Иеромонах Дамаскин (Орловский)

Maria Zakharovna Fedina was born in the village of Goletkovo, Elatomsky district, Tambov province. Subsequently they asked her why she was called Ivanovna. “This is all of us, blessed ones, Ivanovnas according to John the Baptist,” she answered. Her parents Zakhar and Pelageya Fedina died when she was barely thirteen years old. The father died first. After the death of her husband, Pelageya settled with Masha in the family of her eldest son. But here they had no place to live from their daughter-in-law, and they moved to a bathhouse. Since childhood, Maria was distinguished by a restless character and many oddities, she often went to church, was silent and lonely, never played with anyone, did not have fun, did not dress up, and was always dressed in a torn, discarded dress. The Lord especially provided for her, knowing her future zeal for God, and during her work she often saw the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery before her eyes, although she had never been there. A year after the death of his father, his mother died. Here she completely lost her life from her relatives. One summer, several women and girls gathered to go to Sarov, Maria asked to go with them. She never returned home. Having no permanent shelter, she wandered between Sarov, Diveevo and Ardatov - hungry, half-naked, persecuted. She walked, regardless of the weather, in winter and summer, in cold and heat, in hollow water and in rainy autumn, in the same way - in bast shoes, often torn, without footwear. Once I was walking to Sarov during Holy Week in the midst of mud, knee-deep in water mixed with mud and snow; A man in a cart caught up with her, took pity on her and called her for a ride, but she refused. In the summer, Maria apparently lived in the forest, because when she came to Diveevo, her body was completely covered with ticks and many of the wounds had already opened. Most often she visited the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery; some sisters loved her, feeling that she was an extraordinary person; They gave clean and strong clothes instead of rags, but a few days later Maria came again, all torn and dirty, bitten by dogs and beaten by evil people. Some nuns did not understand her feat, did not like her and persecuted her, went to complain about her to the police officer, so that he, with the authority given to him, would free them from this “beggar woman,” lousy and rude. The policeman took her away, but could not do anything, because she seemed like a complete fool, and he let her go. Mary again went to people and often, as if swearing, denounced them of secret sins, for which many especially did not like her. No one ever heard from her a complaint, a groan, despondency, irritability or lamentation about human injustice. And the Lord Himself, for her godly life and greatest humility and patience, glorified her among people. They began to notice: whatever she says or warns about comes true, and those who stop receive grace from God. One woman, Pelageya, had twelve children, and all of them died before the age of five. In the first years of her marriage, when her two children died, Maria Ivanovna came to their village, went to the windows of her house and sang: “Little hen, give birth to a few children.” The women around her tell her: – She has no children at all. Then Maria Ivanovna explained to them: One day she says to a woman: - Go, go quickly, Ruzanovo is burning. And the woman was from Ruzanov. I came to Ruzanovo, everything was in place, nothing happened; stood up in bewilderment, and at that time they shouted: “We’re burning.” And all of Ruzanovo burned out from end to end. Maria Ivanovna received spiritual nourishment from Blessed Praskovya Ivanovna, with whom she came to consult. Praskovya Ivanovna herself, anticipating her death, said to her loved ones: “I am still sitting behind the camp, and the other is already scurrying around, she is still walking, and then she will sit down,” and to Maria Ivanovna, blessing her to stay in the monastery, she said: “Just don’t sit in my chair” (Maria Ivanovna lived in the cell of Blessed Pasha for only two years). On the very day of the death of blessed Pashenka of Sarov, Maria Ivanovna had a small temptation. Annoyed by her oddities, the nuns kicked her out of the monastery, not ordering her to come here at all, otherwise they would resort to the help of the police. The blessed one said nothing to this, turned and left. Before the coffin with the body of blessed Pasha was brought into the church, a peasant arrived at the monastery and said: “Which servant of God you drove out of the monastery, she now told me my whole life and all my sins.” Return her to the monastery, otherwise you will lose her forever. Messengers were immediately sent for Maria Ivanovna. She did not keep herself waiting and returned