The relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow are arriving in Kazakhstan

From September 28 to November 10, 2024, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District will be visited by a great shrine - the relics and part of the robe of the blessed old woman Matrona of Moscow, venerated by millions of Orthodox believers around the world.

The pilgrimage of the shrine is timed to coincide with the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Astana and Almaty Diocese and the upcoming 15th anniversary of the approval of the canonical status of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.

In response to the petition of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, His Holiness gave his Primate's blessing for the bringing of the relics of Blessed Matrona to diocesan centers for prayerful veneration and spiritual strengthening of Kazakhstanis. The relic will be accompanied on its pilgrimage by Metropolitan Alexander, Kazakh archpastors and clergy.

Support for bringing the relic is provided by the public foundation "Apostol" (president - G.G. Sosnovsky).

Schedule of the stay of the ark with the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow

Saturday, September 28
10:00 - meeting of the holy relics in the Assumption Cathedral of Astana and celebration of the Divine Liturgy, after which the veneration of the relic will begin.
Address: 6th microdistrict, Kuyshi Dina street, 27

Sunday, September 29
10:00 - Divine Liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral of Astana. Worship of the relic until 16:00
20:00 – meeting of the holy relics in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversky-Seraphim Monastery in Almaty. A service, after which the worship of the relic will begin.
Address: Latifa Khamidi St., 30, corner of Zhangeldin St. and Ashimbayeva St.

September 30, Monday,
the day of remembrance of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia – the heavenly patronesses of Almaty and Semirechye
09:00 – Divine Liturgy in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversky-Seraphim Monastery in Almaty, after which the worship of the relic will continue.
September 30 – October 7
The relics of Blessed Matrona will remain in the St. Sophia Cathedral.
Access to the shrine from 7:00 to 21:00
October 7, Monday
16:30 - Prayer service. Farewell to the shrine in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversky-Seraphim Monastery

October 8 - 9
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Uralsk.
The location of the shrine:

October 8 - Christ the Savior Cathedral, "Golden Church".
Address: Dostyk Avenue, 202

October 9 - Michael the Archangel Cathedral.
Address: Dostyk Avenue, 68

October 12 - 13
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Kostanay.
The location of the shrine is the Constantine and Helen Cathedral.
Address: st. Altynsarin, 206

October 14, Monday,
Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Rudny.
The place of residence of the relic is the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian.
Address: ul. Parkovaya, 55

October 16-17
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Pavlodar.
The place of residence of the relic is the Cathedral of the Annunciation.
Address: ul. Toraigyrova, 1/5

October 21-22
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Karaganda.
The place of residence of the relic is the Trinity-Sevastian Cathedral.
Address: ul. Novaya, 29

October 26-27
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Taldykorgan.
The place of residence of the relic is the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian.
Address: Shevchenko St., 100

November 1–3
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Petropavlovsk.
The location of the relic is the Ascension Cathedral.
Address: Zh. Kizatova St., 55

November 9-10, Saturday
The relics of Blessed Matrona visit the city of Ust-Kamennogorsk.
The location of the relic is St. Andrew's Cathedral.
Address: Likhareva St., 16

More detailed information about the stay of the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow in the cities of Kazakhstan can be found on the official websites and pages in social networks of the dioceses of the Metropolitan District.

The life of the blessed old woman Matrona of Moscow

Blessed Matrona (Matrona Dmitrievna Nikonova) was born in 1885 in the village of Sebino, Epifansky District, Tula Region. Her parents, Dmitry and Natalia, were peasants, they were pious people, worked honestly, but lived in poverty. There were four children in the family: Two brothers - Ivan and Mikhail, and two sisters - Maria and Matrona. Matrona was the youngest.

Even before the girl was born, Matrona's mother decided to give the future child to an orphanage, where the children of the poor were raised with the money of philanthropists, but she had a prophetic dream. Her unborn daughter appeared to Natalia in a dream in the form of a white bird with a human face and closed eyes and sat on her right hand. Taking the dream as a sign, the God-fearing woman gave up the idea of giving the child to an orphanage. The daughter was born blind, but the mother loved her "unfortunate child."

At the baptism, when the priest lowered the child into the font, those present saw a column of fragrant light smoke above the baby. The priest, Father Vasily, whom the parishioners revered as a righteous and blessed man, was incredibly surprised: "I have baptized many people, but this is the first time I have seen this, and this baby will be holy." Father Vasily also told Natalia: "If the girl asks for something, be sure to come directly to me, go and say directly what is needed."

