The Holy Martyr Maria was born in 1874 in Saint Petersburg into the family of Alexander Ivanovich Lelyanov, a merchant who owned a sealing-wax factory. At her baptism, she received the name Lydia. The family dwelt near the Novodevichy Convent, close to the Church of the Transfiguration on Zabalkansky Prospect. Tragedy struck when Lydia was just three and a half. Her father died, leaving her and her younger sister Julia, then only one and a half, to the care of their mother and elder brothers.
Lydia attended a girls’ grammar school, but shortly before graduating, she fell ill with encephalitis. This led to Parkinson’s disease, followed by rheumatism and gout. She had to take her final exams in a wheelchair. Her family did all they could to help her: they took her to well-known Russian doctors and even travelled across Europe for consultations with specialists. Yet no one could cure her.
Her condition grew severe and untreatable. In 1909, following doctors’ advice, the family moved to Gatchina. For two decades, Lydia endured an existence of almost unimaginable confinement, lying motionless on her back. The slightest movement, the gentlest touch caused her unbearable pain.
Yet, no complaint escaped her lips. She accepted her affliction with a quiet heart, surrendering herself completely to God’s will and providence. Through her trials, she learned to pray without ceasing and grew deeply aware of the reality of death.
After the passing of her mother and brothers, Lydia and her sister Julia found themselves alone, but not forsaken. Fellow Orthodox women moved into their flat, offering companionship and practical support. Gentle and patient in her suffering, Lydia often received visits from clergy who held prayer services at her bedside. A devoted circle of women even formed, their voices rising in song at these molebens, both in Lydia's home and in the local churches. Despite being completely immobile — even her face was frozen — Lydia could still speak. She spoke through half-closed lips, slowly and distinctly, carefully forming each word so that others could understand clearly.
Through long-suffering patience in severe affliction, this righteous woman refined her soul, and the Lord granted her spiritual insight and the gift of comforting others. In time, many people began coming to her for guidance and prayer — not only lay people but also priests and bishops. Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazansky)[1] of Petrograd gave his blessing for Lydia to receive monastic tonsure.
Metropolitan Veniamin (Kazansky)
In 1922, at the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God — the Gatchina metochion of the Pyatigorsk Convent of the Mother of God — Archimandrite Makary (Voskresensky) from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra tonsured Lydia into monasticism with the name Maria. A great multitude gathered there to witness this solemn event.
Every day, many people came to see her. People waited patiently in the hallway for their turn; many brought food and money, which she then gave away to those in need. Professor Ivan Mikhailovich Andreev, among those who knew her, recalled her remarkable gift for comforting and healing sorrowful hearts. He recalled these examples: “A young man, downcast after his priest father was arrested and exiled, left Mother with a bright smile, determined to become a deacon. A young woman arrived in despair but went away with hope, having resolved to enter the monastic life. An old man, grieving deeply for his dead son, walked away uplifted and hopeful. And an older woman who entered weeping bitterly left calm and strengthened."[2]
Mother Maria
In March 1927, Professor Andreev told Sister Maria about the depths of his own despair, which could last for weeks and felt impossible to escape. Mother Maria gently replied: "This sadness is a spiritual cross. God sends it as a help to those who repent but do not yet know how to repent fully — those who fall back into old sins even after confession. So there are only two cures for this heavy trial: either learn to repent and show the fruits of it, or — through meekness, patience, and gratitude to the Lord — carry this cross of despair, knowing that bearing it counts as fruit of repentance. And what great relief it brings when you see your despair as a hidden self-punishment for lacking the right fruits! This thought alone should move your heart deeply; then gradually your sorrow will melt away, and real fruits of repentance will begin to grow."
Professor Andreev later remembered: "After Mother Maria spoke those words, it felt as if someone had performed surgery within my soul and cut out a spiritual growth... And I left as a changed man."[3]
Nun Maria (Lelyanova)
Not long before his arrest and martyrdom, Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd visited Mother Maria. He gave her his photograph with the inscription: "To the deeply respected sufferer, Mother Maria, who has comforted many grieving souls, including me, a sinner."[4]
The year 1932 dawned with a renewed wave of persecution. The godless authorities began arresting monks and nuns from monasteries they had already closed down.
