In 1955 a Catacomb Church family related: "Before we lived in Russia, in Balashevo province. We were under the spiritual direction of Matushka Abbess Seraphima, who had the gift of spiritual sight. She used to warn us: "'See that when you are exiled, you take the door with you. Take it off its hinges and put your things on it. Carry them in that way. Don't fear the difficulties. Endure everything. They'll take you a long way away. But God is everywhere: He sees everything, hears everything, knows everything... 'Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake... Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for My name's sake' (Matt. 5.10-11)... Take the door from its hinges and put all kinds of food on it. Don't forget to take an axe and a spade. Oh how handy they'll be!' "We didn't understand what exile she was talking about. Everything was calm with us.
They didn't harm anybody. A few years later [in the time of collectivization in the 1930s], the exiles began. Our turn came. We were warned only a day before:
"'You can take as many things as you can carry with you!' "At that moment we understood matushka's words. We took a door and put our most necessary things on it: food and clothes. And we also took a spade and axe on matushka's advice. "They loaded us onto cattle trucks. They spread out a panel which read:
'Volunteers are going to Siberia to live. Greetings to them from the working population.' "But if the people had known what kind of 'volunteers' were travelling in that special train. How many tears were shed in every carriage! You know, we had abandoned everything - homes, property, gardens. Our only consolation was that Matushka Abbess had warned us about everything long before and had given her blessing: We travelled for a long time. Finally, we came to the place: bare steppe! There was not even a bush. And no people at all: it was just desert... They took us out: "'Well now, kulaks, let's see how you're going to live here!' "Everyone wept. The women sobbed aloud. But the authorities just got into their cars and drove off. It was already frosty, winter was approaching in that area. And we had nothing. Under our feet was bare, cold earth, and above us the blue sky. That was all! "Oh, how we thanked God that we had taken an axe and spade! And how useful the doors came in! We bowed to the earth in front of Matushka. But she herself was blind. In both eyes. But the Lord gives wisdom to the blind, He gave her other, spiritual eyes. She saw what others did not see, what the Lord revealed to her. She was already old, now she's over ninety...Save, O Lord, and have mercy on Thy servant schema-abbess Seraphima.
You know, we all lived in obedience to her, we did everything with her blessing. She, the servant of God, kept the whole region free from heresy. She stood like an unbending pillar! "In the churches they began to read the 'declaration' of Metropolitan Sergius. How it dismayed us. The priest went out and began to read it to the people. But matushka went up to him and said loudly: "'You're a wolf, a wolf!... You are apostates. You have denied Christ-God. How can you read such a paper in the church of God!...' "The priest was embarrassed. She knocked the declaration out of his hands. She was pushed aside. But she continued: "'Sergius is a turn-coat, a traitor of Christ, like Judas... What does he write? What does he say? He says it is necessary to thank Soviet power... For what? For the bloody persecution of the Holy Church?! And he suggests that we rejoice with the antichrist at his joys and sorrow at his sorrows... How shameful!' "The people supported her: "'Shameful! Shameful!' "The priest cut off the reading and went into the altar. But the people said: "'Matushka has spoken rightly. That was right!'" Maria Ivanovna told the following story: "I will tell you a story which proves that Matushka Schema-Abbess had the gift of clairvoyance. "It was completely understandable that the authorities should look for her, but they did not succeed in finding her. First one group of believers, and then another, took her into their home. She was transferred from one province to another. So the KGB resorted to a diabolical trick. "There appeared in that region what appeared to be a homeless wanderer, a nun who had been persecuted for Christ's sake. But in fact she was an experienced co-worker of the KGB. And if it had not been for Matushka Schema-Abbess, no-one would ever have guessed that she was an agent.
She did everything in a monastic way, her clothes in the house were monastic and everything about her was monastic. And she began to go round the houses of everyone who might know where the schema-abbess was. She went from house to house, but did not gain the information she needed. Finally, she came to the house of a woman who believed that she was a real nun, and not an artist. And so they later called her 'artist'... "'Oh matushka, matushka!' she sighed, calling the simple laywoman 'matushka' as if in forgetfulness. "'The Lord be with you, but how am I 'matushka'?' "'Oh, forgive me, dear sister, I said that out of habit. You know, I'm always among nuns, and I took you for a matushka... But perhaps you will be a nun!' "Of course, such a device might appear to be the best proof that she was a true nun. The more so since she always acted and spoke in a monastic way. On sitting down to eat lunch or supper, she read the prayers in a monastic way. After the meal and prayers she thanked the mistress of the house with a deep bow and prayed for the repose of her parents' souls. She particularly won over the mistress with her rapid prostrations, which showed that the 'nun' did many prostrations secretly. "'Oh, ma... - forgive me, sister, what kind of life are we living now! I don't want to live any longer. These are the last times! Faith has diminished in people. You can no longer find a monk to ask his advice on how to live. But the Lord has led me to you, may Christ save you. You don't know where else to go. You might land up with some OGPU agents!' "'But, by the mercy of God, there are still some lamps of God left!' "'What are you saying?! I have gone round almost half Russia, and there's no-one!' "'There is! I tell you that there is...' "'Where, dear one! For Christ's sake, tell me!'
"'Only don't tell anyone!' "'What are you saying? How could I?!' "And so in this cunning way the agent found out the address. The laywoman told her everything, only she couldn't remember the number of the house: "'It doesn't matter, I'll explain it to you... It's the third, or maybe the fourth house from the corner.
