Saint Xenia of St. Petersburg

On February 6^th (January 22^nd according to the old calendar) the Church commemorates Saint Blessed Xenia of Petersburg.

St. Xenia is one of our most beloved and closest Russian saints. She was born in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 18^th century and was married to a singer in the royal court choir. The unexpected death of her young husband, without church prayer and benediction, so deeply affected St. Xenia that she completely changed her way of life. She took on all that was great and divine, and discarded all that was trivial, unnecessary, temporal. At the age of 26 she left court life and took upon herself the enormous spiritual feat of foolishness-for-Christ, enduring mockery and beatings from other people and all kinds of tribulation. The blessed Xenia walked all over the city in all kinds of weather, even in the bitterest cold, dressed in old garments and with painful feet swollen from the cold. At the Smolensk Cemetery, where she was later buried, St. Xenia secretly carried bricks at night to the top of the church that was being built. During the night she also often went out into the fields at the outskirts of the city and spent entire nights in prayer. Thus for 45 years the blessed Xenia engaged in her spiritual labor. For her endurance the Lord granted her the gift of clairvoyance and love. She foresaw the death both of royal personages and of common folk, and helped people in settling their lives. At the age of 71 she peacefully reposed, and immediately after her death there were many occurrences of miraculous help from her. And even to this day the faithful bring their needs and sorrows to the blessed one and receive great comfort from her. St. Blessed Xenia especially helps in daily life and family affairs: to set up one’s life, to create a family, to earn one’s daily bread, to have one’s children well-established, to find housing, to be successful in one’s studies, and all other needs.