One of the January days in 1956, an incredible event took place in Kuibyshev, which many are inclined to attribute to the category of modern myths. Whether there was a phenomenon popularly known as Zoya standing, or it was a product of someone's imagination, today it is difficult to say. Believe in its reality or not - everyone decides for himself. One thing is beyond doubt that, even being an atheist, one should not tempt fate and challenge higher powers.
Scary dance with Nikolai
So, Kuibyshev (now Samara). New year's night. A table is laid in every house, Christmas trees are blinking with lights. The chimes have struck, champagne is foaming in the glasses. Happy New Year!
Young people gathered in house No. 84 on Chkalov Street. We set the table, drank, and ate. The dancing began. And only one girl named Zoya did not take part in the general fun - she sat at the table, disdained. The reason for this mood was the most commonplace - Zoin's boyfriend, Nikolai, who promised to come to the holiday, did not keep his promise. As the old song says: "All the girls are with the guys, I'm the only one." Friends began to bother Zoya - but he is not worth your worries, spit and forget! The girl only brushed aside the annoying advisers. And then suddenly jumped up with the words “Well, okay! Since my Kolya has not come, I will dance with another! " - and straight to the red corner, where icons were hanging by the mistress of the house, Claudia Bolonkina.
Claudia Petrovna herself, being a devout woman, did not approve of the holidays during the Nativity Fast, and therefore went to spend the night with her friend. She did not interfere with her son - she allowed to gather the youth.
Young people, watching Zoya remove the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the wall, became quiet. Someone even tried to stop her: “We are still in a strange house. Klavdia Petrovna will not praise for this. " Of course, in the days of militant atheism, there were no other arguments to force the girl to come to her senses. And she already went into a rage. I grabbed the image, pressed it to my chest and walked with it in a circle: “This is how Nikolai and I dance! Look and envy!"
Promotional video:
The needles broke like a stone
They say that when the girl went to the third circle, the house suddenly felt like an unearthly draft, the light flickered. The guests were confused. And when they came to, they saw Zoya, white as chalk and completely motionless. The girl stood motionless, holding the icon tightly to her chest. The mistress's son tried to take the image from her hands, but nothing came of it, the girl grabbed the frame with a death grip. They wanted to sit Zoya on the sofa, but she stood so firmly, as if she was rooted in the floor. They began to bother Zoya - what's wrong with you, wake up! But she didn’t seem to feel or hear anything.
Someone had the idea to call an ambulance. Anna Kalashnikova, who arrived at the scene as part of the brigade, later said that she tried to give the girl an injection, but could not even pierce the skin - the needle broke, as if on a stone.
The police followed. Several posts were posted near the house where the incredible event took place.
Gray-haired policeman
By morning the whole city knew about the petrified girl. People began to gather on Chkalov Street. But the policemen did not let anyone into the house. They asked people to disperse, but this only increased the excitement. No one left, on the contrary, the crowd grew larger. Even at night, people remained near the house. Those gathered in a whisper told each other the details of what had happened. Many agreed that it was the Lord who performed his miracle, punished the blasphemer.
They say that from time to time terrible shouts were heard from the house: “People, pray! The earth is burning! We will all burn in flames! Pray!"
One of the women in the crowd turned to a young policeman who had just finished his watch and was trying to force his way through the crowded people:
- And what, dear, did you see this Zoya yourself?
He was silent. Then the rest of the people began to fiddle with the guy:
- Tell me, what's really there?
- I gave a subscription, - the policeman answered. - I can't say anything.
And then, on reflection, he suddenly took off his hat, and the crowd parted in horror in front of him - the young guy's hair was as white as snow.
True, nowadays there is a version that the policeman was a big joker and, before leaving the house, sprinkled flour on his head. But now you can't check this version.
At first, the people who flooded Chkalov Street were not touched. But when more than a thousand people had already gathered, they began to disperse them - they say, they interfere with the movement of vehicles. But the crowd did not thin out. In the evenings, the lights on the street were turned off, but this did not help much. Finally, the street was cordoned off, and the people gradually dispersed.
Soon a telephone call rang in the apartment of the rector of the Intercession Cathedral, Father Alexander. The plenipotentiary for religious affairs, Alekseev, phoned. He asked the rector to speak to the parishioners and say that there was no incident - all this is gossip. Father Alexander said that first he must visit the house in question and see everything with his own eyes. The commissioner was silent for a while. Then he promised to call back and hung up. He actually called back a few days later and uttered a cryptic phrase: "Your intervention is no longer required."
I was fed by pigeons
And what about poor Zoya? Her mysterious standing lasted exactly 128 days. Shortly before Easter, a certain hieromonk Seraphim was allowed into the house. It is possible that it was the rector of the Petropalovsky Cathedral in the city of Kuibyshev. After serving a moleben, he easily took the icon from Zoya's motionless hands and hung it in the red corner, where it had hung before.
And on the eve of Easter, they say, a gray-haired old man approached the house and asked the patrol police to let him in. They refused. The elder came the next day, but with the same success. But on the third day he managed to get into the house. Approaching Zoya, he asked: “Well, are you tired of standing? - and then he stepped towards the images and seemed to melt into thin air. After that, Zoya revived, stretched her stiff arms and legs, and finally got off her seat. Her face turned pink again.
There is another version, according to which Zoya was knocked out of the floor along with the boards and taken to a clinic for the mentally ill. This version is supported by the fact that even now in the room where the petrified girl stood, two floor boards differ significantly from the rest - they are narrower and lighter.
They say that later, when Zoya was asked how she did not starve to death during her standing, she answered: “Doves! The pigeons fed me."
The further fate of Zoe, as they say, is shrouded in the darkness of obscurity. There are different versions. Someone claims that she died shortly after the miraculous deliverance, someone believes that she lived out her days in a psychiatric hospital. But there are also those who believe: the former blasphemer was buried in a monastery, and in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, you can allegedly see her grave.
Strange icon
However, what can we say about Zoya’s fate, when many consider this case itself a fiction. They say that a priest once lived in house No. 84 on Chkalov Street. Wanderers often came to him. Then the priest left somewhere, other people settled in the house, and the pilgrims kept walking and walking according to old memory. On New Year's Eve, young people really gathered there. And it so happened that just at that time another wanderer-nun appeared under the windows. She saw one of the girls dancing with the icon and shouted: “Oh, you blasphemer! Yes, so that you turn to stone! " Some, perhaps not too sober, passer-by heard this cry and spread a rumor throughout the city: "On Chkalov Street the girl turned to stone!" And so it began …
You can believe in the 128-day Zoya standing, you can not believe it. However, in the temple in honor of the Holy Great Martyr George the Victorious in Samara, there is an amazing icon with the image of Nicholas the Wonderworker, under which there are several strange, almost popular prints. On one of them there is a company sitting at a table, on the other - a girl removing an icon from the wall, on the third - a terrible dance in an embrace with the image, on another one is the same girl, deathly pale, and around her there are people in civilian clothes. And this gallery concludes with an image of an old man who takes an icon from the stone hands of a girl.
Not God knows what proof of the reality of the Zone standing. Yes, we, however, do not insist on anything.
Elena Landa. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 14 2010