembling and joy, Alexander's mother rushed to the window to see who was talking to her, but there was no one, and on the windowsill she found miraculously and invisibly from where the image of the holy First Martyr Archdeacon Stephen appeared, written on a simple, almost unhewn log stump. This image was always in the church, and later transferred to the cell of the original Diveevo monastery. The interior view of the cells corresponded to the difficult and mournful life of this great chosen one of the Queen of Heaven. The house had two rooms and two closets. In one closet, near the stove, there was a small couch made of bricks, next to the couch there was only space so that at one time there, at the dying mother, Rector Pachomius could stand, and Hierodeacon Seraphim, who received her blessing to take care of Diveyevo sisters. There was no more room. Immediately there was a door to a dark closet - Matushkin's chapel, where only one could fit in prayer in front of a large Crucifix with a lamp warmed in front of it. There was no window in this chapel.
This “prayerful contemplation of Mother’s before the Crucifixion left an imprint on the whole spirit of the life of the Diveyevo sisters. Prayer on mental Golgotha, compassion for the Crucified Christ is the deepest of prayers. Blessed Diveev was created on the basis of these prayer deeds of Mother Alexandra.” (Arch. S. Lyashevsky).
After the construction of the temple, Mother Alexandra traveled to the city of Kazan, where she received the most faithful copy of the miraculous and revealed icon of the Kazan Mother of God, and to the city of Kyiv to ask for particles of holy relics for her church. Her relics were placed in a silver and gilded cross. From Moscow, she brought a bell worth 76.5 pounds and the necessary utensils. The iconostasis in the Kazan Church was given from the old Sarov Cathedral by the builder Father Ephraim. It was green with gilding, but later the green paint was replaced by red.
Her secret deeds remained unknown, but Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky wrote down everything that Father Seraphim, Father Vasily Dertev, sisters of the Diveevo community, neighbors, her admirers and Diveevo peasants told him about mother Alexandra, who kept memories of her deep humility and secret charity. In addition to performing the most difficult and menial work with Father Vasily Dertev, Alexander's mother went to the peasant field and there she reaped and tied the bread of lonely peasants into sheaves, and in a bad time, when everyone in poor families, even housewives, spent their days at work, drowned in oven huts, kneaded bread, cooked dinner, washed the children, washed their dirty linen and put them on clean clothes for the arrival of their tired mothers. She did all this on the sly, so that no one would know or see. However, despite all the efforts and cover-ups, the peasants gradually began to recognize the benefactor. The children pointed to their mother Alexandra, and she looked with surprise at those who thanked her and refused her actions and actions. Agafia Semyonovna embroidered hats for poor brides - magpies and beautiful towels.
For 12 years, on holidays and Sundays, Agafia Semyonovna never left the church straight home, but at the end of the Liturgy she always stopped at the church square and instructed the peasants, telling them about Christian duties and about worthy reverence for holidays and Sundays.
Mother Alexandra's charity was always secret; she served with everything she knew how and to the best of her ability. Her manifold deeds so softened her heart and pleased the Lord God so much that she was rewarded with the high gift of grace-filled tears (Fr. Seraphim often recalled this).
After the consecration of all three aisles of the Kazan Church, Agafia Semyonovna, shortly before her death, decided to organize a community in order to fully fulfill everything ordered by the Mother of God. This presented a special case. Six months before her death, in 1788, one of the landowners of the village of Diveeva, Mrs. Zhdanova, having heard a lot about the promised Agafia Semyonovna Mother of God monastery, wanting to be zealous in the implementation of this matter, donated to mother Alexandra 1300 square sazhens of her manor land next to the church.
On the advice of the Sarov elders and with the permission of the diocesan authorities, Alexander's mother built three cells on this land with an outbuilding and enclosed the space with a wooden fence; she occupied one cell herself, provided another for the rest of the wanderers, who were going in large numbers through Diveevo to Sarov, and assigned the third for three novices invited to live.
