Стяжавшая любовь. Том III

The catastrophe in Chernobyl was a particular source of pain for Matushka Alipiya. Over the course of one year prior to the tragedy, it troubled her soul and prompted her to pray ever more fervently. On several occasions, she said that the land, water, and air would be poisoned, that it would take place during Passion Week, and that it would happen in the region of Polessk. She would speak of the «atom coming toward Kiev.» She prayed with all her heart that the Lord might weaken this punishment, and spare the children. However, it was all to come to pass. When the catastrophe occurred, Matushka said, «I live with the pains of others.» In those difficult days, the Lord sent Matushka Alipiya to stop the panic among the people, to comfort people and to save them from spiritual death. Matushka did not bless people to move away; she sought to persuade them to turn to God, to make the sign of the Cross over their food, and, fearing nothing and trusting in the Lord, to eat everything.

People, but by no means the devil, can have doubts about whether a given spiritual struggler is truly pious. It is not through hearsay that the devil knows of the grace of the Holy Spirit given by the Lord to his faithful servants. Aware of the power of Matushka Alipiya's prayers and of her miracle-working, he attacked her with awful hatred. Once a young girl saw Matushka Alipiya fighting in a ravine with some awful man. Matushka's cell attendant, who was standing right next to her, could see only Matushka, apparently struggling with someone, but someone who was invisible. On another occasion, when the cell attendant came to see Matushka, she found her severely bruised. When she asked what had happened, the Eldress replied that the enemy had appeared to her and had beaten her against a rock. By night, he would appear in the guise of people knocking on the doors, and after the Eldress would make the sign of the Cross over the doors, there would be an awful knocking, whistling, and roaring.

Not having the strength to wage invisible battle with the Eldress, the enemy would do battle with her through visible means, through people. The authorities knew of Matushka's activities, and that groups of people would meet with her. Often, a district militiaman would come to her and say, «People gather together here at your home; we will demolish your house.» People in her cell would come to her defense, saying «this is our Matushka, and no one…» But the Eldress would jump in with a laugh, and say «No one will bother me. The man in charge will not allow me to be disturbed.» And the militiaman would leave. Several times, a tractor came to demolish the house, but through the blessed one's prayers, it was unsuccessful. It once happened that as the tractor began the work of demolition, the Eldress began to pray, looking up to the Heavens. Tears poured from her eyes, but she saw no one and heard nothing. She implored God, and He heard her: touched by her tears and prayers, the workers stopped their evil work. Quite often, ambulances would come to the Eldress’ house to take her away to a psychiatric hospital. At those times, Matushka would give the blessing for everyone in her cell to read the 90th Psalm, «He that dwells in the shadow of the Most-high…» Then she would go out to the doctors and say, «The commander in chief of the militia has not ordered me to go with you.» And the ambulance would go away. On one such occasion, Matushka amazed a doctor who by demonstrating her clairvoyance: she amazed the physician by describing the disease afflicting her, and the doctor left, shocked and reflective.

There was a worker, whom Matushka called «Anka,» at a sawmill not far from the Eldress' cell, and who took a particular dislike to her. He strove in every way possible to annoy Matushka, but she humbly endured all of his unpleasantness.

Some of the Eldress' visitors, not understanding the meaning of eldership, sanctity, and asceticism, were under the misapprehension that she was a fortune-teller who would tell their fortunes, etc. The Eldress would put an immediate stop to such thoughts. «What am I then, a fortune-teller?» repeating aloud what they had been secretly thinking. «I am not a sorceress or a fortune-teller, and I am not about to tell you about your men or your education.» That is how she criticized a young maiden who did not understand the difference between an Orthodox ascetic and an old women who told fortunes.