Blessed Lyubushka Susaninskaya
“Wanderer Love” - this is how they remember her in church in funeral notes, but in earthly life she was simply Lyubushka. How, during the atheistic period, a homeless and weak mother became a “stronghold of Orthodoxy” and a comforter of believers from the laity to the archpastors - the secret of the saint of God.
Brief Life
The ascetic was born in the village of Kolodezi, forty kilometers from Kaluga, in the family of church elder Ivan Lazarev on September 17, 1912. At the age of five, the girl was orphaned - her mother passed away, and her father suffered for Christ.
Useful materials
Lyuba grew up to be a beautiful girl, but, despite the persistent desire of her aunt, who raised her niece, to marry her legally, she went to the city on the Neva to live with her older brother, who employed her at the Red Triangle factory.
Blessings of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky
She worked in a workshop that was unhealthy for 11 years. I ate poorly: I drank tea with bread. She did not eat meat with the blessing of her spiritual father, the later canonized hieroschemamonk Seraphim Vyritsky. From him she received the correct understanding of the spiritual path, and was closely connected with him during the life and after the death of the saint.
Love for God prompted the blessed one to begin wandering. She wandered through deserted places and spent the night in cemeteries. The wanderer visited many monasteries in the country, and even visited hermits in the Caucasus Mountains.
In Susanino
In 1974, a homeless woman, together with Lukia Ivanovna Mironova, who sheltered her, moved to a house in Susanino. The saint of God prayed for people all night long, weeping for the whole world lying in evil. She was reported to the police department that she lived without registration, but God protected her: the ascetic lived in Susanino for twenty-two years, openly serving people. You could always find her at the local Kazan church. She loved people very much. Many turned to her, especially in trouble. She called on everyone to pray and repent. There was love and holiness itself. Through her righteous prayers, which reached heaven, everything worked out for the better.
Evidence
Interesting fact
The wondrous old woman especially revered the Most Holy Theotokos. The blessed one told L.I. Mironova about the appearance of the Queen of Heaven to her near the temple, just a few steps from her. The Mother of God looked tenderly at the saint of God.
A young man from Ferapontovo, named Mikhail, really wanted to enter the seminary. Let's go to Susanino. The old woman spoke incomprehensibly, only individual words can be heard.
“There will be six or seven people... there will be a lot of icons there...”
When, with his mother’s blessing, he passed his exams with honors, he was quite surprised that there were six people in the dorm room, he was the seventh, and there were a lot of icons there. Cell attendant Faina told how one night my mother couldn’t sleep, she kept repeating “Kirillov, Kirillov...” The next morning Faina received news that her brother, who lived in this city, was in serious condition in the hospital.
In 1992, the archabbot of Athos came to her for advice. He was shocked by the fact that the name of Father Afanasy was told to the old woman from above.
Many years of spiritual friendship connected her with Archimandrite Naum (Baiborodin). The will of God was revealed to her. She spoke to the saints on the icons in her own language, asking the Lord for people in simple, childish words. She bowed to each icon and cried if the icon fell. While talking with a person, the ascetic moved her finger over her palm and, as if reading what was written, answered. I repeated from the memory of many of those commemorated. I knew the akathists from memory. For many, she is one of the heavenly patrons of St. Petersburg.
The pilgrim never sat down during the Divine Liturgy: she said that the flesh should not be pitied. She advised: “Pray yourself and teach your children to pray.”
Where is the old woman buried?
A few months before her death, the blessed mother moved to the Vyshnevolotskaya Kazan Convent, where she ended her days.
11
September
1997
Blessed Elder Love peacefully departed to the Lord. She was buried in the Vyshnevolotsk Kazan Convent, to the right of the temple altar. A beautiful chapel has now been built on this site.