Truly, Matrona was God's chosen one. The Lord taught her to fast in infancy: her mother often complained to her friend: "What should I do? The girl does not take the breast on Wednesdays and Fridays, she sleeps for days on these days, it is impossible to wake her up." On the girl's chest there was a bulge in the shape of a cross, a pectoral cross made without hands. Later, when she was already six years old, her mother once began to scold her: "Why are you taking off your cross?" "Mommy, I have my own cross on my chest," the girl answered. "Dear daughter," Natalia came to her senses, "forgive me! And I always scold you..."

Other children often teased Matrona, even made fun of her: girls whipped her with nettles, knowing that she would not see who exactly was offending her. They put her in a hole and watched with curiosity as she groped her way out and wandered home. Matrona was not just blind - she had no eyes at all. The eye sockets were closed by tightly closed eyelids, like the white bird that her mother saw in a dream. But the Lord gave her spiritual sight. Even in infancy, at night, when her parents were sleeping, she would sneak into the holy corner, somehow incomprehensibly take icons from the shelf, put them on the table and play with them in the silence of the night. Rejected by her peers, she found saints as companions in her childhood games.

From the age of seven or eight, Matrona developed the gift of prediction and healing the sick. One day, the girl said to her mother: "Mom, get ready, I will soon have a wedding." The mother was surprised and told the priest about it, he came and gave the girl communion. And suddenly, after a few days, carts began to drive up to their house one after another, people kept coming with their troubles and sorrows, carrying the sick and for some reason they all asked Matrona. She read prayers over them and healed many. "Matryushenka, what is this?" asked her mother. And she answered: "But I told you there would be a wedding." Thus, from an early age, the Lord marked Matrona with the gift of spiritual discernment, foresight and healing. The girl felt the approach of danger, foresaw natural and social disasters. Through her prayers, people received healing from illnesses and consolation in sorrow. People began to come and go to her from everywhere more and more often. Not only from the surrounding villages and towns, but also from distant lands, the suffering came to her, they even brought bedridden patients, whom the girl raised to their feet. Wanting to thank Matrona, they left her parents food and gifts. So the girl, instead of becoming a burden to the family, became its main breadwinner.

The Nikonovs' house was located near the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Matrona's parents were deeply pious and loved to attend church services together. Matrona literally grew up in the church, going to services first with her mother, then alone, whenever possible. Not knowing where her daughter was, her mother usually found her in the church. She had her usual place - on the left, behind the front door, where she stood motionless during the service. She knew the church hymns well and often sang along with the choir. Apparently, even in childhood, Matrona acquired the gift of unceasing prayer.

When her mother, feeling sorry for her, said to Matronushka: "You are my unfortunate child!" - she was surprised: "Am I unhappy? Your Vanya and Misha are unhappy." She foresaw the future apostasy of her brothers from God.

Despite her blindness, Matrona spoke about the world around her as if she saw it with her own eyes. Once she told her friend: "God once opened my eyes and showed me the world and His creation. I saw the sun, and the stars in the sky, and everything on earth, earthly beauty: mountains, rivers, green grass, flowers, birds..."

But Matrona wanted to visit distant lands not only spiritually. She really wanted to visit holy places, to bow to the shrines of the Russian land. The daughter of a local landowner, a pious and kind girl, Lidiya Yankova, helped her in this. She took Matrona with her on pilgrimages: to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, St. Petersburg, and other cities and holy places.

At the age of 17, Matrona lost the ability to walk: her legs suddenly became paralyzed. She was "sedentary" until the end of her days. And her sitting in different houses and apartments, where she found shelter, continued for another 50 years. She never complained about her illness, but humbly bore this heavy cross given to her by God.

Even at an early age, Matrona predicted the revolution, how "they will rob, destroy churches and drive everyone out." Figuratively, she showed how they would divide the land, greedily grab plots of land, just to grab more for themselves, and then everyone would abandon the land and run wherever. No one would need the land.

