2 October 2022 года

“Resembling first Christians in faith, patience and meekness”

The side chapel to the New Martyrs of Diveyevo in the Kazan Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery celebrates the patronal feast. This side chapel is dedicated to the Diveyevo martyrs Pelagia and Martha (Testov), Xenia (Cherlin-Brailovskaya) and the venerable confessor Matrona (Vlasova). This is where Rev. Fr. Sergiy Eriskin of the Serafimo-Diveyevo monastery celebrated the full cycle of services, including the All-Night Vigil, the prayer canon to the Most Holy Mother of God with the blessing of water prayer service, and the early-morning Divine Liturgy.

The exploits of the new martyrs are of value for us today, as they provide the answer as to how to fulfill the commandments of Christ in modern times. With the help of these contemporary saints, we learn about the experience of the Church, witness the succession of spiritual deeds and preservation of the link between the past and the present upon which the Sacred History was built.

The goal of the militant atheists of the deadly twentieth century was defeat of Orthodox Russia and its Christ-loving people. The period of state terrorism resulted in the destruction of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery in 1927. On the eve of the monastery’s dispersal, on the feast of the Elevation (Exaltation) of the Holy Cross, at the end of the Divine Liturgy in the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” house church, Hieromartyr Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) addressed the sisters: “Now all of us are ready to partake of the cup, but who shall accept it? Some will only raise it to their lips, others will consume a quarter of its contents, a few will drink a half, while some will take all of what’s inside.” This prophecy applied to all the nuns of the monastery who remained faithful to Christ and their monastery. Many of them went through prisons, camps, and exile. Four among the sisters of Diveyevo who preserved their faith in the terrible time of trials, the holy martyrs Martha, Pelagia, Xenia, and the venerable confessor Matrona, were glorified among the saints.

Siblings Martha and Pelagia (Testov), arrested in 1937, completed their earthly journey in the Karaganda concentration camp. They died because of hard labor, inhumane living conditions, and illnesses. Nun Xenia (Cherlina-Brailovskaya) was executed the same year in the Karlag together with several clergymen as they were accused of “illegal prayer vigils and anti-Soviet propaganda.” Nun Matrona (Vlasova), who spent eighteen years in prisons and camps, wasn’t spared of imprisonment in Karaganda camp either.