BLESSED ST. KSENIA OF PETERSBURG

 ◦ Feb 06 (Old Calendar Jan 24) Memorial Day of Blessed St. Ksenia of St. Petersburg (c. 457) Patronal feast day of our parish. 

   ◦ Jun 06 (Old Calendar May 24) Day of glorification

   ◦ Jul 03 (Old Calendar June 20) Council of St. Petersburg Saints (movable celebration - 3rd week after Pentecost) 

   ◦ Sep 24 (Old Calendar Sep. 11) Day of glorification in the ROCOR

Holy Blessed Ksenia was born in the first half of the 18th century from pious and noble parents; Her father's name was Gregory, and her mother's name is unknown. Upon reaching adulthood, Ksenia Grigorievna married the court singer, Colonel Andrei Feodorovich Petrov, and lived with her husband in St. Petersburg. But the Lord did not decree that the young couple should walk along the path of life together for long; soon death separated them: Andrei Feodorovich died, leaving Ksenia Grigorievna a widow in the twenty-sixth year of her life. 

  This unexpected blow struck Ksenia Grigorievna so strongly and influenced the young widow so much that she immediately seemed to forget everything earthly, human, all the joys and pleasures, and as a result of this, she seemed to many to be crazy, having lost her mind. Even her relatives and friends began to look at her this way, especially after Ksenia gave away all her property to the poor and gave the house to her good friend, Paraskeva Antonova. Ksenia's relatives even submitted a petition to the authorities of the deceased Andrei Feodorovich, asking to forbid Ksenia to give away her property in madness. The superiors of the deceased Petrov summoned Ksenia to their place, but after talking with her they were completely convinced that Ksenia was perfectly healthy, and therefore had the right to dispose of her property as she pleased. 

  Freed from all earthly cares, Saint Ksenia chose for herself the difficult path of “foolishness for Christ's sake”. Dressed in her husband’s suit, that is, putting on his underwear, shirt, and uniform, she began to assure everyone that Andrei Feodorovich did not die at all, but that his wife Ksenia Grigorievna died. She never responded if they called her Ksenia Grigorievna, but would respond willingly if they called her Andrei Feodorovich. 

Ksenia did not have any specific place of residence. For the most part, she spent the whole day wandering around the St. Petersburg countryside and mainly in the area of ​​the parish of the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle, where at that time poor people lived in small wooden houses. The strange costume of the poor, barely shod woman, who had no place to lay her head, her allegorical conversations, her complete meekness, and gentleness often gave evil people and especially street boys a reason and courage to mock the blessed one. But she endured all these reproaches without complaint. As Ksenia began to be revered by some as a saint of God, others of the residents of the St. Petersburg grew to look at her in great anger.   Once, the boys’ bullying exceeded all human patience; they cursed and threw stones and dirt at her. After that, local residents decided to put a stop to her street harassment. 

  Little by little they got used to the blessed woman’s oddities. They began to offer her warm clothes and money, but Ksenia never agreed to exchange her rags and spent her entire life in a red blouse and a green skirt, or vice versa - a green blouse and a red skirt. Apparently these were the colors of her husband's military uniform. She also did not accept alms, but only took from good people the “king on a horse” (kopecks with the image of a horseman) and immediately gave this “king on a horse” to other people as poor as herself. Wandering all day long through the dirty, unpaved streets of St. Petersburg, Ksenia occasionally visited her friends, dined with them, talked, and then set off to wander again. Where she spent her nights remained unknown for a long time. Not only the residents of St. Petersburg became interested in this, but also the local police, for whom the location of the blessed one at night even seemed suspicious. It was decided to find out where this strange woman spent her nights and what she did. It turned out that Ksenia, no matter what time of year or weather, went to the field for the night, kneeling in prayer until dawn, alternately bowing to the ground on all four sides. Another time, workers who were building a new stone church at the Smolensk cemetery began to notice that at night, during their absence from the building, someone was dragging whole mountains of bricks onto the top of the church under construction. The workers marveled at this for a long time, and for a long time wondered where the brick came from. 

  Finally, they decided to find out who this free, tireless worker could be, carrying bricks for them every night. It turned out to be the servant of God, blessed Ksenia. 

  For her great deeds and patience, the Lord glorified His chosen one during her lifetime. The servant of God Ksenia was granted the gift of clairvoyance into peoples’ hearts and also of future events. She predicted the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and Ivan Antonovich; she secretly predicted the death of the merchant's wife Krapivnina, saying: “The nettle is green, but it will soon fade,” and she predicted marriage for one poor girl. 

  Teaching people truthfulness, Blessed Ksenia often revealed the secrets of those people whom she visited. The mercy of God overshadowed Ksenia so much that even those whom she visited or from whom she ate food were happy and successful in business. Both the merchants and the cab drivers all tried to serve her in some way; Those to whom Blessed Ksenia herself gave something were particularly visited by well-being. 

  In the seventy-first year of her earthly life, she rested in the sleep of a righteous woman. Her body was buried in the Smolensk cemetery. And many signs of God’s mercy began to take place at her tomb. Through the prayers of Blessed Ksenia, the Lord saved one girl from a terrible marriage with an escaped convict who pretended to be the colonel he had killed. After a memorial service was performed over her grave, sufferers received healing, harmony was restored in broken families, and the needy received what they needed. Over time, a chapel was built over the grave of Blessed Ksenia, to which her many admirers flocked. After the revolution, the Bolsheviks closed the chapel, but no effort by the atheists ever succeeded to suppress among the people the memory of the blessed one and the faith in her prayerful intercession before the throne of God. 

Having renounced the vanity of the earthly world, Thou didst take up the cross of a homeless life of wandering; Thou didst not fear grief, privation, nor the mockery of men, And didst know the love of Christ. Now taking sweet delight of this love in heaven, O Xenia, the blessed and divinely wise, pray for the salvation of our souls. 

Having been as a wandering stranger on earth, sighing for the heavenly homeland, thou wast known as a fool by the senseless and unbelieving, but as most wise and holy by the faithful, and wast crowned by God with glory and honor, O Ksenia, courageous and divinely wise. Therefore, we cry to thee: Rejoice, for after earthly wandering thou hast come to dwell in the Father’s house.

 We magnify, we magnify thee, our Holy Blessed Mother Ksenia, and we honor thy holy memory. For thou doest pray for us to Christ our God.