One day Matrona asked her mother to tell the priest that in his library, in such and such a row, there was a book with an image of the icon "Seeking the Lost". The priest was very surprised. They found the icon, and Matrona said: "Mama, I will order such an icon." The mother was saddened: how can I pay for it? But Matrona said: "Mama, I keep dreaming about the icon "Seeking the Lost". The Mother of God is asking to come to our church." She blessed the women to collect money for the icon in all the villages. People donated for the icon from the bottom of their hearts, with deep faith, only one man gave a ruble reluctantly, and his brother gave one kopeck as a joke. When the money was brought to Matronushka, she sorted it out, mysteriously found this ruble and kopeck and said to her mother: "Mama, give it to them, they are ruining all my money." Matrona told the icon painter to repent of his sins, confess and receive Holy Communion. Then she asked: "Are you sure you will paint this icon?" He answered affirmatively and began to paint the icon, but he was unable to do it. Then Matrona pointed out to him that there was another sin he had not repented of and helped him to realize it. He was shocked, went to the priest again, repented, received Holy Communion again, and asked Matrona for forgiveness. "Go, now you will paint an icon of the Queen of Heaven," she told him. With the money collected from the villages, and with Matrona's blessing, another icon of the Mother of God, "Seeking the Lost," was ordered from Bogoroditsk. When it was ready, it was carried in a religious procession with banners from Bogoroditsk to the church in Sebino. This image of the Mother of God became the main local shrine and became famous for many miracles. When there was a drought, they would take it out to the meadow in the middle of the village and hold a prayer service. Afterwards, people would not even have time to reach their homes before it would start to rain.

Throughout her life, Blessed Matrona was surrounded by icons. In the room where she lived for a particularly long time, there were three red corners, and in them, icons from top to bottom, with lamps burning in front of them.

In an incomprehensible way, the Lord revealed to His chosen one, who had never learned to read and write, even such knowledge that is taught only in schools and institutes, if it was necessary to help others. One of her acquaintances, Zinaida Zhdanova, who greatly respected her and helped her a lot, urgently needed to defend an architectural project. The authorities did everything to prevent this defense from taking place. Later, Zhdanova said: "Mother listened to me and said: "It's okay, it's okay, you'll defend it! We'll have tea in the evening and talk!" I could hardly wait for the evening, and then Mother said: "We'll go to Italy, Florence, Rome, we'll look at the works of great masters..." And she began to list the streets, buildings! She stopped: "Here is the Pitti Palace, here is another palace with arches, do it the same way as there - three lower floors of the building with large masonry and two entrance arches." I was shocked by her leadership. In the morning I ran to the institute, put tracing paper on the project and made all the corrections with brown ink. At 10 o'clock the commission arrived. They looked at my project and said: "Well, the project turned out great, it looks great - defend yourself!" Many people came to Matrona with their illnesses and sorrows. Having intercession before God, she helped many. Matrona prayed for people, asking Him for miraculous help for the ailing. She read a prayer over water and gave it to those who came to her. Those who drank the water and sprinkled themselves with it were freed from various misfortunes. Only a priest can perform the blessing of water according to the church rite. Of course, blessed Matrona, for whom the canons and regulations of the Church were immutable spiritual law, did not dare to do anything like that, but we know that not only water blessed in the temple has beneficial healing properties, but also the water of some reservoirs, springs, wells, blessed by the prayerful life of holy people near them, the appearance of miraculous icons. After the revolution of 1917, both of Matrona's brothers, Mikhail and Ivan, joined the Bolshevik Party, Mikhail became a village activist. They were ashamed of their sister. The presence in their house of the blessed one, who received people all day long, taught them by deed and word to preserve the Orthodox faith, became unbearable for the brothers. They were afraid of repression. Taking pity on them, Matushka moved to Moscow, where she lived until the end of her days. In this huge capital city there were many unfortunate, lost, fallen away from the faith, spiritually ill people with a confused consciousness, a soul poisoned by the poison of atheism. Her spiritual and prayerful service turned many away from destruction and led to salvation.

The blessed one loved Moscow very much, she said that it was a holy city and the heart of Russia, although for Matrona herself, life in Moscow was a constant wandering among relatives and friends, houses, apartments, basements... She became a homeless wanderer. Novices - walkers lived with her and looked after her. Sometimes she had to live with people who were hostile to her. It was difficult to find housing in Moscow, there was no choice. Matrona left some places hastily, foreseeing the troubles that were brewing in her spirit, always on the eve of the police coming to her, since she lived without a residence permit. Times were hard, and people were afraid to register her. In this way, she saved not only herself, but also the owners who sheltered her from arrests and repression.

