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| Blessed Xenia of Rybinsk (on the left) |
Blessed Xenia of Rybinsk, was born in 1848 (according to other sources, in 1842) in the
village of Larionovskaya, Myshkinuyezd, Yaroslavl province into an ordinary peasant family.
From a young age she was distinguished by her meekness and righteousness, and very early
manifested the gift of clairvoyance. She would sometimes prophesy how big the harvest of flax
would be, or when it would be collected. She worked hard in the fields, and spent her free time in church services and prayer.
At the age of 19, when the time came to look for a bridegroom for her, she left her parents’ home and
went into the woods “to save her soul and body”. There she constructed a dug-out in the earth and
lived on what was available, prosphoras brought from the church, berries, moss… She was often hungry. On feastdays she went to church in the village of Rudinaya Slobodka, some 20 versts from Myshkin.
village of Larionovskaya, Myshkinuyezd, Yaroslavl province into an ordinary peasant family.
From a young age she was distinguished by her meekness and righteousness, and very early
manifested the gift of clairvoyance. She would sometimes prophesy how big the harvest of flax
would be, or when it would be collected. She worked hard in the fields, and spent her free time in church services and prayer.
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| Blessed Xenia of Rybinsk (on the left) |
At the age of 19, when the time came to look for a bridegroom for her, she left her parents’ home and
went into the woods “to save her soul and body”. There she constructed a dug-out in the earth and
lived on what was available, prosphoras brought from the church, berries, moss… She was often hungry. On feastdays she went to church in the village of Rudinaya Slobodka, some 20 versts from Myshkin.
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| Blessed Xenia of Rybinsk |
She lived in strict seclusion in this way for 30 years. She avoided guests from the world, so almost nothing is known about this period of her life. She was twice visited and communed by St. John of Kronstadt and his helper, Fr. Michael Zelensky. St. John approved of her podvig, and blessed her for new labours.
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| St. John of Kronstadt |
After 30 years as a recluse Blessed Xenia returned to her native village. She was almost blind by this
time, but physical blindness was compensated for by spiritual insight. People came to her from all
over Russia seeking advice. These were mainly simple peasants, but included priests and bishops
who later became martyrs and confessors: St. Metropolitan Agathangel of Yaroslavl, St. Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan, St. Metropolitan Joseph of Petrograd and St. Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich.
She foretold all the horrors that would come upon the Russian land, and called Soviet power the
Antichrist.
In 1927, after the Declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, Blessed Xenia had a great influence on the
confessors who rejected the Declaration. When Metropolitan Agathangel had been tempted by
Tuchkov to accept the Declaration, she told him that “if you agree, you will lose everything you
have earlier acquired” – and he rejected it!
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| St. Agathangel, Metropolitan of Yaroslavl |
Blessed Xenia rejected all compromises with Soviet power and the sergianists. She said that it was wrong, for the sake of one’s flock, to betray God. When one of the sergianists said that Metropolitan Sergius had not sinned against any dogma of the faith, she replied:
“What are you saying that he’s not a heretic – he’s worse than a heretic! He has bowed down to the
Antichrist. And if he does not repent, his lot will be in gehenna with the Satanists.”
Because of this attitude to sergianism, the authorities persecuted the blessed one. She was forced to move from place to place, living with her spiritual children.
The 85-year-old was often cast into prison, where she was subjected to mockery and humiliation.
Once the Bolsheviks, knowing that she was blind, offered her some fried crow to eat, saying it was
chicken. She replied: “The crow has flown away, has flown away and fallen on Xenia’s plate.
Eat it yourselves.”
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| Blessed Xenia of Rybinsk |
In 1930 she was arrested and exiled to Arkhangelsk for three years. In 1932 she was released on amnesty because of her “decrepitude” and returned to her native village, then to Rybinsk, where she lived with Professor Alexis Alexeyevich Ukhtomsky. In 1934 she was arrested again for being “a participant in the church monarchist counter-revolutionary organization, the True Orthodox Church on the territory of the Ivanovo Industrial District”, and was sentenced to three years in exile.
Blessed Xenia continued to receive her spiritual children and help the Catacomb Church. She was
especially close to the followers of Metropolitan Joseph and Archbishop Seraphim of Uglich.
The latter called her “a pillar of the True Orthodox Church”.
Foreseeing the future spiritual famine, Blessed Xenia advised people to gather icons and utensils from destroyed churches and build little house churches.
The last years of her life were lived in a secret location near Rybinsk. Contacts with her were
maintained only through her cell-attendant, who passed on questions and answers.
She died on August 1/14, 1940, shortly after prophesying the approaching martyrdom of the
famous catacomb priest, St. Sergius Mechev of Moscow.