She was justly called the "Abbess of all Russia." It can be said without exaggeration that Mother Barbara personified a whole epoch in the existence of Russian women's monasticism, and monasticism in general. She labored in monasticism for fifty years, forty-three of which she served as the abbess of Piukhtitsa Monastery in Estonia. Under Matushka Barbara, Piukhtitsa became a unique "smithy of monastic personnel," a capital city of women's monasticism. But mainly, here one could feel true Christian love, kindness, hospitality, and spiritual nobility, combined with deep monastic work.
St. Basil the Great
Rating: 6,8|Votes: 5
Therefore, He devised for us these harmonious melodies of the psalms, that they who are children in age, or even those who are youthful in disposition, might to all appearances chant, but in reality, become trained in soul.
In the words of His Holiness, one of the monastery's goals is to preserve the memory of the new martyrs and confessors of the twentieth century. "The best thing would be to built here, on this land washed by blood, a church which would be dedicated to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia," said Patriarch Kirill. "This would be a truly worthy event, which would immortalize the heroism of a huge number of people who gave their lives for their Motherland, for the life of our people, and for their faithfulness to God and the Church."
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
Rating: 4|Votes: 3
Mercy will present to Christ also those who were only able to show mercy to themselves, who visited themselves with self-criticism and freed themselves from the poverty, sickness, and prison of sin through repentance. Repentance is impossible for the hardened heart: the heart must be softened, filled with sympathy and mercy toward its catastrophic state of sinfulness.
Maxim Klimenko
Rating: 7|Votes: 3
On February 22, 2011, Hieroschemamonk Petroniu (Tănase) reposed in the Lord. He was the abbot of the Romanian Podromu Skete (dedicated to the Nativity of St. John the Baptist) on the Holy Mountain of Athos. The blessed elder was a great spiritual authority not only on Mt. Athos, but also throughout Greece and in his native Romania.
