Did Stalin meet Saint Matrona of Moscow? And what advice did she give him at this secret meeting, if it did take place? Many believe that the words of the saint, along with the heroism of Soviet soldiers, played a huge role in the fact that Moscow was not surrendered to the enemy. But the story of the meeting of the Supreme Commander with the blessed one is shrouded in mystery.
The legend is widely known that in the fall of 1941, Joseph Stalin met Matrona Nikonova, an Orthodox eldress who was later canonized as Saint Matrona of Moscow. Those who do not believe in this meeting assure that Stalin hated religion since the days of his seminarian youth.
Others believe that in extreme situations people have done the most unexpected actions more than once or twice in history. And in the fall of 1941, a mortal threat hung over the country. And this could well have contributed to the meeting of the Supreme Commander with Matrona.
Blind girl
In 1885, in the village of Sebino, Tula region, located 11 kilometers from Kulikov field, a blind girl was born into the Nikonov family. Over time, she discovered an extraordinary gift of healing, and the "burden" for the poor peasants, already at the eighth year of life, became the breadwinner for the whole family. Suffering flocked from all over the area for healing, and thanked the blessed one with food from the gardens.
When the girl was 14 years old, John of Kronstadt met her in St. Andrew's Cathedral with the words: "Here comes my change - the eighth pillar of Russia." The pillars of Orthodoxy are called the great saints: Anthony and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh; Tikhon Zadonsky; Joasaph of Belgorod, Seraphim of Sarov and John of Kronstadt. The blessed Matrona of Moscow also took her place in this row over time.
The girl also had a prophetic gift early on. Once she plucked a chicken feather with the words: "They will do the same with our king." Over the years, the prophecy came true. After the Civil War, the Matrona brothers joined the party and joined the collective farm. The presence of the blessed one in the hut, plus the crowd of pilgrims in the courtyard, did not fit into the new life …
Promotional video:
Soon the blind and paralyzed Matrona (at the age of 18 her legs were taken away) moved to the capital. Due to problems with registration, she often changed addresses.
The novices wandered with her through the houses, basements and outbuildings. From 1942 to 1949, the blessed one lived in Moscow, in Starokonyushenny lane, with her fellow villager Zinaida Zhdanova, who later described the life of the saint in a book.
Night meeting
In the fall of 1941, German radio tirelessly repeated that Stalin allegedly was no longer in Moscow. A PR move - you can't imagine more competently. It was as if people were told: “You were betrayed! Run, comrades! And the people ran … Thousands of townspeople with bundles stormed the trains, and the Enthusiasts highway got stuck in a dense traffic jam of cars, buses and horse-drawn carts.
The leaders of different levels could not put things in order - they themselves went on the run. Everyone was in a panic. "In the offices of the Central Committee apparatus, complete chaos reigned. … forms and all kinds of correspondence, including secret, directives of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and other documents …" (from the inventory of the inspection of the building of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) on Staraya Square).
But the special train behind the Abelmanovskaya outpost and four Douglas planes at Stalin's Chkalovsky military airfield did not wait … True, one of the planes, piloted by his personal pilot (according to a group of experts), still started. Three times he flew around Moscow with the Kazan (according to another version - Tikhvin) icon of the Mother of God on board. This miraculous icon 300 years ago already saved the capital (under Minin and Pozharsky from the Poles). Presumably, this step was suggested to the leader by Eldress Matrona.
The meeting with Stalin allegedly took place in Sokolniki, in the summer extension of the church of Tikhon Zadonsky. According to a few descriptions, in the churchyard, about a dozen people languished in anticipation of a reception at the blessed one. Three black cars suddenly appeared. The guards came out first and whispered something to the suffering.
The yard was immediately empty. Then Stalin and his secretary, Alexander Poskrebyshev, got out of the car and went to the annex. But a minute later Poskrebyshev returned to the yard. According to one of the most widespread versions, Matrona said: “The red rooster will win. Victory will be yours. You will not leave Moscow as one of the bosses”.
