Okhansk, Perm Krai, Russia, September 16, 2024
pravperm.ru
On September 10, the precious remains of Schemanun Maria (Silina †1952), who labored at the Theotokos of Kazan Monastery during the years of persecution against the Church, were uncovered in Okhansk, Perm Krai.
It was possible to discover the nun’s burial place thanks to a 1970s photograph of the tombstone cross, which was kept in the personal archive of the deceased abbess of the Perm Holy Dormition Convent, Abbess Maria (Vorobyova). The picture was taken by the secret monk Viktor (Pleshkov), who used to take care of her grave. After the pasing of her contemporaries, Mother Maria’s grave was forgotten until now, reports the Perm Metropolitanate.
pravperm.ru
The uncovered remains will be reburied on the territory of the Theotokos of Kazan Convent, where she labored until the dispersal of the monastery in 1921.
Schema nun Maria (Silina) left behind unique memories and testimonies about the spiritual life of the Perm diocese at the beginning of the 20th century and the period of persecution of the Russian Church.
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Schemanun Maria became a novice at the Theotokos of Kazan Monastery in 1902 at the age of 15. She was tonsured as a riassaphore nun at the age of 23.
Later, she and several other nuns of the monastery went to the village of Tarakanovo, where they were to organize a new monastery at the spring of St. Seraphim of Sarov. This community existed until 1918, after which Mother Maria returned to her native monastery.
On October 16, 1919, Archimandrite Chrysanth (Klimentiev) secretly tonsured her into the schema in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles.
After the dispersal of the monastery, Schemanun Maria was forced to return to Okhansk, where she continued her missionary work. Girls who desired a celibate life turned to her, and she taught them the monastic life. She wrote in her diary: “As long as they were in full obedience, the Lord protected them from temptations.”
Mother Maria lived for some time and served at the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Okhansk, and after its closure, she moved to a secluded cell.
On March 19, 1952, the laborer of Christ, Schemanun Maria, departed to the Lord.
Mother Maria wrote:
My only desire is to achieve eternal life in the Fatherland. But to reach Heaven, one must seek within oneself here, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within us... Remembering when I lived in the holy monastery and under the guidance of experienced elders, then, truly, I always knew endless joy and sweetness from the fruits of obedience, cutting off my own will.
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