“She was a remarkable woman and a saint; her humility was boundless, her tears an unceasing fountain, her prayer to God purest, and her love for all shone with sincerity!”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
In the early 18th century, a small, impoverished village lay hidden in the vast Nizhny Novgorod region, overlooked and forgotten. Yet, this unassuming place was destined for greatness: it would one day become the wondrous Diveevo, the fourth earthly domain of the Most Holy Theotokos, joining the hallowed ranks of Iveron, Mount Athos and Kiev. When a secret nun and future saint — then known only as the widowed landowner Agafya Semyonovna Melgunova — first set foot there, the village was unremarkable, one among thousands across Russia. Its people were neither particularly devout nor known for their piety. Here lies the mystery of God's transformative love: today, the Holy Trinity Monastery stands on that very ground.
Ryazan, photograph from the nineteenth century
Agafya Semyonovna was of noble birth. Her devout landowner parents — Simeon and Paraskeva — left her a vast estate: seven hundred serfs and lands stretching across the provinces of Yaroslavl, Vladimir and Ryazan (then Pereyaslavl). Her husband, Colonel YakovIevich Melgunov, died young, leaving her a widow. Around 1760, she arrived in Kiev with her three-year-old daughter, seeking wisdom about how best to order her life according to God’s will. The elders of the Kiev Caves saw in this gracious woman of thirty a chosen vessel of the Lord, and blessed her to take monastic vows. She was named Alexandra upon joining the order. For a time, Mother Alexandra lived in the Frolov Convent in Kiev.
One day, after long hours in prayer and spiritual toil, Mother Alexandra was granted a vision of the Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin revealed to her God’s will:
“Depart from here and go into the land that I will show you. Go to the north of Russia, calling at every site of My holy monasteries. And there will be a place where I will guide you to fulfil your God-pleasing life, and there I will exalt My name. For in your dwelling, I will set up a great house of Mine, upon which I will pour down all God’s blessings, and My own, from all three of My domains on earth — those of Iveron, Athos and Kiev. Now go, My servant, on your journey. May the grace of God, and My strength, and My favour, and My mercy, and My goodness, and the gifts of all My chosen places, ever be with you!”
The God-inspired elders of the Kiev Caves Monastery all agreed that this vision was genuine. They blessed Mother Alexandra, trusting in God’s will, to obey the command of the Queen of Heaven. On their advice, Mother Alexandra set out, dressed as a noblewoman of Ryazan, using her worldly name.
Tonsure of Agafya Melgunova at the Frolov Convent in Kiev and her vision of the Most Holy Mother of God, fresco in the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God at the Holy Trinity Diveevo Convent, 21st century
Around the year 1760, Mother Alexandra made her way from Murom towards the Sarov Hermitage, still waiting for the Mother of God’s guidance on Her chosen place. Not quite twenty versts short of her goal, Mother Alexandra paused for rest on a patch of grass beside the west wall of the church in the small village of Diveevo...
“Here is that very place I told you to seek in the north of Russia, when I first appeared to you in Kiev. This is the destination set for you by Divine Providence. Live and serve the Lord God here until your days end. I will always be with you; I will always visit this place. Within your dwelling, I will create a monastery of My own, unlike any other — there never has been, is not, and never will be its equal anywhere in the world: this is My fourth chosen place in the universe. Like the stars in the sky, and like the sand by the sea, I will multiply here those who serve the Lord God, and Me — the Ever-Virgin, Mother of Light — and who praise my Son, Jesus Christ. The grace of the Holy Spirit and an abundance of every good thing, both of earth and heaven, will never fail in this beloved place of Mine, with only a little human effort!” This was the second time the Most Holy Mother of God appeared to Mother Alexandra.
Still uncertain, Mother Alexandra continued to the Sarov Hermitage. That community was already renowned for the holy living of its monks, and she turned to them for guidance. She opened her heart to them and sought their wisdom: how ought she to act amidst such wondrous events?
