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59.944512; 30.251037
Russia, St. Petersburg, Vasileostrovsky district, Trinity path
Saint Petersburg
Russia
Telephone:
+7 812 321-14-83
Chapel of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg
- a functioning Orthodox chapel in St. Petersburg. Located in the Vasileostrovsky district at the Smolensk cemetery. In the chapel, hidden away (underground), are the relics of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg. Assigned to the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God.
History[edit]
Ksenia of Petersburg, who died at the end of the 18th or at the beginning of the 19th century, was buried at the Smolensk cemetery. People who revered Blessed Xenia removed the soil from her burial mound. The hill was filled several times. Later, a stone slab was laid on the site of the hill, which was also dismantled stone by stone. In the third quarter of the 19th century, a small chapel was built on this site. In 1902, according to the design of the architect A. A. Vseslavin, a large stone chapel in the pseudo-Russian style was erected. Consecrated on October 12, Art. Art. 1902.
In September 1940, the chapel was closed along with the Smolensk Church. At the same time, a decision was made to demolish the chapel, but it was later canceled. During the siege of Leningrad, the chapel housed a warehouse for containers of flammable liquids. In those years, a large number of church valuables were lost.
In 1947, the chapel was opened and, after renovation, on February 1, 1947, it was consecrated by the rector of the Smolensk Church, Archpriest Vasily Raevsky. On November 18, 1962, by decision of the authorities, it was closed again and given over to a shoe repair shop, and then in 1980 to a sculpture workshop.
The chapel was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church only in 1983. After restoration work, it was re-consecrated on August 10, 1987 by Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod.
In 2003, the gilded dome over the chapel was restored.
How to get there
The chapel with the relics of St. Xenia of Petersburg is located at the address: St. Petersburg, Kamskaya street, house number 24.
Each pilgrim can visit the shrine from ten o’clock in the morning to four in the evening; on weekends the passage is open until 17:00. To get to your destination, you should get off at the Vasileostrovskaya metro station, and then take bus No. K249. Transport will take you to the stop “Kamskaya street”, following which it is easy to find the main entrance of the cemetery.
If you get to a small area not far from the gate, you will see the Smolensk Church on the left, and on the right there is a path to the sacred chapel.
Read about Saint Blessed Xenia of Petersburg:
- Feast of Xenia of Petersburg
- Icon of Blessed Xenia
- Church of St. Xenia in Voronezh
Over many years of practice of applying to the remains of the venerable saint, the Orthodox population has developed a certain tradition of this action:
- First, you need to walk around the chapel three times counterclockwise, fully concentrating on a specific petition.
- A note with a request written down in advance is placed in a special chest.
- After this, you are allowed to enter the chapel itself, bowing your head and saying a prayer with a wish.
- After leaving the building, you should distribute food to animals and the homeless.
Today, near the chapel you can meet a large number of Orthodox believers who leave various church gifts and icons here. Notes from those who are personally unable to come here are also placed on the relics. Servants present pilgrims with flower petals smeared in oil.
Walking around the chapel should not be taken too seriously - over the years this practice has acquired a certain superstitious meaning. The holy saint hears our prayers everywhere, the main thing is that they are sincere.
Architecture[edit]
The walls of the chapel are made of brick and painted light green. Each side of the facade is decorated with a group of three arched gabled windows with columnar struts. The windows are decorated with stained glass icons. On the front and back sides of the facade, the cornice is decorated with a semicircular kokoshnik with mosaic images of Christ (on the back side) and Xenia of Petersburg (on the front side). The building is completed by a scaly tent topped with a gilded onion dome with a cross. Inside, the main decoration of the chapel is a marble iconostasis with a mosaic image of the crucified Christ.
Memory of the righteous woman
Church commemorations of the saint are held on February 6 and June 6. There are many churches in the country in the name of the blessed one; people honor her memory in another way:
- On the Petrograd side, where the spouses Ksenia and Andrei Petrov lived, the construction of a church in the name of the Holy Blessed began.
- In 2012 and 2016 commemorative coins issued by Fr. Niue. Their denominations are 1 and 2 New Zealand dollars. They depict the saint near the chapel where the relics of Xenia of St. Petersburg rest. Her head is covered with a black scarf, she holds a staff in her hands, and wears men's clothing on her body. On the back is a portrait of Elizabeth II.
- In 2022, a lifetime portrait of the blessed one was exhibited in the Hermitage. The work has been restored and can be seen in the public area of the “Old Village” (the museum’s restoration center).
- In 2010 in the village. A convent in the name of St. Xenia was opened in Dolbenkino, Oryol region. Belongs to the Oryol-Livensky diocese.