to the monastery at a time when Praskovya Ivanovna was lying in a coffin in the church. The blessed one entered and, turning to the senior sacristan nun Zinovia, said: - Look, put me the same way, just like Pasha. She got angry with her, how dare she compare herself to Pasha, and answered her boldly. Maria Ivanovna said nothing. Since then, she finally settled in Diveyevo. At first she lived with the nun Maria, and then the abbess gave her a separate room. The room was cold and damp, especially the floor, and the blessed one lived in it for almost eight years; Here she completely lost her legs and acquired severe rheumatism throughout her body. Almost from the first year of her life in the monastery, Pasha (Dorothea in monasticism) was assigned to her as a novice, who at first did not like Maria Ivanovna and went to serve her for obedience. Maria Ivanovna had said even before that Pasha would be brought to serve her. Pasha grieved greatly, seeing how Maria Ivanovna gradually acquired a painful illness and lost her legs, but she could not do anything. Only when there were so many people coming to the blessed one that it was impossible to fit in the cramped room, the abbess allowed her to be transferred to the house of Pasha of Sarov. This house stood right at the gate, and the Soviet authorities, seeing a large crowd of people, initiated persecution against the blessed one, so that in the end she was transferred to a separate room at the almshouse, where she lived until the monastery was closed. The blessed one was not content with the exploits of her previous wandering life, illness, prayer, and receiving people. One day, Maria Ivanovna’s novice, Dorofey’s mother, went to the pantry for milk, quite far from the old woman’s cell, and served a hot samovar on the table. He returns and hears Maria Ivanovna’s frantic cry: “Guard!” The confused novice at first did not understand anything, and then she sat down in horror. In her absence, Maria Ivanovna decided to pour herself some tea and opened the tap, but failed to turn it on, and the water poured onto her lap until Dorofea’s mother arrived. She was scalded to the bones, all over her front and legs, and her knees were completely covered in blisters, then everything burst and began to get wet. This happened in the heat of the day, in June. Dorothea was afraid that worms would form in her exposed and unhealing muscles, but the Lord protected His chosen one, and by what miracle she recovered, only God knows. Without getting out of bed, she urinated on herself, everything was rotten, she lay without oilcloth, it was difficult to lift her and rearrange the linen, and yet she recovered. Another time, Dorofey was tired to the point of exhaustion, raising Maria Ivanovna all night and all for a minute; In the morning she became so weak that she said: “As you wish, Maria Ivanovna, I can’t get up, do whatever you want.” Maria Ivanovna became quiet, and suddenly Dorothea woke up from a terrible roar: the blessed one herself decided to get down, but she got up in the wrong direction in the dark, fell with her hand on the table and broke it in her hand. She shouted: “Guard!” but she didn’t want to call the doctor to tie her hand in a splint, but put it on the pillow and lay for six months in one position, without getting up or turning around. I urinated on myself again because I drank a lot and ate almost nothing. Her bedsores became so severe that her bones were exposed and her flesh hung in shreds. And again Maria Ivanovna endured all the torment without complaint, and only six months later the arm began to grow together and grew together incorrectly, as can be seen in some photographs. One day, Dorofey’s mother wanted to count how many times Maria Ivanovna got up during the night. To do this, she put down a tablet and chalk, put down the first stick in the evening and went to bed, without telling the blessed one anything about her plan. In the morning she woke up and was surprised that it was Maria Ivanovna who did not get up and did not call her. I went up to her, and she was not sleeping, laughing and lying all over, as if in a swamp, having wet herself at the collar, and said: “I never got up.” Dorothea's mother fell blessed at her feet: - Forgive me, for Christ’s sake, mother, I will never again count or be curious about you and your affairs. She taught those who lived with Maria Ivanovna to perform feats, and for obedience and for the prayers of the blessed one, the feat became feasible. Thus, the blessed one did not allow Mother Dorothea to sleep except on one side, and if she lay down on the other side, she screamed at her. Maria Ivanovna herself plucked a spot on her leg until it bled and did not allow it to heal. A true ascetic and a godly person, she had the gift of healing and insight. She healed the eye of a woman named Elena by anointing it with