Truly, the gift of God is a person’s desire to help other people. It is rare to meet a healer who has survived violence, was crippled by illness and by his own parents to the point of losing his sight and the ability to move, but at the same time has patience, humility and great love for the disadvantaged and sick; it is not for nothing that the world calls them holy fools or blessed ones.
Matrona Anemnyasevskaya Kasimovskaya - saint, blessed, survived the abuse of her mother, as a result of this she became blind and unable to walk, had the unique gift of seeing illness, healing and warning of impending dangers, maintaining humility and obedience until the end of her life.
Holy Blessed Matrona of Anemnyasevo
She became blind at age 7 and stopped walking at age 10.
There are blessed ones, holy fools for Christ's sake, who are difficult to understand: they act strangely, perform provocative acts, and speak mysteriously.
There are others, “understandable” ones, who are often seriously ill since childhood, but it’s not them, physically weak and disabled people, who ask for help, but people who come to them for consolation. And what God said to the Apostle Paul is fulfilled on them in full: “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
The bliss of the first and second is in complete surrender of oneself to the will of God, whatever it may be, so complete that it seems foolish, because it is incomprehensible and annoying.
At all times, the blessed and holy fools reminded us that earthly values - well-being, career, happiness in personal life, even health - are second in line. Very important, but second.
And the first is God and peace of conscience with Him, the laws of Heaven, so often trampled not even by atheism, but by Pharisee hypocrisy, “rites of faith,” in the vanity of life.
The life of the blessed cannot be described by canons; there is little that is “canonical” in their lives, and they are even born “non-canonically.” Saint Matryona Anemnyasevskaya (1864-1936) was not born into a pious family with strong Christian foundations: her father drank heavily, was considered a drunkard in the village, the farm was neglected, both parents, as the life says, “in appearance seemed somehow underdeveloped.”
It is unknown why the parents did not like Matrona, although she was a living, healthy child. “They used to come from the market,” said Matrona, “all the sisters would be given gifts, but they would bypass me, so I would silently step aside, offended...” She, more than any of her brothers and sisters, received abuse and beatings.
At the age of seven, Matryona fell ill with smallpox and became blind. It was not easy for the blind girl to cope with housework and babysitting: one day she accidentally dropped her sister from the porch to the ground. The mother grabbed Matryosha and started hitting her with whatever she hit, cursing angrily.
The girl cried and asked for forgiveness, but the mother, having entered into some kind of frenzy, did not let up, when suddenly, says the life, Matrona saw the Mother of God stretching out her hands to her from Heaven:
“Mom, Mother of God,” the child shouted, but the mother hit harder. The vision was repeated three times, but the mother did not listen; For the last time, the Most Holy Theotokos gave Matryona a scroll. Blessed Matrona never spoke about what was written there.
The next morning, the mutilated girl was unable to get up. From that time on, she forever lost the ability to walk.
Holy Prophet Zechariah and Elizabeth
O holy saints of God, prophet Zechariah and righteous Elizabeth! Having fought a good fight on earth, we have naturally received the crown of righteousness in heaven, which the Lord has prepared for all who love Him. In the same way, looking at your holy image, we rejoice at the glorious end of your life and honor your holy memory. You, standing before the Throne of God, accept our prayers and bring them to the All-Merciful God, to forgive us every sin and help us against the wiles of the devil, so that, having been delivered from sorrows, illnesses, troubles and misfortunes and all evil, we will live piously and righteously in the present We will be worthy, through your intercession, even though we are unworthy, to see good on the land of the living, glorifying the One in His saints, the glorified God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
“You’ve been lying there for so many years, I suppose it’s pleasing to God.”
The village of Anemnyasevo, where Saint Matrona was born and lived.
Photo from the site fondpm.ru This is how Matryona lay in her parents’ house until she was 17 years old, enduring abuse and reproaches for “freedom.” Outwardly, she seemed like a ten-year-old child - her body stopped growing and forever remained the same as that of a ten-year-old girl.
Her dress, which covered the blessed one completely with her legs, was only 90 centimeters in length. Matrona could roll over from side to side, move her arms and take small objects.