Blessed Lyubushka (Lyubov Lazareva)
(1912–1997)
Blessed Lyubushka spoke little about herself; it is known that she was born on September 17, 1912 in a large peasant family “in the Smolensk region.” Her father Ivan Lazarev was the headman of the village church. At the age of four, Lyubushka was left without a mother, and soon her father died during the years of repression. A close relative took the girl in. When she turned 18, she went to Leningrad to live with her older brother, he helped her get a job at the Red Triangle factory. It is noteworthy that Lyubushka gave the milk, which was given to all workers in “harmful” production for free, to colleagues who had children. Soon she fell ill, and doctors recommended changing jobs. I had to move to the position of a wardrobe maid in a warehouse. Here they began to force her to deceive and make notes. Lyubushka left this job, and a little later she decided to leave her brother’s house and become a wanderer. She spent the night wherever she had to, often in the open air in the forest. The wanderer visited many churches and monasteries in Russia, but the most dear place for her was Vyritsa, where her spiritual father, Hieromonk Seraphim (the recently glorified Venerable Seraphim of Vyritsky) lived. And after the death of Elder Seraphim, Lyubushka often returned to Vyritsa and prayed for hours at the elder’s grave.
From the memoirs of Lukia Ivanovna Mironova: “I lived at that time in Vyritsa, near Leningrad. One day I came to the cathedral for a service and I heard everyone whispering: “Lyubushka, Lyubushka...” I looked - an old woman, dressed very simply, like nothing special, but there was something about her that made her stand out from the others. She was all in prayer, as if not from this world. Many people came up to her after the service, but I was shy...
Lyubushka came to us on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in 1974... Lyubushka and I met on the street... Lyubushka asked me where I lived and asked me to spend the night. I told her then that I was a sinner and unworthy, but I would be glad. Only my grandchildren are small...
“I’m not afraid of children,” answered Lyubushka...
We made her bed on a folding bed; there was no other place. So she stayed to live in our house... With Lyubushka’s blessing, we bought a house in Susanino, next to the Church of the Icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which she especially revered. She predicted this purchase to us three years in advance. Lyubushka prayed a lot, especially at night. She knew many akathists by heart. In Susanino, people began to turn to her more and more often, especially in trouble or grief. She prayed for everyone who turned to her, told them the will of God - it was revealed to her. She most often read from her pen, as if she was opening the book of life. Through prayer, of course, which she, the righteous woman, reached God. Lyubushka sent many people to pray at the monastery on Karpovka to the holy saint. John of Kronstadt or Blessed. Ksenia. She revered them very much... She especially revered the Mother of God. Lyubushka, an orphan, loved Her with all her heart, with all her soul, like her own mother. And also in her own way, in the simplicity of her heart, she spoke to Her. Lyubushka told me that the Queen of Heaven appeared to her more than once...
Lyubushka prayed unusually and touchingly. Both in the temple and at home, she spoke to the icons in her own language, addressing the image on the icon as if it were alive. Sometimes she tearfully asked for something, sometimes she was happy. She prayed for everyone who turned to her, she prayed for St. Petersburg, for Russia. She once said that if people continue to sin in the same way and do not repent of their sins, a terrible time will come... She prayed earnestly, especially at night. Lyubushka never slept like people sleep. Sometimes he would wrap himself in a blanket and take a nap while sitting on the sofa, and that was the whole dream. She prayed incessantly, but spoke little... How many people she helped! She especially loved children and pigeons, always feeding them...
In recent years, there has not been a day when people did not come to us, sometimes at night, and not only the laity, but also the monastics and the clergy. Father Naum, Archimandrite from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, often sent his children to us. He himself visited us in Susanino more than once. I remember offering Lyubushka tonsure as a monk; one day he sent me a doll in monastic clothes. But Lyuba stubbornly refused. She always said: “I am a wanderer. So remember me...” (Blessed Lyubushka lived with Lukia Ivanovna for 22 years.)
Priest Mikhail (Maleev) says: “Lyubushka received a blessing for her feat of prayer from the blessed old woman Maria, who lived in St. Nicholas Cathedral... So the wanderer settled in Vyritsa, and then moved to Susanino. Thus, the name of the village became as significant for people from different parts of Russia as the name of the holy places that existed before... I had the opportunity to visit my mother several times. Susanino, a village located an hour’s drive from Leningrad, has become a place of pilgrimage for people from all over not only Russia, but also other countries.
