June 26 is the day of remembrance of Venerable Alexandra, the first mother superior of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. On the feast day, the services were held at the Trinity Cathedral and the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God before the holy relics of Diveyevo’s founder. After Divine Liturgy, a prayer service was held beside the tombs with the relics of the venerable saint.

Mother Agatha Semenovna became a widow and arrived with her three-year-old daughter to Kiev in 1760 where she entered the Florovsky monastery. There, she soon took monastic vows and was tonsured under a new name of Alexandra. She considered ending her earthly life there but the Lord had other plans for her. The Mother of God gave a special obedience to her to found a new monastery, the fourth lot of the Most Holy Mother of God on earth. The Queen of Heaven appeared before nun Alexandra and commanded to make a trip up to the northern parts of Russia and visit all monasteries dedicated in Her honor there. She also pointed to a place where She was to found Her great community.

As she traveled up north, matushka Alexandra passed through Diveyevo and was deemed worthy of seeing the Mother of God for the second time Who told her: “Reside here and do God-pleasing work till the end of your days, and I will always be with you and visit you. I will found a monastery unequal to anything before or afterward in the world: it is my fourth lot in the whole creation.”

“She was a saint! I still kiss her feet myself!” Venerable Seraphim was known to say about matushka Alexandra. As we visit her holy relics, we pray to her as the venerable father taught the sisters of Diveyevo: “Our mistress and mother, forgive us, bless us, and pray for us, so that we may receive forgiveness like you were forgiven, and remember us at the Throne of God.”