Zinaida Zhdanova told what hardships the blessed one sometimes had to endure. One day, late in the fall, during the war, she came to a small plywood house where Matrona lived at the time. The house was filled with thick, damp, and dank steam from some stove. The blessed one was lying on her bed facing the wall and could not turn over because her hair was frozen to the wall and had been torn off with difficulty. She did not agree to move to a more comfortable place: "God did not order it, so that you would not regret it later."

Matrona lived in different places in Moscow, but the longest (from 1942 to 1949) she lived on Arbat, in Starokonyushenny Lane, with her mother Zinaida Zhdanova.

Many times they wanted to arrest Matrona; most often, on the eve of a possible arrest, she moved to another place, but one day, knowing that they were supposed to come for her, she stayed in the house. When the policeman came to take Matrona, she said to him: "Go, go quickly, there is a misfortune in your house! And the blind woman will not escape from you: I am sitting on my bed, I am not going anywhere." He obeyed, went home, and there was a fire in his house, and his wife was badly burned. He managed to take her to the hospital, thanks to which she remained alive. The next day, when he came to work, they asked him: "Well, did you take the blind woman?" "I will never take the blind woman," he answered. "If the blind woman had not told me, I would have lost my wife." Outwardly, her life flowed monotonously: during the day - receiving people, at night - prayer. Like the ancient ascetics, she never really went to bed, but dozed, lying on her side, on her fist. So the years passed.

Sometime in 1939 or 1940, Matrona said: “Now you are all arguing, dividing, but the war is about to begin. Of course, many people will die, but our Russian people will win.” “Victory will be ours,” she said at the beginning of 1941. “The enemy will not touch Moscow, it will only burn a little. There is no need to leave Moscow.” Sometimes people could not understand the actions of the blessed one, but there was always some spiritual meaning behind them. When the war began, Matrona asked everyone who came to her to bring willow branches. She broke them into sticks of the same length, cleaned them of bark and prayed. Her relatives recalled that her fingers were covered in wounds. Matrona could be spiritually present in various places; for her spiritual vision, space did not exist. She often said that she was invisibly at the front, helping our soldiers. She told everyone that the Germans would not enter Tula. Her prophecy came true.

Matrona received up to 40 people a day. People came with their troubles, mental and physical pain. She never refused to help anyone, except those who came with evil intentions. Others saw Matushka as a folk healer who could remove damage or the evil eye, but after talking with her they realized that they were dealing with a person of God, and they turned to the Church, to its saving sacraments. Her help was selfless, she did not take anything from anyone, and everything that was brought to her, she immediately gave to those who lived near her, and they distributed it to people. In fact, she had nothing of her own.

Matushka always read her prayers loudly. Those who knew her closely say that these prayers were well-known, read in church and at home: "Our Father", "Let God arise", the ninetieth psalm, "Lord Almighty, God of hosts and all flesh" (from the morning prayers) and others. She emphasized that it was not she who helped, but God - according to her prayers: "What, Matronushka - God, or what? God helps!" - she said. Healing the sick, matushka demanded from them faith in God and the correction of their sinful life. "Do you believe," she asked, "that the Lord is able to heal you?" She ordered everyone to wear a pectoral cross. Sometimes, out of despair about finding help somewhere else, completely unbelieving people came to her. "I don't know what it is like to believe," one woman told her. But matushka helped everyone who was waiting for help, and through this, hearts were warmed, opened to faith and love for God. With her selfless service, the blessed one brought many souls to God.

One day, a religious woman who venerated Matrona met a general and his wife on her way to her, who had just picked up their daughter from a mental hospital, but the doctors could not help her. Suddenly, this girl (she was 18 years old) began to bark. The woman said to her mother: "I feel sorry for you, let's take our daughter to Matronushka..." The girl's father, a general, at first did not want to hear anything, saying that it was all fiction. But his wife insisted, and they went to Matronushka. When the girl was brought to Matronushka, she was first dumbfounded, then began to spit on Matrona, and struggled. "Leave her," Matrona said, "now she can't do anything." They let the girl go. She fell, began to beat and spin around on the floor, and began to vomit blood. Then the girl fell asleep and slept for three days. They looked after her. When she came to and saw her mother, she asked: "Mom, where are we?" "We, daughter, are with a clairvoyant man," she answered and told her everything that had happened to her. From that time on, the girl was completely healed.

