This cemetery is so old that it resembles a fairy-tale scenery, consisting of tree trunks in the backdrop, carved fern foliage, spotlights transmitting the rays of the sun, and the decor of the tombstones is creeping moss. Communication with people visiting the chapel of Xenia, which is at the Smolensk cemetery , only enhances the effect of the unreality of the world in which you find yourself.
Endless stories mix the world of the dead and the living into a tart cocktail. Let's find out about those people and their stories who were helped by prayers to Saint Xenia of Petersburg .
Who are the holy fools?
Fools, also called blessed ones, are people who suddenly begin to behave unusually. They give up everything they have, endure hardships and reproaches, break all the rules, speak the truth - including unpleasant ones - to the face of everyone, including kings. For this they can be scolded, despised, even beaten, but the holy fools do not pay attention to this. They live a different life. Sometimes they are worse than beggars. They wear rags, walk barefoot, are cold and hungry, some put on heavy chains - iron chains and belts... They are often mistaken for crazy, but they are not crazy at all.
After all, how does a person go crazy? From illness or from severe grief or shock, he suddenly ceases to understand what is happening to him, and cannot control what he does and says. For holy fools, everything is completely different. They freely and voluntarily choose their path. If there is no meaning in the actions and words of real madmen, then in what holy fools do - in their every word, in every action - there is always meaning. Fools pray for all people, even the most sinful, save themselves and save others. With his unusual language and actions, the holy fool conveys something very important to everyone around him and who comes to him. And it is necessarily connected with faith in God. After all, it’s not for nothing that holy fools are also called “fools for Christ’s sake.” Everything they do is aimed at serving God and their neighbor.
There are many ways to serve God: someone goes as a hermit into the desert, lives in a cave or dugout, prays in a hollow or on a stone, someone performs obedience in a monastery or serves in a church. And the Lord chooses and calls someone to a special, very difficult path of foolishness suitable only for the chosen ones. You can walk along it only with the blessing of God.
What kind of “king on horseback” is this?
On small coins in those days, St. George the Victorious was depicted slaying a serpent with a spear. Blessed Xenia called this saint “the king on horseback.” She herself never asked for alms - they gave it to her, and she took the coin and immediately gave it to someone in need.
They also gave the blessed one warm clothes, worrying that the tramp lived on the street, got wet in the rain, and endured wind and frost. Only she didn’t take it, she refused. At first she wore her husband’s military uniform made of red and green fabric, and when it was completely worn out, she began to wear a red jacket and a green skirt. Or a green jacket and a red skirt. And on her feet - when she wore torn shoes, and when she walked completely barefoot.
Sometimes boys teased her and even threw dirt at her, and she brushed them off with her stick: “Here I am!” But the majority of St. Petersburg residents not only did not touch the blessed one, but loved her and invited her to come to them in every way.
Unexpected meeting
A lady was walking along the street of St. Petersburg - not poor, well dressed, just like a lady. Suddenly a strange woman stood in front of her - tall, thin, in a green jacket and a shabby red skirt, gray hair escaping from under a white scarf, torn shoes on her bare feet. She stood up and extended her hand to the lady.
At first the lady was afraid of the stranger, but then she realized: she’s just a beggar asking for alms! She reached into her wallet: “Now, honey, I’ll give it to you now...” - but the stranger shook her head: no, they say, that’s not it. The lady looks, and the tramp has a coin in her palm! That is, she wants to give the lady money.
But why?
- Take a nickel! — the unusual stranger said quietly in a slightly hoarse voice. - Here the king is on horseback... It will go out...
She said and left so quickly, as if she had disappeared into thin air.
The lady looked at the copper coin in confusion. What "king"? What will “go out”? She shrugged her shoulders: “She must be crazy...” She squeezed the patch in her hand and moved on.
That lady's house was two blocks away. Nice house, big. Now she will come home, sit down on the sofas, order her to make some coffee and finally take a break from the heat...
But - what is this? The woman suddenly smelled smoke. I heard screams... I turned the corner - fathers! Fire! Her house was on fire, flames were shooting out of the windows. People in military uniform held back the crowd of onlookers, firefighters pumped water, but it was clear that it was unlikely that anything would be extinguished here.
The woman screamed and rushed, tangling in her dress, towards the house. But, not having reached a few steps, she suddenly stood rooted to the spot. What's happening? Just now the house was completely engulfed in fire, and suddenly... the fire seemed to be “turned off”! No more flames! Only thin wisps of smoke rise from the roof.
The crowd fell silent and froze at once. The military, firefighters - everyone looked at the house, not believing their eyes.
The janitor quietly approached the lady:
- Lady, I saw Ksenyushka approaching you. What did you say?..
The woman slowly unclenched her fist and looked at the coin: “Take the nickel! Here the king is on horseback... It will go out..."
She realized that the prediction had come true. And I learned that that strange stranger with the coin was Blessed Ksenia, whom many in St. Petersburg already knew at that time.
The Beggar Who Brings Good Luck
Who was this woman? Today we know her as Ksenia of Petersburg. And in the eighteenth century, she was listed according to documents as Ksenia Grigorievna Petrova.
Let's move back more than two centuries into the past and watch Blessed Ksenia...
Here she is walking along the bank of the canal. It opens onto a shopping area. Here there are shops and benches, hawkers walk in the crowd with belts thrown over their shoulders, on which trays are attached - trays filled with small goods...
One of the hawkers, noticing the tramp, immediately perked up and shouted: “Ksenyushka! Ksenyushka! He rushed towards her. Behind him are others. They surrounded the blessed one, vying with each other to offer their goods: “Take it from me!” “Try mine!..”
The cab drivers are right there: “Ksenyushka!.. Andrei Fedorovich! Sit down with me, I’ll give you a ride!”
And here are the shopkeepers - the doors are wide open: “You are welcome to my shop, Andrei Fedorovich! Look at my product!..” “And perhaps come to me!..”
A gray-haired woman in a headscarf calmly takes a pie from one of the trays. He takes a bite. The satisfied hawker beams and looks down on his comrades. They envy the lucky one.
And Ksenia is already entering the shop. On the shelves there are fabrics, scarves, lace... A merchant in a long shirt with a belt lays out his goods in front of a beggar, unrolls the pieces of fabric... Ksenyushka picks up a lace napkin. I looked and put it back in its place. The happy shopkeeper bows to her. And his family is nearby - everyone looks at the old beggar woman with such respect, as if some general had come to see them.
And Ksenia goes out into the street again. Two mothers with babies in their arms approach her. One hands Ksenia her child. The pale baby coughs hoarsely and cries weakly. Ksenia receives the boy carefully, kindly, and... he immediately calms down! The blessed one whispers something in his ear, strokes his head and returns it to his mother: “Nothing, dear, Andrei Fedorovich will not do anything bad. Now he’ll get better...” The happy mother wipes away her tears.
What is this? What's happening? Why so much attention to the strange poor woman? It’s just that everyone in St. Petersburg knows that Ksenia, like a guardian angel, brings good luck, success and happiness. Merchants have long noticed: whoever Ksenyushka takes something from a tray will instantly sell all his goods. Whoever comes into the store will have no end to customers all day. The cab drivers realized: whoever has Ksenia passing in a carriage, then passengers will line up and money will flow like a river. And mothers joyfully bring their children to the blessed one: the baby will sit in her arms, be healthy, and all his illnesses will go away.
But why is Ksenia called by the male name Andrei Fedorovich? To find out, you will have to go back another thirty years from the shopping area of St. Petersburg in the eighteenth century...
