A man relates: First I shall tell something about myself, although it is difficult and unpleasant for me to do so. But I fear being ashamed of God and hiding God’s miracle, for Christ said, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall I also be ashamed.”
All my life, women of ill repute inspired me with disgust, aversion, and a feeling of pity. Dissolute women of society also did not attract me, and I fled from them and dreamt of an honorable marriage with a well-born lady and of our faithfulness to each other. For this reason, in my early years I asked the Lord in my prayers to grant me for a wife the most beautiful of all maidens, who would be the best of wives and mothers.
In order to make this dream come true, I frequented balls and directed the dancing, having passed three years in the Imperial Academy of Jurisprudence and five years as an official in the Ministry of Justice, and I tried to find the object of my dreams. Eight years passed thus, but nowhere did I see the priceless treasure I was looking for. Finally I asked my father to invite Father John to our house.
Father John came, and I took him to my room and said, “Batiushka, I do not wish to lead a careless life. I am twenty- five years old and I feel that it is time for me to get married, but I want to marry for love, and yet, there is no one I love.”
Father John answered, “Let’s pray. God will help you.” He stood facing the icons together with me and prayed for a short time, after which he blessed me. I gave him in an envelope the first wages I had received as the head clerk of the Ministry of Justice, saying, “Here Batiushka, this is for your poor.”
After this we went together into the drawing room where Father John served a moleben with the blessing of water, and then in the dining room he had some tea, and he left. Three days later I went to visit my relative, General Nicholas Kassianovich Shevtsov, whose daughter was my second cousin. She had finished the Nikolayev section of the Smolny Institute with the highest mark of distinction —the Empress’s cipher.
On coming to the Shevtsov’s I beheld seated at the piano the very incarnation of beauty, and immediately I was smitten and fell in love with her. As it turned out, she was well known for her beauty in all of Smolny. My bold cousin, pointing out her friend, said to me, “Would you like to have such a wife?” “Of course I would,” I answered
My cousin told me that with regard to morals, this well-born young lady was the best of all her friends, and was very highly regarded by her superiors for her good conduct.
One might ask why for eight years I had been unable to find myself a bride according to my heart, and here, three days after Father John prayed, I found one. It was, of course, because the prayers of the great and righteous man ascended to God.
Out of modesty and discretion this young lady did not immediately agree to my proposal, but said that she would think it over. Finally she invited me to go with her to the chapel over the grave of Blessed Xenia, in the Smolensk cemetery. There we had a pannikhida served. Having been convinced that I was a devout person, on the way back she gave me her consent.
After our marriage she dedicated herself wholly to family life. She herself breast-fed our six children, bathed them, and swaddled them, not entrusting them to the nursery, maids and nannies, who were always at hand. She never went anywhere and never received anyone.
She was meek and of an imperturbably peaceful character, exceedingly intelligent, and had strong faith in God. When my father died, she said to me, “I will take the place of your father.” And when my mother died, she again said by way of comforting me, “Don’t be grieved; I will take the place of your mother also.”
In addition, she helped me in my work. At home it was paradise. I had only to return home to forget immediately all the intrigues that had irritated me at the Ministry. She resolutely bore all the horrors of the “Sovdepia” (a pejorative acronym for the Bolshevik State, i.e. “the land of the Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies”) with me.
Here in Yugoslavia she earned the means for supporting our family. She was an example of faithfulness and chastity.
On March 17, 1932, she died in the city of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The spiritual father of my wife and me, a deeply believing batiushka of righteous life, told me she had died because she was righteous and that she was ready for the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord took her from this earthly vale, and was giving me time to repent so that I would be deemed worthy to meet her.
Another of my friends, presently Bishop John of Shanghai (himself a great saint), wrote a letter to comfort me, in which he said, “Believe me, your wife is now closer to you in spirit than she was before.”
About twenty days after my wife’s repose, I was asleep. At 6:00 in the morning I saw her approach me with heavenly joy and affection on her face, encircled from below by a delicate radiant cloud. I immediately awoke.
The most blessed Metropolitan Anthony said to me, “According to the teachings of the holy Fathers, this was not a dream, but an appearance; the joy indicates that it is well for her in Heaven, and the affection, that she is pleased with you. She appeared to you in order to comfort you and let you know that it is well with her, and so that you would not reproach yourself as if you had not done everything possible for her salvation during her life.”
And here is what Archbishop Seraphim, who was the head of the Russian churches in Bulgaria, wrote to me: “My beloved son in Christ! With all my heart I convey to you my deep sorrow over the death of your precious — nay, priceless — and now heavenly treasure, your wife. Truly there was something heavenly in the meek and loving gaze of your spouse when I was with you. Believe me, she is parted from you in order to be united with you forever, and for that reason Father John, by his prayers, found her for you.”
When I next saw Vladyka, he added, “When you die, then Father John, together with your wife, will meet you.”
Until the death of my wife, I considered death as something very terrible and tried not to think about it. Now I have clearly come to understand the truth that eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven is incomparably better than any earthly happiness, which is always imperfect and so quickly passes.
Father John with his short prayer made me the happiest of all mortals, and after the death of my wife, he is leading me to the Kingdom of Heaven with the authority he has. And thus, on account of this wondrous mercy which Father John had asked for me from God in a prayer lasting only three minutes, I have such unending love for him, and I honor him and try to glorify him in God and God in him.
Ref: Saint John of Kronstadt by I.K. Sursky, p. 138 – 142
The Art of Orthodoxy 