The villagers knew about the girl’s life, and they treated her with reverence - among the people, the patient sufferers without guilt were always considered “God’s people.”
From the age of seventeen, people came to Matryona. The first to come for help was a peasant from her own village, a wood sawyer.
– Matryosha, you’ve been lying there for several years, I suppose you’re pleasing to God. My back hurts and I can’t saw. Touch your back, maybe it will go away for you. What should I do, I was treated - the doctors are not helping. Matryosha fulfilled his request - the back pain really stopped, and he got up to work.
This peasant told one of his neighbors about his healing, and he said: “I’ll go to her too: our children have tortured us, the twelfth will be born soon; I’ll ask her to pray that the Lord will stop having children with us. He came to Matryosha and asked to pray. Matryosha prayed, and they had no more children.
Over time, people going to Matryona turned into a pilgrimage: they walked in a stream for more than fifty years, several dozen and sometimes hundreds every day.
Visitors brought donations to the girl for her prayers: canvas, a towel, a handkerchief, bread, lard, cottage cheese, etc.
In the eyes of the family, Matrona turned from a “burden” into a source of income. My father often took what he brought and exchanged it for tobacco or vodka.
But if she didn’t have time, Matryona herself gave some of what she brought to the people who came to her.
Prayer for conceiving a child to the holy blessed Matrona of Moscow
Oh, blessed mother Matrono, hear and accept us now, sinners, praying to you, who throughout your entire life has learned to receive and listen to all those who suffer and mourn with faith and hope for those who resort to your intercession and help, giving quick help and miraculous healing to everyone; May your mercy not fail now for us, unworthy, restless in this busy world and nowhere finding consolation and compassion in spiritual sorrows and help in bodily illnesses, heal our illnesses, deliver us from the temptations and torment of the passionately fighting devil, help us convey everyday our Cross, to bear all the hardships of life and not to lose the image of God in it, to preserve the Orthodox faith until the end of our days, to have strong trust and hope in God and unfeigned love for our neighbors, so that after we depart from this life, help us to achieve the Kingdom of Heaven with all those who please God, glorifying the mercy and goodness of the Heavenly Father, glorified in the Trinity: Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen
The Road to Calvary
Iron Goose, Trinity Cathedral, where today the revered icon of the blessed Matrona of Anemnyasevo is located.
sasovo-kruiz.ru After the death of her parents, Matryona had to endure a lot from her brother and sister, who looked at her as a “cash cow.”
Good people - admirers of Matrona, seeing such an attitude of her relatives, built her a house at their own expense. But my sister managed to do this too: she sued a house from a bedridden disabled person.
Then Matryosha went to live with her nephew Matvey, the son of one of the sisters, a kind man and a believer. But even here the troubles did not leave. Matvey’s children grew up, his fellow villagers began to laugh at them, tease them, saying that there was a “fool” in their house. Revolutionary times passed, God was “abolished,” as were His commandments of love.
And Matryona was tormented that these innocent people had to endure insults for her.
Usually Matrona lay in a small separate room, in a small crib, which was always covered with a curtain. In the summer, when it became stuffy in the hut, she was taken out into the hallway, and there she lay until winter. She herself never asked to be moved to the hut; she endured the autumn cold and cold.
The relatives, with the exception of the nephew, did not pay attention to Matrona; They moved her to the hut only when it snowed outside.
“Once,” Matryona recalled, “in the month of October, I was lying in the hallway; it rained heavily at night. Water poured through the roof onto me and I got wet. By morning there was a frost, I was terribly cold, and my clothes were all frozen. In the morning, my sister saw this, took pity and took me to the hut, for which I am grateful to her.
Often in the autumn cold, those who came were surprised at her patience and asked: “Matrona, are you cold?” “No, it’s warm,” she usually answered in such cases, “look, that’s how hot I am.” At the same time, she gave her hand, and the hand was really hot.
To the Righteous Godfathers Joachim and Anna
Oh, blessed righteous women of Christ, holy godfathers Joachim and Anna, standing before the Heavenly Throne of the Great King and having great boldness towards Him, as from your Most Blessed Daughter, the Most Pure Mother of God and the Ever-Virgin Mary, who deigned to be incarnate!
