Russian Orthodox Autonomous
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Nun Martha (Senina)
Most
probably you have heard about Tatiana Senina, who wrote the Life of St. Philaret
and many bright articles. She also has a gift of writing services and she composed
services to St. Philaret, St Joseph of Petrograd and St. Kirill of Kazan (new
martyrs that were killed in the same day), Holy Nuns of Diveyevo (Canonized
in Suzdal in 2000), St. Ludmila of Czech and a number of others.
Ab. Theodore tonsured her with the blessing of Metropolitan Valentine on June 2, 2004. It was her dream for 13 years. She is 31 now. Here is she in Suzdal. She was named Martha after St. Martha of Diveyevo.
St. Martha of Diveyevo (Maria Semenovna Melyukova) was a close spiritual friend of St. Seraphim of Sarov and his novice. She came to Diveyevo community in 1823 at the age of 13 and took upon herself the exploit of silence. She was always immersed in completely undisturbed prayer. Her ascetic life surpassed in its strictness the strictest sisters. She was so spiritually close to St. Seraphim that the elder revealed to her all the secrets about the future of the monastery and the revelations that he had received from the Holy Theotokos. After her death on August 21, 1829, St. Seraphim revealed to the sisters of Diveyevo that he had tonsured her into the schema and that now "her soul was in the Heavenly Kingdom and near the Holy Trinity at the Throne of God, and the whole of your race will be saved through her!"
Martha was tonsured in the church of the convent of Mother of God in Suzdal (Rizopolozhensky). You can see the sisterhood of the convent on the picture. Most of them are from Catacombs. Left to right, sitting: nun Eufrosinia and nun Priskilla (both are older then 80); standing: Zinaida, nun Glafira, nun Paraskeva, nun Ludmila, Abbes Euthemia, nun Martha:-), nun Euvula.
The day in the convent starts early. They have morning rule from 4:30 till 6 a.m. Then they rest for one hour, then they go to the Liturgy. Then they work at "poslushanie", and at 4 p.m. they go to the evening service to church. They have their evening rule in the monastery at 8 p.m., that goes till about 9:30.
Picture was made by novice Maria (you can see her on the picture below).
Here is nun Martha with Archbishop Theodore and Abbess Euthemia. Mother Euthemia is a real confessor of Faith, she suffered a lot in the soviet times, and she has a gift of True Love. Everyone who meet her cannot help seeing it. Also she remember all the people she meets and she prays for them.
The girl in red headcover is Anastasia, she lives in Suzdal. You would hardly believe that this pious Russian beauty was a punk before, and she still has a tattoo on her ankle from those times. But later she became Orthodox, she like long services and she is very serious about her inner life.
Fr. Alexey Chesnokov and his matushka Marina. They were not punks:-) Alexey was an altar servicer from very early ages. Also he studied and helped in church school. He converted his future wife to Orthodoxy, she is from the city of Kursk. Alexey was ordained to priesthood about a year ago, now he serves in the church of Sst Boris and Gleb, and Marina is a teacher in Suzdal.
Pictures were made in Suzdal by different people.
