Vyksa, Russia, July 30, 2020
Photo: vyksa-eparhia.ru
On July 29, Mother Atonia (Mironova), abbess of the Vyksa Iveron Convent in the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church, reposed in the Lord after a long illness.
She was only 59 years old.
The chief state sanitary doctor of the Nizhny Novgorod Province closed the convent on July 4 after Mother Antonia tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the site of the Vyksa Diocese.
In his condolences, His Eminence Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod notes that Mother Antonia gave more than 20 years of her life as abbess to the reviving Iveron Convent. Under her direction, the monastery churches, bell towers, and residential buildings were restored, and the monastery acquired representation churches.
The monastery also grew with new sisters “who found in Mother Antonia a wise and caring, loving mentor.”
The monastery also raised orphans, and they were “surrounded by attention and received an Orthodox education,” Met. George writes. In 2010, Mother organized a collection for those who lost their homes to a wildfire and the monastery fed the firefighters who protected the city and monastery.
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According to her biography on the diocesan website, Mother Antonia was born on April 28, 1961 in the city of Penza. She graduated from medical school in Zagorsk (now Sergiev Posad), the choir director’s school at the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, and accountant training.
In 1989, she moved to Diveyevo and worked as an accountant and choir director in the newly-consecrated Kazan Church. In 1991, she began the same obediences at Diveyevo Monastery. She became a novice on January 7, 1992, and a riassophore nun on July 21, 1994.
On October 26, 1996, she was transferred to the Vyksa Iveron Convent. On February 11, 2002, she was appointed senior sister of the monastery, and on Palm Sunday in 2004, she was tonsured as a stavrophore nun with the name of Antonia. On August 17, 2004, she was appointed abbess of the monastery.
She was elevated to the rank of igumena on March 9, 2012.