Not only residents of the northern capital revere the righteous woman. A small temple based on a particle of the relics of Xenia of St. Petersburg is also located in Moscow. The holy place is located in Beskudnikovsky Proezd, property 4, in the middle of a residential area. The groundbreaking took place in April 2014, and donations are now being collected for a new, large stone church. Now it is just a wooden temple-chapel where people can pray for their needs.
Since 2015, the church has a small belfry. There is a Sunday school, an icon-painting workshop, a missionary department and a catechesis department. Residents of the capital can get to the desired address using the metro. From Seligerskaya station there are buses 763, 179, 994 and trolleybus 78, stop Beskudnikovo. Then walk to the temple (about 20 minutes).
Cases of miraculous help
There are countless cases of miracles occurring and intercessory help when turning to Saint Xenia of St. Petersburg.
Miracle of healing a woman from an incurable disease:
“What happened to me can also be explained only by the power of faith and miracle. I was diagnosed with cancer, and uterine bleeding did not stop for a long time. In desperation, she came to St. Petersburg for one day to bow to Blessed Xenia and ask her for help. The bleeding stopped completely that same day in the evening. In further treatment I rely on Blessed Ksenia. God bless you all!”
About the incredible healing of a little girl:
“Our story is as wonderful as it is simple. The one-year-old daughter, as soon as she stood on her feet, suddenly stopped walking and fell ill with a high fever. A week later, she ended up in the Filatov Hospital in Moscow with a terrible diagnosis - osteomyelitis of the left femoral neck... Disability with this diagnosis is almost one hundred percent, but a week later osteomyelitis began to seem like a blessing to us, since Nastenka was diagnosed with tuberculosis... Children with bone tuberculosis are operated on in the only clinic in St. Petersburg , where we went. During the initial examination, the diagnosis was confirmed, and we went to the Smolensk cemetery to visit Blessed Ksenia. It was evening and the chapel was already closed. We prayed at her walls and wrote a holy note asking for the baby’s healing. They began to prepare Nastya for surgery, did tests... and found that there was no tuberculosis, and the inflammatory process in the bones had stopped! The operation still had to be done. It was successful, and if it weren’t for the scar on the leg (Nastenka calls it a “string”), we ourselves would not have believed that all this happened to us two years ago!”
Ksenia often appears to people in dreams and in conscious life to warn against danger:
“At first, 28-year-old nurse Oksana Popova had a terrible dream: her 22-year-old brother Dmitry was being beaten and kicked by some drunken thugs. When the girl told her grandmother about her terrible dream, she gasped: it turns out that she had exactly the same dream: bloody Dmitry in the dust under the feet of the scum. In the evening it turned out that the mother also had an identical dream. A terrible silence reigned in the apartment.
And then Dmitry returned from the institute and announced that until Monday he was leaving to visit a friend in the suburban village of Kavgolovo. There was no way to restrain the hefty guy, and Dmitry only laughed at the story about the triple dream and left the house for the night.
The women remaining in the apartment were gripped by horror. Unable to do anything, they went to their rooms and, without saying a word, began to pray. As it turned out later, all three prayed (also without saying a word!) to one and only saint - Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, who was revered most of all in this family. At one o'clock in the morning there was a sudden knock on the door.
A brother stood on the threshold, flushed from the frost. When asked why he returned home halfway through the journey, the guy reluctantly muttered: “I changed my mind!” After drinking a glass of vodka, Dimka fell fast asleep, and the next morning he told his grandmother, mother and sister the following. At one of the stops, a strange, lightly dressed woman in a headscarf entered the train carriage and sat down directly opposite him. From the gaze of her blue eyes, Dmitry simply became numb.
At the next stop, a group of drunk, big guys piled into the carriage. Having sat down nearby, they drank beer and swore loudly. Suddenly the fellow traveler stood up and, taking the guy by the sleeve of his down jacket, pulled him with her into the vestibule. He tried to object, but he heard a confident and soft female voice inside him: “Let's go!” They got off the train at the next stop. The door closed, the train slowly picked up speed, and Dmitry managed to see a drunken fight begin inside the abandoned carriage.
Looking around, he discovered that he was standing on a snow-covered platform all alone. Instantly sweating with fear, the guy ran across the tracks and was soon returning home on an oncoming train. The next morning, Oksana took her brother to the Smolensk cemetery to the small chapel of Xenia of Petersburg. The student who did not believe in God looked at the image of the saint and whispered with white lips: “Lord, it’s her!”
Icon - lifetime portrait of blessed Xenia
In addition to the icon in the Chapel and numerous lists, there is a portrait made during his lifetime. It ended up in the storerooms of the Hermitage, all smoked (presumably, there was a candle in front of it).