When my mother was the goddaughter of Father Vasily Dertev, an orphan, the maiden Evdokia Martynova from the village of Vertyanovo, then three more novices: the peasant widow Anastasia Kirillova, the peasant maiden Ulyana Grigoryeva and the peasant widow Fyokla Kondratiev.
So Alexander's mother lived until the end of her days, leading a charitable, ascetic, extremely severe life, in constant work and prayer. Strictly fulfilling all the difficulties of the Sarov Charter, she was guided in everything by the advice of Father Pachomius. She and her sisters, in addition, sewed scrolls, knitted stockings and worked all the necessary needlework for the Sarov brethren. Father Pachomius, in turn, gave the small community everything they needed for their earthly existence; so that even food was brought to the sisters once a day from the Sarov meal.
In June 1788, anticipating the approach of her death, Alexander's mother wished to take on the great angelic image. To do this, she sent Evdokia Martynovna with some other girl to Sarov, and Father Isaiah, arriving in Diveevo, tonsured her during Vespers in the schema and gave her the name of Alexandra. This tonsure was a week or two before his death, at the Petrovsky post.
A few days after the tonsure, Fr. Pakhomiy, with the treasurer Fr. Isaiah and hierodeacon Fr. Seraphim, went on an invitation to the village of Lemet, located six versts from the present city of Ardatov, Nizhny Novgorod province, to the funeral of the rich benefactor of their landowner Alexander Solovtsev, and stopped on the way to Diveevo to visit Agafia Semenovna Melgunova.
Alexandra's mother was sick and, having received a notice from the Lord about her imminent death, she asked the ascetic fathers, for the love of Christ, to specialize her. Father Pachomius at first offered to postpone the consecration of the oil until they returned from Lemet, but the holy old woman repeated her request and said that they would not find her alive on the way back. The great elders performed the sacrament of unction over her with love. Then, saying goodbye to them, Alexander's mother gave her father Pachomius the last thing she had. According to the testimony of the maiden Evdokia Martynova, who lived with her, to her confessor, Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky, mother Agafia Semyonovna handed over to the builder Father Pakhomiy a bag of gold, a bag of silver and two bags of copper, in the amount of forty thousand, asking her to give her sisters everything needed in life, since they they are unable to manage themselves. Mother Alexandra begged Father Pachomius to commemorate her in Sarov for repose, not to leave or leave her inexperienced novices, and also take care in due time of the monastery promised to her by the Queen of Heaven. To this, Father Pachomius replied: “Mother! I do not renounce to serve, according to my strength and according to your will, the Queen of Heaven with care for your novices, and not only will I pray for you until my death, but our entire monastery will never forget your good deeds. However, I do not give you my word, for I am old and weak, but how can I take on something, not knowing whether I will live to see this time. But Hierodeacon Seraphim - you know his spirituality, and he is young - will live to see this; entrust him with this great work.” Matushka Agafia Semyonovna began to ask Father Seraphim not to leave her monastery, as the Queen of Heaven Herself would deign to instruct him on that.
The elders said goodbye, left, and the marvelous old woman Agafia Semyonovna died on June 13, the day of the holy martyr Akilina. At the death of my mother, only Evdokia Martynovna and the old woman Thekla were there, to whom she said: “And you, Evdokiya, how will I depart, take the image of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kazan, and put it on my chest so that the Queen of Heaven will be with me during the departure mine, and light a candle before the image. On that day she partook of the Holy Mysteries, which she had been taking every day lately, and as soon as the priest left the cells, she died at midnight.
On the way back, Father Pachomius and the brethren just arrived in time for the burial of Mother Alexandra. Having served the Liturgy and the funeral service in a cathedral, the great elders buried the founder of the Diveevo community at the altar of the Kazan Church.
On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, September 27, 2000, the uncovering of the holy relics of the original schema nun Alexandra, schema nun Martha and nun Elena took place. And on the feast of the founding of the Diveevo monastery on December 22, they were glorified in the face of the locally revered saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese!
