Dr Augustin Sokolovski
The Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Matrona of Moscow twice each year. On March 8, the faithful celebrate the uncovering of her relics in 1998, while on May 2 they commemorate her repose in the Lord in 1952. Since the latest possible date for Orthodox Pascha is May 8, the feast of Blessed Matrona may at times coincide with the Bright Resurrection of Christ—Holy Pascha.
In the Gospel, the Lord calls us to labor “not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (John 6:27). For this reason, the veneration of Saint Matrona should help Christians on their journey toward the Heavenly Homeland. Priests and preachers must remember that the honoring of the saints should not be reduced to the search for miracles and signs. Its true meaning lies in understanding their spiritual struggle and following their example. The Church lives through the communion of saints and believers united in Jesus.
Those who have visited the village of Sebino in the Tula region, where Matrona was born, remember the ancient church that survived even during the years of persecution. There stands the baptistery in which the future saint was baptized. According to hagiography, a miraculous sign accompanied her Baptism: those present witnessed a sweet fragrance and a pillar of light.
The house in which Matrona was born has not survived. Today, a small museum in Sebino preserves the few remaining testimonies of her life. Researchers are struck by how little historical information about her has been preserved. Even the surviving parish records contain no entry concerning her Baptism. To understand the reasons for this absence, one must consider the circumstances of that era.
According to her Life, Matrona was born in 1881. It was a difficult period both for Russia and for the world as a whole. In that same year, Russian Emperor Alexander II was assassinated by the revolutionaries.
In the late nineteenth century, society’s attitude toward children born with severe disabilities was often harsh and unforgiving. Such children were frequently pushed to the margins of life. Society was not prepared to accept them or to recognize them as full members of the human community.
Russian literature speaks much about the poor, the humiliated, and the rejected. Yet it says very little about those living with severe physical disabilities. They were seldom noticed, rarely remembered, and never held up as examples.
Matrona was born blind, without eyeballs. It is possible that some people simply did not regard her as a fully rational or complete human person, and for this reason her Baptism may never have been entered into the parish records. From the very beginning, her life was marked by endurance and suffering. Yet by God’s mercy she survived, matured, and attained spiritual greatness. Her entire life became a bearing of the Cross.
Much of what others considered ordinary was inaccessible to her. Yet she received with gratitude the few gifts of Church life that were open to her. Matrona learned to see God not with her eyes, but with her heart.
She never beheld the beauty of churches, golden domes, icons, or festal services. For many people, Matrona is associated primarily with the Soviet era; however, by the time of the Revolution of 1917 she was already about forty years old.
Therefore, when honoring Blessed Matrona, it is important above all to remember the suffering that marked her earthly life. Before the Revolution she was unknown, and after it, amid upheaval and persecution, her spiritual feat remained hidden from most people. Today Saint Matrona stands before God and prays for the whole world, especially for those whom no one notices, those who suffer in solitude, and those who have been forgotten by society.
Through the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord says: “For the Lord has comforted His people and will have mercy on His afflicted ones… Can a woman forget her nursing child? … Yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:13, 15). These words speak powerfully to us of the life of Saint Matrona. The Lord never abandons those whom the world has abandoned.