The Intercession Monastery is one of the most visited in the capital. It receives thousands of people every day. And no one is afraid of a long queue - on weekdays you can lose 6–7 hours in it, on weekends and even more - 8–9 hours. What is the reason for such a popularity of the monastery? The Church of the Intercession of the Theotokos keeps the relics of Matrona, a Russian righteous woman of the 20th century.
Flowers for Matronushka
At the trolleybus stop near the Taganskaya or Marksistskaya metro stations, you can see a picture unusual for the bustling capital: a lot of people are holding bouquets in their hands. A trolleybus arrives, people fill it up and leave in the direction of the Pokrovsky Monastery. Flowers are intended for Saint Matrona. During her lifetime, mother loved wildflowers - daisies, cornflowers. In previous years, they were carried to the monastery, but recently, buttercups-flowers have given way to roses and carnations from Holland, Ecuador and Turkey. They literally flooded the Pokrovsk monastery. At first, the sisters did not even know what to do with the mountains of flowers until they began to consecrate bouquets on the relics, and then distribute petals and stems to pilgrims. Believers sew dried flowers into pillows and carefully store them, believing that they will help in everyday hardships.
White bird
Five years ago, people stood in line at the holy relics for an hour or two at most, today it is impossible to get through to them! Why did Matrona win such love? Why is she considered the defender of Moscow, because she herself is not a native Muscovite?
Originally from the Tula province, from the village of Sebino. She was born in 1881 into a large peasant Nikonov family. According to the legend, before the birth of the child, the parents decided to get rid of him because of great need. In the neighboring village of Buchalki, there was an orphanage of Prince Golitsyn, where illegitimate children and children from poor families were accepted for education. But the unborn daughter appeared to her mother in the form of a white bird with a human face and closed eyes and sat on her right hand. Taking the dream for a sign, the woman abandoned her intention. The daughter was born blind, but the mother loved her "unfortunate child." The baby was named Matrona. During the baptism, when the priest lowered the girl into the baptismal font, those present saw a column of light white smoke above her head. The priest saw a sign in this: “I have baptized many, but this is the first time I have seen this. This baby will be holy."
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Village prophetess
Matrona grew up an outcast. They laughed at her, the children teased her, mocked her. They lashed with nettles and poured soot on their heads, knowing that they would go unpunished. They put her in a hole and watched with curiosity how she got out of it, how she groped home.
At the age of 17, a new misfortune - my legs took off. Matrona was forever deprived of the ability to move independently. But the poor thing suddenly discovered the gift of prediction and healing of the sick - as if as a reward for hardship and misfortune. Being blind, she saw through each person, knew all his hidden thoughts. The rumor about the unusual gift of Matrona spread throughout the Tula province, carts with the sick reached the Nikonov hut. There were other troubles as well: the loss of things, the departure of the husband from the family, unhappy love, loss of work, persecution by the owners … Matrona did not refuse anyone, she accepted everyone.
Long before the 1917 revolution, she said that the time would soon come when "they will rob, destroy churches and drive everyone in a row." She showed how they would divide the land, grab allotments for themselves, and then abandon everything and destroy. Nobody will need the land. The blind seer advised the landowner Yankov from her village to sell his property and go abroad. But he did not listen, and her words were fulfilled. Yankov's estate was taken away, and he himself was shot.
Before the revolution, a lady came to Matrona for advice on the construction of a bell tower in their village. “What you have in mind will not come true,” the blind woman told her as she cut it off. "But why?" - exclaimed the benefactor. “Soon the order will change, bell towers and churches will be destroyed,” Matrona answered the lady.
Moscow wanderer
After the revolution, the Nikonov brothers Mikhail and Ivan joined the party, and the presence of the blessed sister in the house became impossible. Not wanting to harm them and feeling sorry for the elderly parents, Matrona decided to move to Moscow. There she had to huddle where she had to, to move from apartment to apartment, and yet she loved this city and called it "saint", "the heart of Russia." Everywhere the wanderer lived without a registration: times were difficult, and people were afraid to officially register her on their living space. The homeless person of the new government was like a bone in the throat. They wanted to arrest her more than once, but she miraculously avoided arrest many times.
During the day, Matrona received people, read prayers at night. She received about 40 people daily. Mother healed with prayer and water, repeatedly emphasizing that it was not she who healed, but God through her prayers.
Here is how her contemporary described Matrona: “With miniature, like children’s, short arms and legs. Sitting cross-legged on a bed or chest. Fluffy hair parted in the middle. Eyelids tightly closed. A kind, bright face. Affectionate voice.
When she received people, she would sit down, crossing her legs, two arms stretched directly over the head of the person who came in the air, put her fingers on the head of the person standing in front of her on his knees, make the sign of the cross, say the main thing that his soul needs, and pray.
Was there Stalin?
On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, Matrona somehow dropped: “Now you all swear, divide, and the war is about to begin. Of course, many people will die, but our Russian people will win. " How she looked into the water! During the war, people came to Matrona in an endless stream. The prophetess urged Muscovites not to leave the capital. They say that when the Germans approached the Mother See, Stalin himself came to her. “The Russian people will win, the victory will be yours. You won't leave Moscow alone from the bosses,”the saint seemed to have prophesied to him. The supposed meeting is even depicted on the icon "Matrona and Stalin". But this story is an idle fiction.
Matrona died on May 2, 1952, she was buried at the Danilovskoye cemetery in Moscow. In 1998, her relics were transferred to the Pokrovsky Stavropegic Convent. In 1999, Matrona was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. The blessed one predicted: “After my death, few people will go to my grave, only close ones, and when they die too, my grave will be empty, unless occasionally someone comes … But after many years people will learn about me and will go in droves for help in their sorrows and with requests to pray for them to the Lord God, and I will help everyone and hear everyone."
Lyubov DYAKOVA