October 6, 2004 Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to rank among the church-wide saints and include in the Months of the Russian Orthodox Church the names of the Monk Alexandra of Diveevskaya (Melgunova; † 1789; commemorated June 13/26), the Monk Martha of Diveevskaya (Milyukova; 1810-1829; Commemoration of August 21/September 3) and the Monk Elena Diveevskaya (Manturova; 1805-1832; commemorated May 28 / June 10), previously glorified as locally venerated saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. The issue of church-wide glorification was raised at the council in the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Our Reverend Mother Alexandra (in the world Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova) came from Ryazan, from an ancient noble family. She was widowed at an early age and was left with her young daughter in her arms. Having accepted monasticism in the Kiev-Florovsky monastery with the name of Alexander, she decided to devote her life to God. In Kyiv, the Queen of Heaven announced to Mother Alexandra that she was to become the founder of a new great monastery.
On the way to the Sarov Monastery, in the village of Diveevo, the Most Holy Lady, the Most Holy Lady, pointed out to her this place as Her Fourth Destiny on earth and commanded: “Live and please God here until the end of your days!” On the advice of the Sarov elders, Alexander's mother settled near Diveevo, in the village of Osinovka. After the death of her only daughter and the sale of her estates, she finally moved to Diveevo around 1765.
Proceeds from the sale of estates Alexandra used it for the construction of churches and for charitable works. Contemporaries indicate 12 churches benefited by her. Rev. Seraphim said that the Assumption Cathedral in Sarov was completed at the expense of Mother Alexandra.
Matushka built herself a cell near the house of the Diveevo priest Fr. Vasily Derteva and lived there for 20 years, completely forgetting her origin and upbringing. In her humility, she performed the most difficult and black work: she cleaned the barn, cared for the cattle, washed linen; did a lot of secret charity. Father Seraphim spoke of her so tenderly: “After all, she is a great wife, a saint, her humility was inscrutable, an unceasing source of tears, prayer to God is the purest, love for all is not hypocritical! She wore the simplest clothes, and then many sewn, and girded herself with a sash with a knot ... Not tears flowed from her eyes, but sources of tears, as if she herself was becoming a fertile source of these tears!
Mother Alexandra's contemporaries recalled that she was educated, as rarely is an educated man, well-mannered, knew the church charters best of all in the district, so they often turned to her for help. During her beneficent life, she enjoyed the respect of the clergy and laity, rich and poor.
The construction of the stone church in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (1773-1780) fell on the difficult years of the famine and the Pugachev uprising. Praying, Rev. Alexandra received a notice from the Lord that the rebel detachments would not reach Diveevo, which was fulfilled.
In 1788, with the blessing of the Sarov elders and with the permission of the diocesan authorities, Mother Alexandra built three cells near the new Kazan Church, where sisters who decided to devote their lives to God began to gather.
Created at the end of her life by a small community, which was to grow into a great monastery, mother ruled in a spirit of meekness, following the instructions of the Sarov elders in everything and fulfilling all the strictness of the Sarov charter. She died on St. mts. Akilina on June 13/26, 1789, a few days after being tonsured into the great schema, at the age of not more than 60 years. Having served the Liturgy and the funeral service in a cathedral, the Sarov elders Pakhomiy, Isaiah and Hierodeacon Seraphim buried the founder of the Diveevo community opposite the altar of the Kazan Church.
Reverend Seraphim predicted that in time, by God’s will, the holy relics of mother Alexandra should rest open in the monastery, and ordered everyone to go to her grave every morning and evening and bow to her, saying at the same time: “Our lady and mother, forgive me and bless me! Pray that I too be forgiven, just as you are forgiven, and remember me at the Throne of God!
After the death of the monk, the Yelets Icon of the Mother of God of 1773 in a silver-gilded robe, Elena's parental blessing, the icon of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in foil, the icon of the Savior carrying the cross, made by her with beads on wax, remained in the monastery. Unfortunately, the location of the shrines is still unknown.