oil from a lamp. One nun had eczema on her hands. For three years she was treated by the best doctors in Moscow and Nizhny - there was no improvement. All hands were covered with wounds. She was overcome by such despondency that she wanted to leave the monastery. She went to Maria Ivanovna. She suggested anointing with oil from the lamp; The nun was scared because the doctors forbade her to touch oil and water with her hands. But she agreed to the blessed one for her faith, and after two times the marks of the wounds themselves disappeared from the skin. One day a peasant came to Maria Ivanovna - in despair, how to live now, they were completely ruined. She says: “Put the butter churn.” He obeyed, took up the matter and improved his affairs. About the Nizhny Novgorod Archbishop Evdokim (Meshchersky), a renovationist, the blessed one said even before his apostasy: - Red candle, red bishop. And she even composed a song about him: “Like down our street, Evdokim walks with a bucket, thin blue pants, long, shameful legs.” One bishop decided to visit the blessed one out of curiosity, not believing in her insight. Just as he was about to enter, Maria Ivanovna shouted: - Oh, Dorothea, sit me down, put me on the ship quickly. She sat down and began to scold, grumble, and complain about being sick. The Bishop was horrified by such a reception and silently left. On the way, he developed an upset stomach; he was sick all the way, moaning and complaining. Four years before her release from her seclusion, the blessed one of Schema Anatolia (Yakubovich) shouted: - Shemale pig, get out of prison. She was in retreat with the blessing of Fr. Anatoly (the schema-monk Vasily of Sarov), but her deceased sister began to appear to her. Anatoly’s mother got scared, came out of seclusion and began going to church. Maria Ivanovna said: “It’s the demons who are driving her out of the retreat, not me.” One day a boy came to Maria Ivanovna, she said: - Here comes priest Alexey. Subsequently, he really became the Sarov hieromonk, Fr. Alexey. He revered her very much and visited her often. And then one day he came, sat down and was silent. And she says: “I don’t eat meat, I started eating cabbage and cucumbers with kvass and I became healthier.” He realized that this was about how he, afraid of getting sick, began to eat meat. I've since quit. Maria Ivanovna told Father Evgeniy that he would be ordained in Sarov. He believed her very much and told everyone about it in advance. And suddenly he is called to Diveevo. The cell attendant of the blessed one, Dorotheus’s mother, became agitated, and he felt unpleasant. He was ordained in Diveevo. Dorofey told Maria Ivanovna about this, and she laughed and said: - Should I put something in your mouth? Why isn't Sarov here? The saint's cell itself and all his belongings are here. One day a certain lady from Murom came to the blessed one. As soon as she entered, Maria Ivanovna said: - Lady, you smoke like a man. She really smoked for twenty-five years and suddenly began to cry and said: – I just can’t quit, I smoke both at night and before mass. “Take it, Dorothea, she has some tobacco and throw it in the oven.” She took an elegant cigarette case and matches and threw it all into the oven. A month later, Dorofey’s mother received a letter from her and a dress sewn in gratitude. She wrote that she doesn’t even think about smoking, everything just went away. Rimma Ivanovna Dolganova suffered from demonic possession; it was expressed in the fact that she fell in front of the shrine and could not receive communion. She began to ask the blessed one to enter the monastery. - Well, where are they needed... - Will I get better? – Rimma Ivanovna asked hopefully. - Before you die, you will be free. And that same night she fell ill with scarlet fever and went to the hospital herself, saying that she would never return. She died, shortly before her death, having been cured of demonic possession. One day Vera Lovzanskaya (later nun Seraphim) went to Maria Ivanovna to ask to enter the monastery. She, seeing her, shouted: - No need! Don't need it! No need! And then she laughed and said: “You’ll be putting your father to rest in his old age.” Go to Vladyka Varnava, he will arrange for you. Subsequently, it turned out that nun Seraphima had to rest her spiritual father, Bishop Varnava (Belyaev), until her death. The holy fool Onesimus lived in the monastery. He was very friendly with Blessed Maria Ivanovna. Sometimes they would come together and everyone would sing: “Rest in peace with the saints.” Onesimus lived all his life in a monastery and already called himself in the feminine gender: “she.” When Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich came to the opening of the relics of St. Seraphim, there were so many people that the gates had to be closed for a while. And Onesimus remained