We, sinners and unworthy, resort to you, as a powerful intercessor and a zealous prayer book for us. Pray for His goodness, that He may turn away His anger from us, righteously moved against us by our deeds, and may, despising our countless sins, turn us to the path of repentance, and may He establish us on the path of His commandments. Also, with your prayers, preserve our life in the world, and in all good things, ask for good haste, all that we need from God for life and piety, granting us from all misfortunes and troubles and sudden deaths through your intercession, and protecting us from all enemies, visible and invisible, for let us live a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity, and having passed this temporary life in the world, we will achieve eternal peace, and through your holy prayer may we be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him, with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit, befits all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.
Good Shepherd
During conversations with people who came to her, Matrona often read prayers out loud that were appropriate to the topics of conversation. She sang akathists and church hymns by heart, completely correctly maintaining the peculiarities of voices and chants.
To the question of one of the visitors, who asked how she, being blind, knew entire akathists by heart, Matryona replied: “A good person will come and read something, and I will remember with God’s help.”
In a conversation with one of her admirers, Matryona said that “incessant prayer can do everything.” She said about herself that she herself tries to pray incessantly and prays with the rosary, which she always has in her hand; that she also prays while talking to people; that during conversations he touches his rosary, but prays secretly, to himself. Visitors do not see her rosary, which is always hidden from them.
Matryona received communion every month - she invited her confessor - the parish priest, and the day of receiving the Holy Mysteries was unusually lively and joyful. From the age of seventeen she gave up meat. During church fasts I ate almost nothing or ate very little.
Respecting the clergy, she treated schismatic-renovationists, no matter what rank they were in, strictly. True, the severity was only enough for one of the parish priests, who converted to renovationism, to be called “our Petrusha.”
Without leaving her room, Matryona knew many holy people and was in inner communication with them, although she had never seen them.
I greatly revered Blessed Maria Ivanovna Diveevskaya. A particularly deep internal connection was established between these blessed ones, and material barriers were not an obstacle.
Matrona was very fond of nuns and girls in general. She forgave the nuns everything. “After all, I didn’t have to be there, in the monastery,” Matrona said more than once with regret. - Nuns, how many times will they fall? They will fall, and yet again they will rise. But in the world, man has fallen, and he has no time to rise. We are all incontinent, sometimes you cannot do without sin, sometimes you will cry...
Pleased by God with her life, patience, fidelity, goodness, and hope, Matrona received many spiritual gifts from the Lord. She herself had a pure heart and saw the heart of a person. Through the prayers of Blessed Matrona, healings were made from many diseases when doctors could not do anything. They were healed from both drunkenness and demonic possession.
Prayer of spouses for the gift of children
Hear us, Merciful and Almighty God, may Thy grace be sent down through our prayer. Be merciful, Lord, to our prayer, remember Your Law about the multiplication of the human race and be a merciful Patron, so that with Your help what You have established will be preserved. By Your sovereign power You created everything out of nothing and laid the foundation for everything that exists in the world - You created man in Your image and, with a sublime mystery, sanctified the union of marriage and the foreshadowing of the mystery of the unity of Christ with the Church. Look, O Merciful One, on these Thy servants (names), united in a marital union and begging for Thy help, may Thy mercy be upon them, may they be fruitful and may they see the son of their sons even to the third and fourth generation and live to the desired old age and will enter the Kingdom of Heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all glory, honor and worship is due, together with the Holy Spirit, forever.
“The Case of the Sick Geek Matrona Belyakova”
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona at the Vladykinsky cemetery.
Photo from the site stefmon.ru Starting from Lent in 1933, Matryona seemed to have ceased to be interested in earthly life. She rarely spoke about everyday matters, reluctantly, in exceptional cases. But she was ready to talk about spiritual life, especially about the future life, day and night. Matrona lovingly received people who came to her with such questions.
“I’m not Matryona now,” she then said to one of the women who often visited and supported her, “but Mardaria... They said that she was secretly tonsured into the monastic rank by the elders of Sarov, but how reliable this was remained unknown.