It is unknown who painted this miraculous icon when. A hundred years later she was discovered. On the reverse side there was only an inscription that the antiquities collector had brought it from the chapel. There is no further information as to why he took her away from the chapel, perhaps to save her from the iconoclasts. All kinds of research have been done, showing that the icon of Blessed Xenia was painted in the saint’s era.
Portrait from the Hermitage
The author, apparently, sketched the portrait spontaneously, that is, he saw it and wanted to capture it, and sketched out the image overnight.
Chest-length image. Oddly enough, the top is light, a chain with a cross. Ksenia Grigorievna is older, but there are almost no wrinkles, only a bitter fold above her lips. The hair is dark, no gray hair is visible.
What do believers pray for at the blessed one’s grave?
Believers turn to Blessed Ksenia of St. Petersburg with prayer for the healing of the soul, for the granting of health, healing, for peace in the family, for a prosperous marriage, for the birth of children, for the resolution of disputes, conflicts, for help in many other everyday and spiritual difficulties.
Pilgrims come to Xenia’s grave, send by mail or leave notes in person describing their troubles, asking for help and pleas for salvation near the chapel, sincerely believing that the Saint will read it and definitely help. And she helps, and hears, and sees, and prays for the salvation of all those who turn to her.
What is Ksenia of Petersburg famous for?
To this day, people do not know exactly when Ksenia of Petersburg was born. There are sources that say that she was born from 19 to 30 of the 18th century. The woman’s entire life was spent in the Leningrad region, and at the beginning of the 19th century, Ksenia died.
A difficult period in Ksenia of Petersburg’s life began when her husband died and she embarked on the path of foolishness. The woman said goodbye to her own property and precious things without regrets. She gave them to the Matthias Church and the poor. There is an opinion that the woman abandoned her name and began to introduce herself with the name of her late husband, namely Andrei Fedorovich. She claimed that her husband was still alive, but Ksenia had disappeared forever.
Holy
Ksenia Petersburgskaya spent all her free time near the grave of her beloved, which was located at the Kazan cemetery. The woman also secretly participated in the work during the construction of the temple. She rejoiced in her own poverty, and therefore refused to have people help her. Ksenia of Petersburg became famous after she renounced human benefits, began to help people free of charge and predicted the future.
Life of the Blessed
A few words should be said about the earthly path of St. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. Where and when she was born is not known exactly. But if we proceed from the fact that she was married to Andrei Fedorovich Petrov, a colonel, then it becomes clear that Ksenia was from a good family. Nothing more can be said about how she lived before the death of her husband.
At twenty-six years old, this woman became a widow. She decided to distribute her property to the poor and needy people. Her relatives were perplexed; they turned to the superiors of her deceased husband, asking them to bring some sense into the woman, distraught with grief. But the officials, after talking with Ksenia Grigorievna, came to the conclusion that she was sane. After this, the woman received the right to dispose of the inheritance at her own discretion.
Chapel of Blessed Xenia
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.
The center of the people's memory of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg is the chapel in her honor, which stands at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg at the burial place of the saint.
Although the date of the blessed one’s death is not precisely known, it is believed that it occurred no earlier than 1794 - it was in this year that the construction of the church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God began at the Smolensk cemetery of the northern capital. It is believed that it was for this church that Blessed Ksenia carried bricks at night.
After the death of the saint, a solemn farewell to her took place in St. Petersburg: all the residents of the St. Petersburg side of the city, as well as in general all those who knew her, came to see off the blessed righteous woman on her last journey. Saint Xenia was buried in the Smolensk cemetery, south of the built church.
Initially, the saint’s grave was inconspicuous in appearance. The only thing that distinguished it from other burials was the constant flow of people who came to pray to Xenia and ask for her intercession before God.
At the same time, each visitor considered it necessary to take a handful of earth from the saint’s grave, believing that this could help in getting rid of illnesses and troubles.
In this regard, a new mound had to be made on the blessed one’s grave every year. However, each time a new mound was dismantled by pilgrims. Then a memorial slab was placed on the saint’s grave, but it was soon broken and carried away piece by piece by those who came to Blessed Xenia. The caretakers of the cemetery laid a new slab - the same thing happened to it.
Eventually, the grave was surrounded by a fence, to which a mug was attached to collect donations for the construction of a chapel in honor of the saint. Funds were collected quickly enough, and soon a small chapel was erected over the grave. The building was made of basement stone, had two windows on the sides, an oak iconostasis inside, and an iron door on the west. Above the entrance to the chapel there was an inscription: “Servant of God Xenia.” The grave itself was also reinforced with a plinth stone, and a new memorial slab was placed on top. A little later, a glass gallery was added to the building, in which priests were on duty to perform memorial services for the blessed one.