outside the gate and shouted: “Oh, I’m ours, I’m ours, let me in, I’m ours.” One day Maria Ivanovna says to Vera Lovzanskaya: “Oniska will take my girl far, far away.” Only when Bishop Barnabas himself accepts the feat of foolishness and she follows him to Siberia, only then will it become clear what Blessed Maria Ivanovna was talking about. Before going to Central Asia, Vera Lovzanskaya went to Maria Ivanovna to say goodbye and take a blessing. The Diveyevo monastery was closed, and Maria Ivanovna lived in the village. Vera got off early in the morning in Arzamas; we had to walk sixty kilometers to Diveevo. It was December, cold. She went out onto the road and saw a man riding on a sledge. Stopped: We reached the village of Kruglye Pany. There's a tavern here. The driver went to have something to eat and drank a fair amount. On the way he got carried away, the sleigh constantly drove off the road and got stuck in the snow, but the horse somehow got out by itself and finally stopped at the house where Maria Ivanovna lived. It was one o'clock in the morning. The man woke up and began knocking on the window with all his might. The nuns opened it. They tell. All this time the blessed one was raging, banging on the table and shouting: - A drunk man is carrying a girl! A drunk man is carrying a girl! - What drunk man, what girl? - the nuns tried to understand. And the blessed one just shouted: - A drunk man is carrying a girl! One day an intelligent lady came to Maria Ivanovna with two boys. The blessed one immediately shouted: - Dorothea, Dorothea, give me two crosses, put them on them. – Why do they need crosses? Today they are communicants. And Maria Ivanovna makes a scandal, shouts: - Crosses, put crosses on them. Dorothea brought out two crosses, unbuttoned the children’s jackets, and indeed there were no crosses. The lady was very embarrassed when Dorothea asked her: - How did you give them communion without crosses? She muttered in response that she took them off for the trip, otherwise they would bother the children. The schema-montress came after her. “Why did you put on the schema, take it off, take it off, put on a scarf and bast shoes, and put a cross on it,” says Maria Ivanovna. With trepidation, Dorotheus’s mother approached her: it turned out that she was without a cross. She said that she lost it on the way. Bishop Zinovy (Drozdov) asked Maria Ivanovna: – You are a priest, and Metropolitan Sergius is a bishop. – Where will they give me a department, in Tambov? The Artsybushevs had a very thoroughbred heifer, and she didn’t show up over the summer, and therefore the family had to be without milk all year, and they had small children, no money, and they decided to sell her and buy another and went to Maria Ivanovna for a blessing. - Bless, Maria Ivanovna, to sell the cow. - Yes, she’s not pregnant, what do we need her for? “No,” Maria Ivanovna answers, “I’m pregnant, I’m pregnant, I tell you, it will be a sin for you if you sell it and leave the children hungry.” We came home in bewilderment and called an experienced village woman to examine the cow. She admitted that the cow was not pregnant. The Artsybushevs again went to Maria Ivanovna and said: - The cow is not pregnant, the woman says. Maria Ivanovna became agitated and screamed. - Pregnant, I tell you, pregnant. But they did not listen and took the cow to the market, they were offered ten rubles for it. They were offended and didn’t sell, but they still looked at the heifer for themselves and gave a deposit of ten rubles. But Maria Ivanovna is still the same - she scolds them, screams, scolds them. So what? They called a paramedic, and he found that the cow was indeed pregnant. They ran to Maria Ivanovna and at her feet: - Forgive us, Maria Ivanovna, what should we do with the heifer now, after all, we gave ten rubles as a deposit for it. Give the heifer back and let the deposit disappear. With the blessing of Bishop Varnava, Blessed Maria Ivanovna had a cell built in the village of Puzovo. She was taken there immediately after the monastery was closed; Valentina Dolganova supervised the arrangement of Maria Ivanovna and arranged the matter in such a way that no one had access to the blessed one. Maria Ivanovna stayed in Puzov for about three months. When Abbess Alexandra settled in Murom, Dorofey's mother came to visit her. - Why did you give Maria Ivanovna into the world? Take it back,” the abbess told her. - Maria Ivanovna, will you come with me? They put her on a cart, covered her with a red blanket and brought her to Elizarovo. Here she lived until spring, and in the spring they transported her to Diveevo, first to her deaf-mute brother and sister, and in 1930 to a farm near the village of Pochinok, and finally to Cherevatovo, where she died on August 26 (September 8, New Style) 1931. Place of death and burial of the blessed one.