Appearance of the Most Holy Mother of God to Saint Alexandra, detail of the mural in the Kazan Church of the Diveevo Holy Trinity Convent, 20th century
The holy elders of Sarov affirmed the judgement of the monks from the Kiev Caves: the visions of the Queen of Heaven were genuine, and Mother Alexandra, chosen to be the founder and primary builder of the fourth dominion of the Mother of God on earth, was blessed above all others. They gave her the blessing to keep following God’s will and do all the Most Holy Mother of God had told her.
Mother Alexandra made her home in Osinovka village and lived a simple peasant life. Nothing in her manners betrayed her past as a landowner. Three years later, the Lord called her ten-year-old daughter to His eternal dwellings, and in this loss, Alexandra saw yet another sign of her purpose. With a blessing from the Sarov elders, she freed her peasants, sold her estate and used the money to build and restore twelve churches, including the Dormition Cathedral of Sarov. She gave the rest to the poor and returned to Diveevo.
In Diveevo, she moved into a small cell by the village priest’s house and remained there for twenty years. She worked hard, scrubbing out stables, tending cattle, washing clothes, and helping villagers in the fields and around their homes. During harvest — when every fit person in a poor household, even the women, worked in the fields all day — she lit the stoves in their cottages, baked bread, cooked meals, bathed the children, scrubbed their dirty laundry, and dressed them in clean clothes in time for their weary parents’ return. Though she did all this discreetly, the villagers soon came to love her as their kind helper. With her own hands, Mother Alexandra would prepare dowries for village girls; the people treated the towels and women’s soroki (headscarves) she embroidered as holy heirlooms.
In 1767, on the very spot where the Mother of God had appeared, she began construction of a stone church in honour of the Kazan Icon. The work took five years to complete. For the new church, she travelled to Kazan for a copy of the Kazan Icon, to Moscow for a large bell, and to Kiev for relics of God’s saints.
These were hard, hungry times. She gathered village children to help by carrying bricks to the workers. At the end of each day, she gave each child a five-kopeck coin and fed them bread and water. Under her watchful eye, no one in the village went hungry.
Construction of the Kazan Church in Diveevo, fresco in the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God at the Holy Trinity Diveevo Convent
The new church had three chapels: one for the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, another for Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker — and Mother Alexandra still puzzled over the dedication of the third chapel.
One night, as she prayed for guidance, a sudden knock sounded at the window and a voice called out: “You wonder in whose name to dedicate the chapel? Build it in my name.” “Who are you?” she asked. “I am the first martyr, Archdeacon Stephen!” In the morning, they found an icon of Archdeacon Stephen attached to the window — painted on a narrow, rough wooden board. At first, it rested in the newly built Kazan Church, but later it became Mother Alexandra’s own icon, placed in her cell.
When the church was consecrated in 1772, the landowner Mrs Zhdanova donated a small plot on its north side. Mother Alexandra then decided to build the first three cells there — her own quarters, lodgings for four novice sisters and a shelter for wanderers on pilgrimage to the Sarov Hermitage. The inside of these cells reflected the simple, austere life of this chosen one of the Queen of Heaven: two small rooms and two tiny closets. In one closet, built by the stove, stood a simple bed made of bricks. Close by was the door to a dark prayer room, large enough only for her to stand before a large cross with a small oil lamp burning in front. No window broke the darkness of that place. Communion in prayer before the crucified Saviour — sharing in His suffering — was the deepest form of spiritual union. It was on the strength of these prayers and spiritual labours of Mother Alexandra that the Diveevo Convent took root.
Appearance of Archdeacon Stephen’s Icon to Venerable Alexandra, mural in the Kazan Church of the Diveevo Holy Trinity Convent, 20th century
On feast days and Sundays, Mother Alexandra never went straight home after the service. Instead, she remained in the churchyard, talking to the villagers, instructing them in their Christian responsibilities and proper observance of holy days and Sundays. The people of Diveevo later remembered these talks with deep gratitude. Word spread, and not only local peasants but also officials, merchants, and even clergy came to hear her wisdom, receive her blessing, and benefit from her insight.
