Стяжавшая любовь. Том III

People wanting to marry would ask the Eldress' blessing. A future priest asked her advice about marriage. For a long time, Matushka stood, her arms upraised, and looking to the Heavens. Then she said, «There, they are saying to marry, but I do not know.» In this way, she would submit herself to God's will, and not ascribe any authority to herself. A young seminarian was going through the courtyard of the Ascension Church, and heard «Anna, Anna, Anna!» He walked a bit farther, and Matushka Alipya approached him, adding, «You can, you can marry!» His bride was called Anna. To a certain young lady, the Eldress once happened to say, «You are going to marry Valery. He is short in stature, lives with Evdokiya, and wears a cap.» She had described the girl's future husband. This disconcerted the young lady, but soon it all came to pass.

If the Eldress forbade someone from marrying, and they nonetheless did marry, they suffered for it all their lives.

Families that were suffering from demonically-provoked quarreling would be fortified by Matushka's efforts. The wife of a priest from Moscow had decided to leave her husband and enter a monastery. In furtherance of that decision, she went to visit Kiev's holy sites. She also wanted to visit Goloseyevo and its Eldress, Matushka Alipiya. She was on her way back after first bowing down at the grave of Elder Alexey (Shepelyov) of Goloseyevo. However, on her way back, she saw that the road was blocked by a simple barrier, near which some old woman was stirring about, constructing a fence out of old boards, and murmuring, «To block the road!» This turned out to be Matushka Alipya, and the woman realized that the way to the monastery was not for her.

The wife of a Moscow general came to ask the Eldress to pray for her atheist husband. The woman was forced to go to church in secret, keeping it from her husband. But the Eldress revealed to her the husband's secret: «You should thank the Mother of God, and God as well! He has been a believer since childhood, but was afraid to tell you. Now don't be afraid of anything. Go straight to your husband, tell him everything, and live with God!» A week later, the general himself came to thank her.

The blessed one would welcome monastics with particular love, calling them «usual kin», or people «from our village». Many monastics had entered the monastery after receiving her blessing. That is a difficult path, strewn with many sorrows and temptations. With her advice, and first and foremost, with her prayers, Matushka Alipiya helped them overcome the difficulties and worthily carry their life-long Cross.

She spoke a great deal about patience, encouraging people to be patient, no matter what sorrows they might encounter in life. She counseled the nuns, «Be quiet, say 'I ask your forgiveness,' and you will not die.» Or she would say, «Endure! Oh, how hard it will be — endure everything.» It was by such faith that Matushka Alipiya lived.

More than once, Matushka Alipiya prophesied the revival of the Goloseyevo Hermitage, although at the time, that possibility seemed entirely unrealistic. The atheist regime's attitude toward the Church remained unchanged, and the monastery was in an awful state of desolation. However, the Eldress continued to assert, «Here there will be a very large and beautiful church and monastery.» She also said about her house that there would be a church on the site. In addition, she said that it was a holy place, and that three Elders were interred under her house. During excavation of the foundation, skulls were found in the walls of the trench. The tractor had not damaged the graves.

Matushka Alipiya rendered inestimable help in keeping the Ascension Church from being demolished in connection with the building of the design institute. As a result of the appeals filed by the Eldress in Moscow, the building plans were revised. Believers learned of this from the authorized representative for religious affairs, who in conversation mentioned her name, and explained by whose intercession the church had been spared.

Matushka had a particular love for God's church. She was very worried whenever they planned to close a church of God, to deprive [people] of Divine Services. The faithful would often turn to her for prayerful intercession in that regard. Matushka would loudly exclaim, «Return the keys, open the church! There will be no rain, and there will be no grain, unless you open the church!» These are the kind of «orders» Matushka would issue, and by her prayers, services in the church would resume.