Resident error
Many ignore the prediction of the old woman about the beginning of the war, but at the same time admire the personality of Richard Sorge and his secret reports. But he was just too clever about the outbreak of the war. In March 1941, he claimed that the Germans would attack after the war with England.
In May I changed versions three times: end of month - first half of June - 15 June. In a new report he wrote that Hitler would attack before the end of June. On June 20, without any dates at all, he indicated: "The war will surely break out!"
Matrona's words that "the war will begin on the day of All Saints", that is, June 22, passed from mouth to mouth long before Hitler's attack! So the leader had every reason to turn to a more accurate source for forecasts of the future.
At the very beginning of the war, Matrona asked everyone who came to her (and this was about 40 people a day) to bring willow branches with them. The old woman divided them into short sticks and put them in a chest. Taking out one, I prayed for each: one stick - one soul. And so on until the Great Victory …
On October 18, Maloyaroslavets was captured, on the 22nd - Naro-Fominsk, on the 27th - Volokolamsk. But Stalin not only did not leave the capital. After meeting with the blessed one, he conducted two powerful propaganda actions to inspire the people to fight. The first is the ceremonial meeting of the Moscow City Council in the Mayakovskaya metro station on November 6. The second is the legendary parade on Red Square on November 7, in honor of the anniversary of the October Revolution.
The leader addressed the people, as is customary in Orthodoxy: "Brothers and sisters!" In his speech, he mentioned the great Russian rulers of the past, two of whom were elevated to the face of saints (Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoy). In 1943, by order of Stalin, churches and monasteries were opened, priests were released from prisons, the persecution of the church stopped …
The power of faith
So did Stalin believe in God? Opinions differ on this. Some believe that Stalin simply used the believers and the church to subjugate the people. Artyom Sergeev, the adopted son of the Secretary General, disagrees with this, saying more than once that Stalin was a secretly but sincerely religious person.
Also, the leader's bodyguard, Yuri Solovyov, wrote that he more than once saw through the window of the church, which was in the Kremlin on the way to the cinema, the secretary general praying. The grandson of the leader, Alexander Burdonsky, said that his grandfather confessed and that "the priest was shaken with terrible force under Khrushchev, but he said nothing."
It is also known that the leader called anti-religious books "waste paper". Back in 1936, for mocking the Baptism of Rus', Stalin promoted the banning of the play by Demyan Bedny "The Bogatyrs".
In the production of Alexander Tairov, the epic heroes were represented as gendarmes of the secret police, and Vladimir Saint - in the image of the Tsar-Derzhimord. The General Secretary called this play "slander against our people." Poor, in his opinion, portrayed Russia as "a vessel of abomination and desolation", and "laziness and desire to sit on the stove as a national trait of Russians."
The icon depicting Matrona of Moscow blessing Stalin to defend the capital has sparked heated debate since its inception. Representatives of the hierarchy do not consider this image canonical. After all, the conversation of the blessed one with the leader is not considered an unequivocally proven historical event.
Was there really a meeting? Oddly enough, it doesn't really matter. The main thing is that a rumor has spread among the people: the leader heard the blessed one! The Mother of God is circling over Moscow! The miraculous icon will go to defend Leningrad! And in times of great change, a whisper is heard better than a loud voice.
Hearing became good news and, over time, turned into faith and hope. With the hope that “God is our general” (as the great commander Alexander Suvorov used to say), and the Mother of God will not leave, with the faith that, like their great ancestors, they will beat the enemy, the soldiers went into battle and won!
That is, it turned out, as the elder Matrona of Moscow predicted: “If the people lose faith in God, then disasters overtake them, and if they don’t repent, then they perish and disappear from the face of the earth. How many peoples have disappeared, but Russia has existed and will continue to exist. Pray, ask, repent! The Lord will not leave you!"
Lyudmila MAKAROVA, magazine "Riddles of History" 2016