More than once I had to deal with the fact that Lyubushka knew in advance who was coming to her and from where. She predicted, then went out to meet the guests...
She could spend hours talking with the saints on the icons of the Susaninsky Church and in her holy corner... Attending the services where Lyubushka prayed was touching and blissful to the point of tears. She performed prayers only while standing, and did not allow herself to even sit down a little during the Divine Service... Along with the special prayerful intercession of the old woman, we can also talk about her innermost insight into the mysterious destinies of God. So, on the eve of the tragedy in Optina Hermitage on Easter 1993, one of the monks asked her what awaited him, and heard in response: “They will kill, but not you”...
The bright image of this humble prayerful soul will forever remain in memory, whose answers guided not only ordinary believers, but also those entrusted with “the helm of the Church”: experienced confessors, bishops, clergy...
From the memoirs of Klavdia Georgievna P.:
– The wanderer settled in Vyritsa, in the family of Lukia Ivanovna Mironova, and when the hostess moved to Susanino, she went there with her... A neighbor lived behind the wall. She was dissatisfied that loud sobs could be heard from Lyubushka’s room all night long: the blessed one was crying about a dying world, begging for the people.
Hieroschemamonk Seraphim Vyritsky said that the time will come when forty sinners will cling to every believer, so that he will pull them out of the swamp of sin. Blessed Lyubushka became such a savior for those who knew her. She helped in the matter of salvation from spiritual hunger not only during the years of the siege, but also in times of peace, when people need an intercessor and comforter no less than in war. The house in Susanino became a popular refuge - hundreds, and then thousands of visitors flocked there. People went to Lyubushka as to a prophetess: whatever the Lord announced, she would say, and they accepted her answer as from the mouth of God.
In 1992, the archabbot of Mount Athos arrived in Susanino. At the meeting and farewell, he asked the blessed one to write down his name for prayerful memory and twice heard the answer that shocked him: “There is no need to write, I know Father Athanasius.” This “I know” was pronounced with the same expression with which she spoke about prayer books distant from her not only by distance, but also by time. So she talked with the saints on the icons in the Susaninsky Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and in her holy corner...
She saved not only individuals, but also entire cities. In 1991, in the suburb of Sosnovy Bor, there was an accident at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. Events developed according to the same pattern as at Chernobyl. The day before Lyubushka was very worried and said: “Fire, fire!” I baptized the road to the city, did not sleep until the morning, prayed - and no trouble happened...
Short-sighted, we often believe that trouble goes away on its own; bad things don’t happen by chance.
Blessed Lyubushka Susaninskaya performed her prayers day and night, not only not allowing herself to lie down, but even to sit down. She took the bread brought by the pilgrims, bit off a piece of it and, in childish, simple words, remembered those who brought it. People, seeing this, began to cry tears of love and repentance. As the scab fell from their souls, the only cry remained: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Then Lyubushka took the remains of this bread with her and fed it to the birds in the church fence.
Lyubushka always defended those unjustly persecuted. Those who are slandered, those who are offended, those who are falsely accused - I prayed for them and always begged for them. But she was also impartial - if a person deserved it, he could be exposed to reproof from her, which was very tangible and painful. She usually gave a blessing, pointing to a saint to whom it was necessary to pray especially, serve a prayer service, or read an akathist. Lyubushka gave her blessing to some to light candles, talking about this as a very important matter. Without further ado, she advised visitors who came with complex family and work problems: “Read your prayers at home, teach your children to pray.” And indeed, the life of these people lacked its main basis, the only thing needed. Due to the lack of prayer, problems arose as a natural consequence of living in a house “built on sand” (Matthew 7:26–27).
From the memoirs of monk Moses (Malinsky): “In 1991, I preached Christ, then in Western Ukraine, where I am from, there was a persecution of Orthodoxy. The authorities decided to deport me to Israel. While the visa was being processed, I went to Father Naum in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (Father Naum called blessed Lyubushka “the living successor of blessed Matrona”), and he directed me to Lyubushka. “Mother, they are sending me to Jerusalem,” I said. And she will clap her hands and exclaim with joy: “To Jerusalem! To Jerusalem! I realized that this was God’s will, and with a light heart I left my homeland. The Greek Archimandrite Dionysius tonsured me at the Holy Sepulcher Brotherhood and named me in honor of the Teacher of the Law, Moses.