There's a high gate covered with tin-plate. . As you go in, you'll see a narrow path to the corner of the house. Turn left past the corner. Knock three times on the first window past the turn. And ask...' "'Christ save you!' "With these words she immediately went into the town... Perhaps about two hours later she came back: "'Ach, I went the wrong way. I arrived, but it seems that it wasn't the right place... I came to the window and knocked three times. A woman jumped out, it seems she had been washing some clothes. "'"What do you want?" she asked in a coarse way. "'I told her. She said: "'"What matushka are you talking about? I'll wake up my husband now, he's drunk, and he’ll show you both a matushka and a batyushka!" I was frightened and left...' "'That was probably Dasha... Most likely you didn't understand each other... It doesn't matter. I'll find out.
Don't be sad. Sit down and drink some tea. I'll put the samovar on... And meanwhile write down some addresses you can go to.' "The nun took out a piece of paper and wrote down the addresses. The samovar was already on the table... "While the so-called 'nun' had been knocking on the window, matushka said to the novice: "'It's an enemy! It's an enemy! Drive her away, drive her away!' "And when the agent had left in perplexity, the blind woman said: "'Now run quickly to Pasha and tell her that a spy is drinking tea in her house.' "Dasha ran off.
By road it was about 11 kilometres, but much shorter through the kitchen-gardens. Dasha ran up, panting. She knocked on the door. Pasha came out.
Dasha passed her the message: "'Matushka told me: run quickly to Pasha, a spy is drinking tea in her house!' "And Dasha disappeared... It was as if she had been covered with boiling water. But she went in calmly and asked: "'Where were we?'
"The nun read the last address. "'And before that?' "She read several addresses.
Pasha said: "'Let's have a look... What's this, I'm so mixed up. No, that's wrong...' "And she threw the whole piece of paper into the samovar spout. It went up in smoke. "'Ach, someone probably came and told you something!' "What are you saying? That was a neighbour bringing me a frying-pan.' "'No, no! Someone told you...' "They transferred matushka to another place. And the OGPU agent went away in a sulk... But she couldn't say that she was working for the OGPU... "I'll tell you about a miracle which took place, as all of us firmly believe, by the holy prayers of Matushka Schema-Abbess Seraphima. "I was fixed up, again by her prayers, in a good job at a railway crossing, opening and closing the barrier. This place was near a mine. Trucks passed along the road carrying explosive destined for the mine. My work consisted in sitting in a glass cabin and looking out for trains. When a train came up to cross the road, I closed the barrier, and when it passed, I opened it. On blessing me for this work, matushka had said: "'When you go to work in the morning, your first duty will be to make the sign of the cross over all the levers and cables and everything that has to do with your work. Then sit down and say the Jesus prayer without ceasing. Don't allow any sinful thought in, fight it by prayer!' "And I did everything that matushka told me to do... Many years passed, and nothing special happened at that place... There was another person, a trackman, working on the crossing. His duties included sweeping the road and watching the track. I used to say hello to him, and then sit down to work and prayer. One day I came to work. It was already autumn, and it was frosty. I secretly made the sign of the cross over the whole place. I went into the cabin, sat down and occupied myself with the Jesus prayer. I lost consciousness of my surroundings. When I lifted my head I saw a big and heavy goods train already close. And when I looked behind, I saw a car going along the road with red flags, which meant that it was carrying explosive. There was no time to let down the barrier. Apparently the driver had decided to get ahead of the train. I froze... The car crossed the rails, but the locomotive was there too. The sound of glass was heard. The car was hanging on the locomotive. The guards who were sitting with their rifles on chests flew out onto the asphalt together with the explosive. The explosive scattered over a wide area. The train stopped. I heard a voice: "'Step on the cable with your foot!' "I was wearing boots. But as I stepped on the cable, to my surprise it snapped. "A short time later the police and the bosses arrived.
Many of them. But for some reason everyone was very quiet. There was no sound of conversation. They were walking carefully, there was explosive everywhere... But the guards who had fallen at great speed off the car were unharmed, safe and sound. They took the car down from the locomotive. In the cabin were the driver and senior guard - the door was jammed. But they also were completely unharmed.
It was simply amazing. Such a catastrophe and no consequences. The car was going at such a speed and yet nobody suffered. They came out, said something... Finally, the commission came up to the barrier and said to me: "'Tell us what happened.' "I told them that I had tried to close the barrier, but the cable had snapped. The commission and I went up to the transmission. There was ice there.
I was so amazed at that and fervently thanked the Lord in my soul. Although it was frosty, it was impossible to explain the presence of ice in the transmission. It was the first time I had seen ice there in so many years. Yes and in general was it not a clear miracle of God! Why were the guards alive and unharmed? After all, they had fallen out of the car and flown several metres. Why did the explosive not explode at the impact? They later said that if the explosive had gone off the whole town would have been destroyed! "I was not responsible at all. Formally speaking, I did everything I could. Only the technology did not work. It could not work because ice had formed in the box.
Only the car suffered damage. While all the people who had been involved in the catastrophe had been miraculously preserved completely unharmed. "Several years passed... Circumstances were such that I was given the right to retire. And I asked matushka for permission to retire. 'Blind' matushka, as everyone called her, gave her blessing... And so I, having gone with my list of signatures through all the sections, went to the director for the final signature. He signed, and then, looking attentively at me, asked me to close the doors. I closed them. And he said to me: "'Yes, Maria, we know your 'crosses'!.. Well!..' "He spread his hands as if he wanted to say something special, but just said: "'I wish you all the best!'" As she told the story of this miracle wrought through the prayers of Schema-Abbess Seraphima, tears were in her eyes. And we all, as we listened to her, could not refrain from weeping.