The veneration of Elena began in Diveevo shortly after her death..
From the end of the 50s. 19th century miracles and healings that took place at Elena's grave were recorded in the monastery.
After the closing of the Diveevsky Monastery in 1927 and the subsequent closing of the Kazan parish church in 1937, the graves near the church were demolished.
In July 1991, excavations were carried out, which revealed the burial places of St. Alexandra, Rev. Marfa, Elena and Motovilov. The grave mounds were restored and crosses were erected.
At the end of September 2000, in connection with the preparation of the glorification of St. Alexandra, Rev. Martha and Helena, excavations were carried out, during which on September 27 the relics of the ascetics were found.
On December 22, 2000, Elena, along with other ascetics, was canonized as locally venerated saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.
By the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2004, she was glorified for general church veneration.
The relics are in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Seraphim Monastery in Diveyevo.
Approximately around 1760, the widow Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, a wealthy landowner of the Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Ryazan (Pereyaslav) provinces, arrived in Kyiv with her three-year-old daughter. She owned seven hundred souls of peasants, had capital and huge estates. The names of her pious parents are known - Simeon and Paraskeva. Information about her life was given by the Diveyevo priest Vasily Dertev, with whom Melgunova lived, as well as by the sisters of her community and Archpriest Vasily Sadovsky. But even these testimonies are very fragmentary, since mother Alexandra, out of her humility, spoke very little about herself.
She accepted monasticism at the Florovsky Monastery under the name of Alexandra. Her ascetic life in the Florovsky Monastery did not last very long. “One thing is certain,” testify priests Dertev and Sadovsky, as well as N. A. Motovilov, “that once after a long midnight prayer vigil, Alexander’s mother, being either in a light slumber, or in a clear vision, God knows, was able to see the Most Holy Theotokos and hear from Her the following: “It is I, your Lady and Mistress, to whom you always pray. I have come to proclaim My will to you: it is not here that I want you to end your life, but how I brought My servant Anthony out of My Athos lot, My holy mountain, so that he here, in Kyiv, founded My new lot - the Lavra of Kiev-Pechersk so now I say to you: get out of here and go to a land that I will show you. Go to the north of Russia and go around all the Great Russian places of My holy abodes, and there will be a place where I will tell you to end your godly life, and glorify My Name there, for in your place of residence I will establish such a great abode of Mine, on which I will send down all blessings God's and mine, from all three of my lots on earth: Iberia, Athos and Kyiv. Go, My servant, on your path, and the grace of God, and My strength, and My grace, and My mercy, and My bounties, and the gifts of the saints of all My lots, may be with you! “And the vision ceased.”
Although Alexander's mother admired the spirit, she did not immediately decide to give herself up to faith in everything she heard and saw. Composing everything in her heart, she first reported the vision to her spiritual father, then to other great and inspired fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and the old women, who at the same time labored with her in Kyiv. Alexander's mother asked them to sort it out, judge and decide what kind of vision she was awarded, and whether it was a dream, a play of imagination and charm. But the holy elders and old women, after prayers and long reflections, unanimously decided that the vision of the Queen of Heaven was true and that the mother of Alexander, in view of the fact that she was honored to be the chosen one, the original and the founder of the Fourth Lot of the Mother of God in the universe, is blessed and blessed.
Information about where and how long Alexander's mother wandered was lost over the years and does not appear anywhere in the notes and stories. According to the testimony of old-timers, in 1760 she walked from Murom to the Sarov Desert. Not reaching twelve miles, Alexander's mother stopped to rest in the village of Diveevo. She chose to rest on a lawn near the western wall of a small wooden church, where she sat down on a stack of logs. Tired, she fell asleep sitting, and in a light slumber again she was honored to see the Mother of God, Who said: “This is the very place that I ordered you to look for in the north of Russia, when I appeared to you for the first time in Kyiv; and here is the limit that divine providence has set for you: live and please the Lord God here until the end of your days, and I will always be with you and will always visit this place, and within the limit of your residence I will establish here such My abode, which is not equal was, is not and never will be in the whole world: this is My fourth lot in the universe. And like the stars of heaven, and like the sand of the sea, I will multiply here serving the Lord God, and Me, the Ever-Virgin Mother of Light, and magnifying My Son Jesus Christ: and the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God and the abundance of all the blessings of earth and heaven with small human labors will not be impoverished from this place of my beloved!"
