Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia, November 9, 2017
Abbess Barbara of St. Theodore Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky, 90 miles northeast of Moscow, departed to the Lord yesterday, having suffered a heart attack. Bishop Theodore of Pereslavl and Uglich and the clergy of the Pereslavl Diocese have expressed their condolences to the relatives, friends, and spiritual children of Mother Barbara (Chekotkova), reports pravoslavie.ru.
The clergy, the parishioners of St. Theodore Monastery and other churches, and all who turned to Mother Barbara for help and advice will always remember her as a kind, sympathetic, sensitive, and gracious person. Her zealous labors for the building of the monastery, for the preaching of the Gospel, and for pastorally caring for others have earned the respect of both ecclesiastical and secular people.
Her body will remain in the monastery’s Entrance of the Theotokos Church for the faithful to bid farewell to their beloved spiritual mother until tomorrow, when the Divine Liturgy and funeral will be served.
May her memory be eternal!
During her life she was to see a marvelous transformation for the Russian Orthodox Church.
God Bless Mother Russia and all those who have so long maintained the hope that the church could have a new birth of freedom.
F. Richard Nassief
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church