On September 10, 2024, with the blessing of Metropolitan Methodius of Perm and Kungur, in the town of Ohansk in the Perm region, the discovery of the remains of Sikhmonk nun Maria (Silina, †1952), a resident of the Bakharevsk Theotokos-Kazan Serafimo-Alekseevsky Monastery who lived during the years of persecution against the Church, took place.
Sikhmonk Maria (Silina, †1952).
The search work was carried out under the direction of the head of the Perm Eparchy Department for Church History and Canonization, Nun Sergia (Koroleva).
The search work was carried out under the direction of the head of the Perm Eparchy Department for Church History and Canonization.
Before the search began, Archpriest Sergius Kostyrkin, rector of the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God of Perm, celebrated a prayer service before the beginning of any work, as well as a liturgy at the grave of nun Maria in the Ohansky cemetery.
It was possible to find the burial place of the nun of Bakharevsky monastery thanks to the photo of the gravestone cross, which for many years was kept in the personal archive of the deceased abbess of the Perm Dormition Nunnery, Abbess Maria (Vorobyeva). The picture was taken in the 70s of the XX century by the secret monk Victor (Pleshkov), who for a long time took care of the tomb of the old woman. After the passing of contemporaries of schema-monk Maria (Silina), her grave was neglected until the present day time.
The recovered honest remains of the old woman will be reburied in the territory of the Bakharevsky Bogoroditse-Kazan Serafimo-Alexeevsky nunnery, where she asceticized until the dispersal of the monastery in 1921.
Sikhmoness Maria (Silina) left behind unique memories and testimonies of the spiritual life of the Perm Eparchy.
Sikhmoness Maria (Silina) left behind unique memories and testimonies about the spiritual life of the Perm diocese of the early XX century and the period of persecution of the Russian Church.
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Sikh-monk nun Maria (in the world Pelageya Ivanovna Silina) was born into a peasant family in the village of Sosnovka, Okha uyezd, Perm province, on October 3, 1887. When she was 15 years old, she went on foot to Belaya Gora to Hegumen Varllam (Konoplev) for a blessing. Here is how she describes this moment in her memoirs: «With the help of God I reached the White Mountain. And here, at last, I came to the cell of Fr. Varlaam, and with tears I bowed down. He received me as a little child welcomingly, blessed me and said: "God will bless you in the monastery." He blessed me with the image of the Mother of God, gave me a book "On the Way to Monasticism" and a leaf "Sea of Life" ».
From that moment she entered the Bakharevsky Theotokos-Kazan Serafimo-Alexeyevsky nunnery as a novice. On January 16, 1911 the abbess of the monastery Glafira (Kazakova) submitted a report to Bishop Palladius about the
She and several other nuns of the Bakharevsky monastery traveled to the village of Tarakanovo, where they were to vest at the spring of the Venerable Serafima Salina.Then she and several other nuns of the Bakharevsky monastery went to the village of Tarakanovo, where they were to organize a new women's community at the spring of St. Seraphim of Sarov. Once again we turn to the memories: «Hegumen Seraphim came to our monastery of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on the day of the Throne Feast. And here we received a blessing. Hegumen Seraphim blessed the icon of St. Seraphim and signed: "Blessing to the first inhabitants of the newly opened Seraphim community. I also asked Archbishop Andronik's blessing, and we are going together with the old woman to the desert dwelling.
This female community existed until 1918, after which Pelageya Silina returned to the Bakharevsky monastery. October 16, 1919 Archimandrite Khrisanf (Klimentiev) secretly tonsured her into the schema with the name in honor of St. Mary Magdalene. After the dispersal of the Bakharev monastery, schema-monk nun Maria (Silina) was forced to return to Ohansk, where she continued her missionary work. Girls who wished to live a celibate life turned to her. From her memoirs: «With the blessing of Vladyka Khrisanf, I dressed them in vestments, arranged somewhere in the church. First we had to teach them I have loved the monastic life and have experienced it, and that when I am tonsured, the inherent grace strengthens the weak and helps me to overcome carnal passions. The most important thing is to have the frankness not to hide anything. As I myself kept a diary, so I taught my sisters. While they were in full obedience, the Lord protected them from temptation. When the cathedral pulpit was opened, Bishop Nikon was there, and he himself tonsured one of them, one — into the mantle, and three of them — into the cassock.
Sikhinonakhina Maria (Silina) for some time lived and carried obedience at the church in the name of the holy great prince Alexander Nevsky of the city of Ohansk, and after its closure moved to a secluded cell. There is how the secret monk Victor (Pleshkov) describes it: «In the alley of Malo-Sovetskaya Street, number 8, in the basement floor with windows above the ground, where the sun could look only on clear days, in the house of his own sister Alexandra lived for a long time shimnitsa. It used to happen that you would arrive early in the morning and at my first light knock at the door would hear the quiet voice of the schema-monk Maria (Silina): "Who's there?" You name yourself and see on the threshold a hunched old woman with a welcoming smile: "Ah, Victor Vasilyevich, finally you've arrived! Welcome, come in!" … I had hardly ever met in the city such warm hospitality as that of the saw in her miserable cell. A lamp burned in the corner before the images. Especially the old woman loved the icon of the Savior of the Unwrought Savior». March 19, 1952, the worker of Christ schema-monk nun Maria went to the Lord. The funeral according to the monastic order was performed by Archpriest Michael Lukkanen.
We once again turn to the recollection of schema-monk nun Maria (Silina): «My one desire — to reach eternal life in the Fatherland. But to reach Heaven, it is necessary here to seek within ourselves, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within us… Remembering, when I lived in the monastery of the holy and under the guidance of experienced elders, then, indeed, enjoyed always endless joy and sweetness from the fruits of obedience, cutting off his will».
Perm Metropolis/Patriarchy.ru