Returning to Russia, I hurried with my friends to Lyubushka. She led us to the church gatehouse: “I will feed you.” And she kept pouring it on and on, we can’t eat anymore, but she kept pouring it on: “Eat.” This is a great gift when an elder or old woman feeds you - it means he is sharing grace.
Another time, Father Vasily Shvets sent us to St. Petersburg, saying: “You will visit Blessed Ksenyushka, then Karpovka, then you will go to Lyubushka.” We started looking for accommodation for the night, found it with difficulty, and in the morning we went to Susanino. When they entered, the old lady sternly remarked: “You were told: to blessed Ksenia, then to Karpovka, and only then to me.” We realized that we had violated the sequence of the blessing: the instructions of the spiritual father must be followed verbatim, without changes.”
Anna Petrovna (regent) recalls: “One day the blessed one was standing on the porch and suddenly said: “They kill there, don’t go there, you don’t need to go there.” - “Where to, Lyubushka?” – I was surprised, but she didn’t explain. Soon my husband Ivan was attacked and almost killed. She always spoke in parables, it was our job to understand. She ate modestly and didn’t take from everyone.
One day I felt bad and asked: “My dear, pray for me.” - “I pray, I pray.” - “I feel bad, bad, Lyubushka.” - “Sing to the Lord while your legs walk.” So I sing. She herself stood on the porch all the time, and kept on her legs, on her legs - she didn’t like to sit. The man had a great soul!” Mother Lyudmila recalls: “I thought: we are asking her about our everyday questions, but we should watch how this saint of God prays while she is still next to us, on earth. One day Lyubushka prayed for a long time, then she came up and told me two sins that no one but me knew about: “Beg off, otherwise the Lord will punish you at the Last Judgment.”
From the memoirs of Mother Valentina: “We went to Lyubushka with the whole family... One day my grandson Georgy fell ill: pus, staphylococcus was oozing... I went to Lyubushka: “George is dying!” She prayed and said: “He will live.” And everything worked out. Then my daughter fell ill with rubella, and again, through Lyubushka’s prayers, the disease went away... One day in the late autumn I couldn’t even breathe, there were polyps in my nose.
We arrived at Lyubushka's. I told her about my illness. “Pray to God and you will receive help from the Mother of God, from the Savior and Nicholas the Pleasant,” said Lyubushka. I didn’t have time to reach the platform before my nose started breathing normally... She prayed on her hand. Leads with a finger and repeats names. All her spiritual children are written on her hand - all of us, all of Russia. For our family, she was a spiritual “first aid”, and now she helps immediately, just ask. Although the Lord has called her to eternal bliss, Lyubushka does not leave us, the poor, she is always alive with us.”
From the memoirs of Claudius P.: “Before her death, Lyubushka visited several monasteries, and there they felt her help... So, after the blessed old woman visited Shamordino, a women’s monastery founded by St. Ambrose of Optina, they were given a house that had not been given to the monastery for a very long time. Mother Abbess asked Lyubushka to pray for the transfer of the house, and soon the owners brought them the keys. So in the Kazan Monastery in Vyshny Volochyok, where she found eternal rest, all the buildings were transferred to the monastery after the blessed one settled there.
From the memoirs of Mother Superior Theodora:
– The Lord vouchsafed me, unworthy, to come for the first time to Lyubushka in Susanino with the blessing of my spiritual father (Schiarchimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochkin)) on January 14, 1987. From then on, for eleven years, until her very blessed death, I listened to her and lived only with her blessing and her holy prayers.
