Before celebrating the Divine Liturgy at the Intercession Monastery in Moscow for the first time on Dec. 3, 2017, Romanian Patriarch Daniel bowed down before and venerated the holy relics of Saint Matrona of Moscow. Called the eighth pillar of Russia by Saint John of Kronstadt, Saint Matrona is highly honoured by the Russians but also by believers from all across the world.
Glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church on 2 May 1999, Saint Matrona is one of the most venerated contemporary Russian Saints. She was born in 1881 in the village of Sebino of Epiphansky district (now Kimovsky district) of Tula region.
She came to the world without the gift of sight and lost the use of her feet at the age of seventeen. However, due to her ascetic life and unceasing prayer, God bestowed upon her the gifts of spiritual vision and performing miracles.
As a sign of gratitude and spiritual joy, at the end of the Divine Liturgy Abbess Theophania presented Patriarch Daniel with an icon of Saint Matrona painted by the nuns and blessed at the Saint’s relics.
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