Mother Matrona fought for every soul that came to her all her life. She never complained or lamented the difficulties of her feat. "I cannot forgive myself for never having pitied Mother, although I saw how difficult it was for her, how she was worried about each of us," Zinaida Zhdanova later recalled. "The light of those days still warms me. In the house, in front of the icons, lamps were burning, Mother's love and her silence enveloped the soul. There was holiness, joy, peace, and blessed warmth in the house. There was a war going on, and we lived as if in heaven."

Matrona consoled and soothed the sick, stroked their heads, blessed them with the sign of the cross, sometimes joked, sometimes sternly rebuked and instructed. She was not strict, she was tolerant of human weaknesses, compassionate, warm, sympathetic, always joyful, never complained about her illnesses and sufferings. Matushka did not preach, did not teach, she was generally a man of few words. She gave specific advice on how to act in a given situation, prayed and blessed. Matrona taught to surrender oneself to the will of God, to live with prayer, to often make the sign of the cross on oneself and surrounding objects: "By the power of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross, save and protect yourself!" She advised to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ more often. She taught to love and forgive the old and the infirm: "If the old, the sick or those who have lost their minds say something unpleasant or offensive to you, then do not listen, just help them." Matrona did not dissuade people from seeking medical treatment, she even instructed that it was absolutely necessary to seek treatment. She said that the body is a house given by God, and if necessary, it needs to be repaired.

Matrona often confessed and took communion. Unceasing prayer and communion helped the blessed one to bear the cross of serving people. Rebuking the possessed, praying for everyone, sharing people's sorrows in her soul, Matrona was so tired that by the end of the day she could not even talk to her loved ones and only quietly moaned, lying on her fist.

The inner, spiritual life of the blessed one remained a secret even for those close to her. As a true ascetic, the blessed one taught not with words, but with her whole life. Unable to walk, she taught and teaches people to walk the difficult path of salvation.

Matrona found her last earthly shelter in a house near the Skhodnya station near Moscow, where she stayed with a distant relative. Only just before her death, Matushka, already very weak, limited her reception, but people still came, and she could not refuse to help some. The time of her death was revealed to her by the Lord three days in advance, and she made all the necessary arrangements. She did not order wreaths and plastic flowers to be brought to the funeral.

Before her death, a priest came to confess her. Matronushka looked worried. "Are you really afraid of death?" asked the priest. "I am afraid," Matushka answered, in her humility, for she saw herself as an ordinary sinful person.

She passed away on May 2, 1952. On May 3, a note about the repose of the newly departed blessed Matrona was submitted to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius for the funeral service. Among many others, it attracted the attention of the serving hieromonk. "Who submitted the note?" he asked excitedly. "What, is she dead?" (many Moscow priests and inhabitants of the Lavra knew and revered Matrona well). An old woman and her daughter, who had arrived from Moscow, confirmed: the day before, Matushka had died, and that evening the coffin with her body would be placed in the Moscow Church of the Deposition of the Robe on Donskaya Street. Thus, the Lavra monks learned of Matrona's death and were able to come to her burial.

On May 4, the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, the burial of blessed Matrona took place with a large crowd of people. At her request, she was buried at the Danilovskoye Cemetery so that she could "hear the service" (one of the few functioning Moscow churches was located there). The funeral service and burial of the blessed one were the beginning of her glorification among the people as a saint of God.

Before her death, the blessed one said: "Everyone, everyone, come to me and tell me, as if I were alive, about your sorrows, I will see you, and hear you, and help you." People came to her grave at the Danilovskoye Cemetery not only from all over Russia, but also from abroad with their troubles and illnesses.

The nature of the feat of blessed Matrona is rooted in the centuries-old traditions of popular piety, therefore the help that people receive by prayerfully turning to the righteous one brings spiritual fruits: people are strengthened in the Orthodox faith, filled with hope and love, and join in the daily prayer life.

Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox people know Matrona. "Matronushka" is how many affectionately call her. She helps people just as she did during her earthly life. This is felt by all those who ask her with faith and love for intercession and petition before the Lord, to Whom the blessed old woman has great boldness.

On May 2, 1999, the blessed old woman Matrona was glorified as a locally venerated saint, and in 2004, for church-wide veneration. Her holy relics rest in the stavropegic Pokrovsky Convent in Moscow.