Alexander's mother reached the Sarov desert in great joy. And since this monastery then flourished with the holiness of the life of many great and wondrous ascetics, they could help her with advice and instructions. Acquainted with them, Agafia Semyonovna opened her soul to them and asked them for advice and admonition on what to do in such amazing circumstances. The Sarov elders confirmed to her the words and explanations of the Kiev-Pechersk monks and also advised her to completely surrender to the will of God and fulfill everything indicated to her by the Queen of Heaven. Soon her nine- or ten-year-old daughter fell ill and died. Mother Alexandra saw in the death of her only daughter another indication of God and a confirmation of everything proclaimed to her by the Queen of Heaven.
Agafia Semyonovna, with the blessing of the Sarov elders, decided to renounce all her property. It took her a lot of time to arrange things: having set her peasants free for a small payment, and those who did not want freedom, selling them for a similar and inexpensive price to those good landowners whom they had chosen for themselves, she was completely freed from all earthly worries and significantly increased its already large capital. Part of her capital she contributed to monasteries and churches to commemorate her parents, daughter and relatives, and, most importantly, she hurried to help where it was necessary to build or renew churches of God. Contemporaries indicate twelve churches built and restored by Agafia Semyonovna. Among them is the Assumption Cathedral of the Sarov Hermitage, which Mother helped to complete with significant capital.
Upon returning to Diveevo, Agafia Semyonovna built herself a cell in the courtyard of the priest Father Vasily Dertev and lived in it for twenty years, completely forgetting her origin and gentle upbringing. In her humility, she practiced the most difficult and menial jobs, cleaning the barn of Father Vasily, walking after his cattle, washing clothes. In addition, Alexander's mother went to the peasant field and there she reaped and bundled the bread of lonely peasants into sheaves, and in a bad time, when everyone in poor families, even housewives, spent their days at work, drowned stoves in the huts, kneaded bread, cooked dinner, washed children, washed their dirty clothes and put them on clean clothes for the arrival of their weary mothers. She did all this on the sly, so that no one would know or see. However, despite all the efforts and cover-ups, the peasants gradually began to recognize the benefactor. The children pointed to their mother Alexandra, and she looked with surprise at those who thanked her and refused her actions and actions. Agafia Semyonovna embroidered hats for poor brides - magpies and beautiful towels.
The appearance of mother Alexandra is known from the words of her novice, Evdokia Martynovna: “Agafia Semyonovna’s clothes were not only simple and poor, but also many-tailored, and at the same time the same in winter and summer; on her head she wore a cold, black, round woolen cap trimmed with hare fur, because she often suffered from headaches; wore paper handkerchiefs. She went to field work in bast shoes, and at the end of her life she walked around in cold boots. Matushka Agafia Semyonovna wore a sackcloth, was of medium height, and looked cheerful; her face was round, white, her eyes were gray, her nose was short onion, her mouth was small, her hair in her youth was light blond, her face and hands were full.
In the early 70s of the 18th century, Alexander's mother began the construction of a stone church in Diveevo in the name of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God to replace the old wooden one at the very place where the Queen of Heaven appeared to her. When the Kazan Church was consecrated, the landowner Zhdanova donated a small piece of land on the north side of the temple. And here the mother, the founder, built the first three cells - for herself, four novices and wanderers who were heading for pilgrimage to the Sarov Hermitage. The interior view of the cells corresponded to the difficult and mournful life of this great chosen one of the Queen of Heaven. The house had two rooms and two closets. In one closet, near the stove, there was a small couch made of bricks, next to the couch there was only space so that at one time there, at the dying mother, Rector Pachomius could stand, and Hierodeacon Seraphim, who received her blessing to take care of Diveyevo sisters. Immediately there was a door to a dark closet - Matushkin's chapel, where only one could fit in prayer in front of a large Crucifix with a lamp warmed in front of it. There was no window in this chapel. This prayerful contemplation of Mother's before the Crucifixion left an imprint on the whole spirit of the life of the Diveyevo sisters. Prayer on mental Golgotha, compassion for the Crucified Christ is the deepest of prayers. On these prayer deeds of mother Alexandra, the blessed Diveev was created.