In the summer of 1935, in Belkovo, Kasimovsky district, Ryazan province, not far from the village of Anemnyasevo, where Matrona lived, following a denunciation from a local person, a case was opened against “the priests of the Pravdolyubovs and the sick degenerate Matryona Belyakova” (as the disabled woman was called in official papers in the country of the Soviets). 10 people were arrested. According to the list, Blessed Matrona should have been arrested, but they were afraid to touch her.
Finally, the collective farm meeting decided to “remove” Matrona Grigorievna Belyakova as a “harmful element.” Out of 300 village residents, 24 activists signed up.
The village council gave a description of “Belyakova M.G.”: “This gr. with its holiness (this is said without any irony, in the most literal meaning of the word - Ed.) greatly influences the dark masses... Because of this, the progress of collectivization is delayed.”
They sent a car for Blessed Matrona to arrest her. We drove up to the house in the afternoon, without hiding. We entered. But then the prisoners were seized with fear, they hesitated and were afraid to approach the blessed one.
The chairman of the village council made up his mind and lifted Matryona from her plank bed. Matrona screamed in a thin voice. The people were numb.
The Chairman began to carry Matrona out, saying at the door: “Oh, how light!” Matrona replied: “And your children will be so light.”
All the children of the chairman stopped growing after the arrest of Blessed Matrona. The chairman himself died in agony a few years later. The house stood with the windows open due to the heat. In pain, he screamed so loudly that half the village could hear. People said: “It’s not for you to raise Matreshenka!” But the chairman called the priest, sincerely repented and died in peace with the Church.
Criminal case and arrest
The Pravdolyubov brothers, priests, set about compiling a biography of Saint Matrona, recording cases of healings and visions.
What the blessed Matronushka did not please one of the townspeople of Kasimov, history has not preserved, but according to his denunciation in 1935, “the sick degenerate Matrona Belyakov and the priests of the Pravdolyubovs” were arrested, they were accused of anti-Soviet and anti-collective farm activities. The guilt of the “harmful element” of Belyakova was that her holiness had a bad influence on the dark masses and hindered the process of collectivization.
The Bolsheviks did not dare to touch the blind seer, about whose power legends were made, but there was an order to deliver the sick woman through Ryazan to Moscow. For this purpose, a special car was sent from the capital.
The chairman of the local village council undertook to carry the blessed one out, and was surprised at the woman’s lightness, to which she said that soon his children would also become light. Surprisingly, after the arrest of the holy fool, the chairman’s children stopped growing, and he himself fell ill, suffered for a long time in severe pain, repented and died.
The year spent in Butyrka prison gave many prisoners an acquaintance with the true faith, akathists and prayers received when meeting Blessed Matryona Belyakova. The guards could not shut her mouth; they were afraid to kill her, so they sent her to a mental hospital, declaring her mentally ill.
Prison in danger
Death of Blessed Matrona on July 8, 1933.
Photo from the site stefmon.ru Little is known about the Moscow period of the life of Blessed Matrona.
There is apocryphal information that Matrona was put in Butyrka, but she did not stay there long - half the prison suddenly began to sing akathists and pray.
It was urgent to remove the blessed one, who was confusing the people with her holiness. Somehow they didn’t dare kill.
According to other sources, the hopelessly ill mother of the investigator in charge of Matrona’s case received healing through Matrona’s prayers, and the investigator managed to release her as seriously ill, placing her in a home for the elderly and crippled patients.
It is documented that Blessed Matrona died of heart failure on July 16/29, 1936 in the House of Chronicles named after Radishchev in Moscow, not far from the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Vladykino. Next to the House of Chronicles there was the Vladykinsky cemetery (partially preserved to this day), and there are suggestions that Blessed Matrona was buried here, in the local old cemetery.
Blessed Matrona Anemnyasevskaya was first glorified as a locally revered saint of the Ryazan diocese, and at the Council of Bishops in 2000 she was canonized among the new martyrs and confessors of Russia.
In front of the revered icon of the blessed Matrona in the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity in Troitsky-Golenischev (Moscow), many candles are always burning. The candlestick in front of the icon is a gift from the family of parishioners, admirers of the blessed one. The icon is decorated with decorative butterflies (St. Matrona loved them in childhood) as a sign of gratitude from people who received help from Matrona.
