November 22 (the feast-day of St. Matrona of Constantinople) was also the birthday of another saint—Blessed Matrona of Moscow. I would like to share some stories of miraculous help that happened in my life through her prayers.
My mother was baptized late, at the age of fifty, but she did not go to church and remained indifferent to the Church sacraments. I prayed fervently for my mother for many years, asking the Lord and the saints to bring her to the Church, but nothing changed. She saw how my brother and I went to church, but she herself did not show any initiative and, apparently, thought that it was not important. When I heard of Matronushka1, I began to pray to this saint for my mother to come to the Church. And the Lord answered the prayers of the blessed eldress.
My mother got sick—she had a dermatological problem. I advised her to anoint the sore with holy oil blessed on the relics of St. Matrona of Moscow, with a prayer to this saint of God. She began to anoint the sore and soon noticed that the problem started to go away. When the oil ran out, she had to go for a new bottle, which is sold in the church. When the oil ran out the next time (the bottle was small), my mother went to the church again. So, she began to go to church regularly, and later she began to participate in the Church sacraments—to confess her sins and receive Communion. And until recently my mother was a regular church-goer. Now she is ill and lies at home, and a priest comes to her place to give her the sacraments. So, through St. Matrona’s intercession, the Lord brought my mother to the Church.
St. Matrona worked a miracle for my close friend in Georgia. In the 1990s she came across a book about Blessed Matrona of Moscow. There was also the address of the Convent of the Protection of the Mother of God in Moscow, where her relics now rest. My friend was so impressed by what she had read that she decided to write a letter to the convent and ask the nuns to pray for her family. The postal system was not working well in Georgia at that time, letters and parcels did not arrive, and so my friend wrote a letter and handed it to a man who was traveling to Russia. Six months later she was walking home from work and passed by the mailboxes, which had been empty for a long time due to the lack of letters. But something made her turn back and open her mailbox. In it she found a letter from... the Holy Protection Convent! It said that the nuns were praying for her and her family. Two icons and flowers from St. Matrona of Moscow’s relics were enclosed with the letter. By what miracle the letter reached my friend when the postal service did not work—only St. Matrona knows!
Matronushka made my cherished dream come true. My son had bronchitis. Due to his condition we went to spend time in the highlands every year. But we so wanted to go to the sea... I grew up by the sea and missed it very much. I asked Matronushka to help, and soon she gave the us opportunity to go to the seaside by sending us amazing people whom we then visited for six years in a row. These wonderful people—very cordial and hospitable—knowing about our modest means, always tried to return to us part of the very small amount that we paid them for our accommodations.
At that time my son did not know how to swim. Once, on coming to the seaside, he made friends with a girl who was a little older than him and began to teach him to swim. He did not succeed, and she turned to me, “Look how easy swimming is! I learned it myself.” And although I grew up by the sea, to my shame I had never learned to swim. I felt ashamed that I had not been able to overcome my fear. With a prayer to my beloved saint, I tried to swim and... I saw that I was swimming! When our hostess heard that I had learned to swim at the age of forty-six (!), she told us to stay with them and live there for free as long as we wanted!
Finally, there is another story that happened quite recently, while I was writing this article. One day, when I was writing a rough sketch, my son, who had only recently been ill and had not yet fully recovered, became very unwell. He felt severe pain in his lower rib cage. The doctors said it was colic and prescribed medication. The medicine helped slowly, but I remembered the dry flowers blessed on the relics of Matronushka and the story of how they had helped me personally.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. I could not take the medicine prescribed by the doctor, as it only made me feel worse. I had dry flowers, blessed by the grace of the saint of God. I poured hot water over them and drank the infusion every morning with prayer. After a while I was examined again. The doctor asked me:
“What did you have? An ulcer? But not even a scar’s remained! Tell me, what were you treated with?”
I answered:
“With flowers of St. Matrona of Moscow.”
So this time, recalling my healing, I poured hot water over the flowers and gave my son the infusion to drink. We read a prayer to the blessed eldress with him beforehand. After a couple of hours my son got out of bed and said that his pains had disappeared. Completely!
Glory to the Lord for sending us such a great saint of God! O holy Matrona of Moscow, continue to intercede for us with God and do not leave us!