In 1990, I was offered to take over the Vyshnevolotskaya Kazan Convent; the temples and bell tower were in ruins; the sisters had nowhere to live and nothing to pay for. And Lyubushka blessed: “Take it.” Several times I was tempted to leave the monastery, since I had to live with one or two sisters without a livelihood, but when I came to Lyubushka and talked about it, she didn’t want to listen: “If you leave the monastery, it will close, and the Mother of God will not forgive you.” . Build, build and build, if you build a monastery, the Lord will send His mercy.” Only blessed Lyubushka, with her holy prayers, helped to revive this holy monastery in honor of the Kazan Mother of God, and at the end of her life she herself rested here, so the Lord sent His mercy...
Upon arrival at the monastery (January 29, 1997), she said: “Now I have come home.” When it was very difficult for me, I told Lyubushka: “You will not be there, and I cannot live without you.” And she answered me: “Wait until the summer.” I was anxiously waiting for the summer to pass and Lyubushka to leave. But the summer passed, and Lyubushka still lived with us, only starting to get sick. And when, after a complex operation that she underwent in Tver, she asked to be taken to the Kazan Monastery, I realized that Lyubushka would stay with us. Suddenly she felt worse. She received communion every day. A day before her death at 10 p.m., Lyubushka asked to receive Holy Communion again and thereby made it clear that she would soon die. All the sisters and close children who were in the monastery began to come up to say goodbye to her. She asked everyone for forgiveness and prayed for us. I wrote on my hand all the time with my finger.
On September 11, the day of the Beheading of John the Baptist, she was given communion at 11 o’clock, and until the last minute she was conscious and praying. Half an hour before her death, her face began to brighten. Seeing her last minutes of life on earth, I felt embarrassed for my careless life and for the fact that there was no one in the cell, and I alone saw the blessed death of the great saint of God. I began to read the canon on the outcome of the soul, then Lyubushka sighed quietly three times and gave up her righteous soul to the Lord. Immediately a blissful smile was etched on her face. During her lifetime, she said that the Mother of God of Kazan herself would come for her in a white dress. Blessed Elder Lyubov was buried on September 13, 1997, Saturday, near the Kazan Cathedral on the right side of the altar. And the next day, September 14, according to the old style, September 1 is the beginning of the church new year. Only on that day did I, unworthy, understand why she told me to wait until the summer; it turns out that this meant until the church summer. As soon as she came to us, she already knew the day of her death...
Lord, rest blessed Lyubushka, rest with the saints, and through her prayers save us!
Sayings and Predictions
Pray yourself and teach your children
The pilgrim never sat down during the Divine Liturgy: she said that the flesh should not be pitied. She advised: “Pray yourself and teach your children to pray.”
A catastrophe that never happened
In 1991, a fire similar to Chernobyl occurred at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. Before this, the seer had not slept a wink all night, excitedly repeating: “Fire, fire!”, and crossed the road - no explosion happened. On Easter 1993, three Optina monks were killed. The old woman predicted this tragedy in advance, telling one monk who was receiving threats that they would kill him, but not him. I greatly revered Blessed Xenia and Fr. John of Kronstadt.
With her habit of running her finger over her palm, Lyubushka could point to the general obscurity of modernity - smartphones that are familiar today
Another time, she ordered the parents of a little sick Leningrader to take the child from the hospital and go to the monastery on Karpovka, to the grave of the Kronstadt priest. A miracle of healing happened.
Prophecies about Russia
Lyubushka predicted that Russia would have a war with China, which would last five months until the enemy was stopped beyond the Urals. She said that if people do not begin to repent of their sins, a terrible time will come.
Interesting fact
According to Abbess Eupraxia (Inber), with her habit of running her finger over her palm, Lyubushka could point to the general obscurity of modernity - smartphones that are familiar to us today.
About canonization
To begin the canonization of an ascetic, quite a long time must pass, during which extensive material of evidence of holiness is collected. Not much time has passed since the death of the elder, but canonization is being talked about among the highest church authorities. The oxbow is widely known and revered among the people.
Abbess Eupraxia (Inber):
“It seems to us that her whole life is ready-made materials for canonization”
Mother went through her feat in the midst of a godless world. In these incredibly difficult conditions, she was not only able to maintain faith and please the Lord, but also became a source of spiritual wisdom for her neighbors, strengthening them on the path to Salvation.
Author: Irina Koshcheeva.