Guided by Elder Pachomius, the Sarov builder, and by the treasurer Hieromonk Isaiah, Mother Alexandra and her four novices followed the full Sarov rule. They made coarse linen tunics, knitted stockings, and worked with their hands to provide for the needs of the Sarov brethren. In return, Father Pachomius supplied the small community with all their daily needs, including food delivered from the Sarov refectory once each day. Mother Alexandra lived in this way until the end of her earthly days — a God-fearing life, filled with toil and prayer, marked by discipline and unceasing effort.
We glimpse what Mother Alexandra looked like through the eyes of her novice, Evdokia Martynovna:
“Agafya Semyonovna’s garments were plain and threadbare, mended many times over — unchanging through winter and summer. On her head sat a close-fitting black woollen cap, trimmed with rabbit fur, as she often battled with headaches. Her scarves were crafted of paper. For the fieldwork, she wore bast shoes, but towards the end of her life, she went about in cold boots. Mother Agafya Semyonovna wore a hair-shirt, was of average height, and was cheerful in manner. Her face was round and fair; her eyes grey; her nose short and turned up; her mouth small; her hair, when young, shone light brown; her face and hands soft and full.”
Saint Alexandra of Diveyevo entrusts the Diveyevo Convent to young Hieromonk Seraphim, detail from the fresco in the Kazan Church of Diveevo Convent, 20th century
In June 1788, sensing her time drawing near, Mother Alexandra received the Great Angelic Habit of Schema. She implored the Sarov elders not to abandon her novices, and to care for the convent pledged to her by the Queen of Heaven. She asked Father Seraphim not to leave her community, but to remain, if the Mother of God herself should so direct him. Before her repose, she was tonsured into the schema with the name Alexandra.
The wondrous Schema-nun Alexandra fell asleep in the Lord on 26 June, the feast of the Holy Martyr Aquilina. At her passing, she asked her attendant: “Evdokia dear, when my time comes to depart, take the icon of Our Lady of Kazan and place it on my chest, so that the Queen of Heaven will be with me in my last moments. And light a candle before Her image.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov, entrusted with Diveyevo’s care, later received a divine revelation: Venerable Alexandra’s relics would find rest in Diveyevo — and so it happened. Her relics, along with those of two other Diveyevo nuns, Schema-nun Martha and Nun Elena, were uncovered on 26 September 2000, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. In December that year, the Saints of Diveyevo were glorified among the locally venerated Saints of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, and on 6 October 2004, the Bishop’s Council extended their commemoration to the entire Russian Orthodox Church.
Venerable Mother Alexandra, first among the Diveyevo sisters, pray to God for us!
Shrine with the relics of Saint Alexandra of Diveyevo in the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God at Diveyevo Convent
Let us sing today, O faithful, to our Venerable Mother Alexandra, Foundress of the wondrous dominion of the Most Holy Theotokos; may the Lord, through her prayers and the intercessions of the Most Pure Virgin, grant us forgiveness of sins and great mercy.
Kontakion, Tone 3
Prepared by the team of obitel-minsk.ru
Photographs from the Internet
Sources:
1. The Fourth Domain of the Mother of God / Published by Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery. Moscow, 1995.
2. Mother Alexandra — Foundress of the Diveyevo Community / Published by St Daniel’s Monastery. Moscow, 1997.
3. The Lives of the Venerable Alexandra, Martha and Elena of Diveyevo. Diveyevo.
4. Venerable Alexandra of Diveyevo (Melgunova) (ortox.ru).
5. Venerable Alexandra, Foundress of Diveyevo — Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis (nne.ru).
6. A Quiet Virginal Haven / Monastery Newsletter (monasterium.ru).