For twelve years, on holidays and Sundays, Agafia Semyonovna never left the church straight home, but at the end of the liturgy she always stopped at the church square and instructed the peasants, telling them about Christian duties and about worthy reverence for holidays and Sundays. These spiritual conversations of Agafia Semyonovna were remembered with gratitude by the parishioners of the village of Diveevo even many years after her death. Not only ordinary people, but also high-ranking officials, merchants and even clergy flocked to her from all sides to listen to her instructions: to receive blessings, advice and receive her greetings. In family matters, disputes and quarrels, she was treated as a righteous judge and, of course, unquestioningly obeyed her decisions. Mother Alexandra's charity was always secret; she served with everything she knew how and to the best of her ability. Her manifold deeds so softened her heart and pleased the Lord God so much that she was rewarded with the high gift of grace-filled tears, Father Seraphim often recalled this.
So Alexander's mother lived until the end of her days, leading a charitable, ascetic, extremely severe life, in constant work and prayer. Strictly fulfilling all the difficulties of the Sarov Charter, she was guided in everything by the advice of Father Pachomius. She and her sisters, in addition, sewed scrolls, knitted stockings and worked all the necessary needlework for the Sarov brethren. Father Pakhomiy, in turn, gave the small community everything necessary for their earthly existence, even food was brought to the sisters once a day from the Sarov meal. The community of Alexandra's mother was the flesh and blood of the Sarov desert. The life of Alexandra's mother and her sisters fully corresponded to the idea of begging, working for their daily subsistence.
In June 1788, anticipating the approach of her death, Alexander's mother assumed a great angelic image. She asked the ascetic fathers, for the love of Christ, not to leave or leave her inexperienced novices, and also take care in due time of the monastery promised to her by the Queen of Heaven. To this, Father Pachomius replied: “Mother! I do not renounce to serve, according to my strength and according to your will, the Queen of Heaven with care for your novices, and not only will I pray for you until my death, but our entire monastery will never forget your good deeds. However, I do not give you my word, for I am old and weak, but how can I take on something, not knowing whether I will live to see this time. But Hierodeacon Seraphim - you know his spirituality, and he is young - will live to see this; entrust him with this great work.” Mother Agafia Semyonovna began to ask Father Seraphim not to leave her monastery, as the Queen of Heaven Herself would deign to instruct him on that.
The marvelous old woman Agafia Semyonovna died on June 13, the day of the holy martyr Akilina. At her death, mother said to her cell attendant: “And you, Evdokiya, as I leave, take the image of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kazan, and put it on my chest so that the Queen of Heaven will be with me during my departure, and light a candle in front of the icon”
Troparion, tone 4
The natural decoration of the Russian land appeared, the heads of the monastery of Diveyevo, our reverend mother Alexandro, Marfo and Elena, who fulfilled the blessing of the Queen of Heaven and acquired boldness to the Lord, pray at the throne of the Most Holy Trinity for the salvation of our souls.
Kontakion, tone 8
The Diveyevo lamps of the all-bright, our reverend mother Alexandro, Marfo and Elena, in fasting, vigil, prayer and good labors labored for good, and after death you illuminate us with miracles and heal sick souls; pray to Christ, the God of sins, to grant love to those who honor your holy memory.
magnificence
We bless you, our reverend mothers Alexandro, Marfo and Elena, and honor your holy memory, for you pray for us to Christ our God.
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