The Leningrad OGPU, in their official pronouncements, justified these actions with chilling statements: "In the context of intensified class struggle and fierce opposition by counter-revolutionary elements against the development of socialist economic structure, members of the clergy are playing an active role... attempting by every means possible to hinder and sabotage the socialist project.
Although the monasteries had been officially closed at various times, the nuns from these communities secretly kept them alive as tightly organised groups of reactionary monastics opposed to Soviet rule. Around them gathered others considered enemies of the revolution — former aristocrats, wealthy peasants, those stripped of their rights, ex-policemen, and similar individuals.
The hidden convents attracted large numbers of visitors, both locals and travellers from distant areas. Among these guests, the nuns openly spoke against Soviet power and spread provocative rumours intended to undermine the government and its policies.”[5]
To stamp out these pockets of resistance, the Leningrad OGPU launched an operation in February 1932, arresting seventy-six people. Their reports painted a picture of subversive activity.
“The Pokrovskoye Metochion of the Pyatigorsk convent had officially closed back in 1922. Yet in reality, it continued quietly until recent times. The nuns who remained living there carried on exactly as before, unchanged in their spiritual practice and daily routines.”[6]
The reports continued: “Spiritually, the nuns of this closed-down community gathered around a woman known as Mother Maria. For twenty years she had suffered severe rheumatism and gout, so intense that she was forced to lie flat on her back day after day. Yet visitors came constantly to see her — not just townspeople, but villagers and pilgrims from far away — seeking her advice on how to handle their troubles.”[7]
Courtyard of the prison hospital where Mother Maria departed to the Lord
Nun Maria was taken into custody on 19 February 1932. Two OGPU officers approached her bed, dragged her by her outward-turned arms across the floor and ground, swung her by hands and feet, and threw her into the back of a truck. Her illness made it impossible to keep her in prison, so they placed her in a prison hospital instead, where an investigator later questioned her. Confirming her allegiance to Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh), she stated firmly, "I believe Metropolitan Sergius was wrong to order prayers for Soviet rule; the government neither needs nor desires them. Let whoever truly wishes pray for it — I say we should only pray for authorities if they are indeed true authorities."[8]
Those questioned by the OGPU investigators spoke with one voice. Throughout the city and surrounding countryside, people saw Mother Maria as a holy woman, with the ability to see what others could not.
On 22 March 1932, a travelling session of the OGPU sentenced Nun Maria to exile, stripping her of "the right to reside in the regions of Moscow and Leningrad; in the districts of Kharkov, Kiev, and Odessa; in the North Caucasus region, Dagestan, Kazan, Chita, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Tashkent, Tiflis, Omsk and its surrounding area; in the Urals; and in all border districts for three years…to be confined to the chosen place of residence."[9]
Only a few weeks later, on 17 April 1932, Mother Maria died in the prison hospital in Petrograd. She was laid to rest in Smolensky Cemetery.
In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia honoured her memory among the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, naming her Venerable New Martyr Maria of Gatchina.
The icon of the Venerable New Martyr Maria of Gatchina
On 17 July 2006, the Russian Orthodox Church canonised Mother Maria as one of the assembly of Russia’s New Martyrs and Confessors of the twentieth century, following a recommendation from the Diocese of Saint Petersburg. Maria’s holy relics were discovered on 26 March 2007 at Smolensk Cemetery in Saint Petersburg and transferred to the Cathedral of St. Paul in Gatchina.
Reliquary with the holy relics of the Venerable Martyr Maria of Gatchina in Gatchina's St. Paul Cathedral
Abbot Damaskin (Orlovsky). "Lives of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the Twentieth Century. April." Tver, 2006. pp. 27-32
Photographs from the internet
References:
[1] Hieromartyr Benjamin (Vasily Pavlovich Kazansky); commemorated on 31 July/30 August.
[2] Archpriest M. Polsky. "New Martyrs of Russia." Jordanville, 1957. Vol. 2, p. 255.
[3] Ibid., p. 256.
[4] Ibid., p. 255.
[5] Directorate of the FSB of Russia for Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Case P-8894. Vol. 2, folio 480.
[6] Ibid., folio 454.
[7] Ibid., folio 456.
[8] Ibid., folio 376.
[9] Ibid., folio 580.