Photo by L. Morozov,
In 1902, a new stone chapel in the Russian-Byzantine style was erected on the saint’s grave, designed by the architect Alexander Alexandrovich Vseslavin. It was consecrated the same year, in the month of October.
Already in Soviet times, the chapel of Blessed Xenia, as well as the entire cemetery complex as a whole, was subject to disgrace. So, in 1940 it was closed along with the church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. In the same year, the authorities decided to demolish the shrine over the blessed one’s grave, however, by the grace of God, this decision was later reversed. During the siege of Leningrad, the chapel building housed a warehouse for empty containers of flammable liquids. During these same years, unfortunately, many church values were lost from the cemetery temple complex.
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, namely in 1947, the chapel was repaired and reopened. On February 1, 1947, it was consecrated by the rector of the cemetery church, Archpriest Vasily Raevsky. However, the shrine has not yet completely returned to the believers. By decision of the authorities, on November 18, 1962, the chapel building was closed again and given over to a sculpture workshop. We had to wait almost twenty more years for its re-opening.
In 1983, the chapel was finally finally returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. After the necessary restoration, it was again consecrated by Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod, the future Patriarch Alexy II. This happened on August 10, 1987.
The chapel of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg is made in the original style. Each side of the facade, painted light green, is decorated with a group of gabled windows with columnar struts.
The windows are decorated with stained glass icons. On the front side of the facade, the cornice is decorated with a semicircular kokoshnik with a mosaic image of Blessed Xenia, and the back side is decorated with a mosaic image of the Lord Jesus Christ. The chapel ends with a scaly tent with a gilded dome, which was restored in 2003. The main decoration of the building’s interior is a marble iconostasis with a mosaic crucifix.
After the canonization of Blessed Xenia in 1988, the chapel no longer serves memorial services, but prayer services.
Brief biography
Ksenia Grigorievna was born presumably in the 19-30s of the 18th century. At the age of 18, the girl became engaged to Andrei Fedorovich Petrov. He was a military man, held the rank of colonel, and sang in the church choir. Ksenia and Andrey were not married for long: her husband died suddenly.
The young widow was very worried about the death of her husband, and the fact that he did not have time to repent to the Lord before his sudden death. She decides to beg God's forgiveness for her husband's earthly sins, choosing for herself a very difficult path - foolishness for the sake of Christ.
At the funeral of her beloved, grief-stricken Ksenia appeared in front of people, dressed in his men's clothes, introduced herself as Andrei Fedorovich, saying that her husband had not died at all, but was standing in front of them, while Ksenia Grigorievna herself was resting in the coffin.
Useful materials
Since then, she began the ascetic path of her life with a new name. She donated her house and all her property to the poor, most of the time she walked the streets and convinced passers-by: “My Ksenyushka has died and is resting peacefully in the cemetery, but I’m all a sinner here.”
At night, the woman often spent time at her husband’s grave, secretly bringing bricks for the construction of a new church, which was being built on the territory of the Smolensk cemetery.
Ksenia’s acquaintances and her late husband’s superiors took her for a madwoman and tried to send her, for her own benefit and safety, to some charitable institution, but after talking more closely with her, they became convinced that everything was fine with the homeless woman’s mind and memory.
Later, people began to notice that a woman, in her simple words and advice, saves them from trouble, warns them from danger, and brings happiness to their homes:
“Take a nickel,” Ksenia offered to take the coin to her friend. - here the king is on horseback. It will go out."
“So she informed her about the fire that happened in her house, and helped put it out in an extraordinary way.
One day Ksenia told her friend who could not have children:
“You’re sitting here, darning your stockings, and there, at the Smolensk cemetery, God sent you a child! Run quickly!”
The woman ran and found her happiness, adopted a newborn child, whose mother died in an emergency in that very place, having had an accident.
“Bake pancakes, tomorrow all of Russia will bake pancakes”
- with these words, the perspicacious Ksenia predicted the death of the empress, the day before the death of Elizabeth Petrovna.
"Blood, Blood, Blood"
- the holy fool said and cried a few days before the murder of the young emperor, John VI.
To an unmarried girl of marriageable age, the strange Ksenia showed the way to the cemetery with the words:
“Her husband is burying his wife there.”
So a young acquaintance became the wife of a widower.
After such numerous incidents, people began to consider Xenia Blessed. Outside the city, in the fields, she constantly prayed for everyone.
The wanderer died at the age of seventy-two, having lived on the streets of St. Petersburg for more than half of her life.
Read the detailed life of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg on our website.
