In whatever circumstances a person is, for any soul the natural state is the desire for light, purity, goodness. It's just that in someone this aspiration is buried deep, under the acquired wisdom of this world, and in someone, as it was with Euphrosyne Kolupanovskaya, it is on the very surface. More often these are still very young, human souls not disfigured by cynicism.
Life at court
The saint herself did not tell anyone anything about herself, therefore everything that is known about her worldly life is recorded from the words of the contemporaries of the blessed one. She was born in 1758 or 1759 in the family of Prince Grigory Ivanovich Vyazemsky, a representative of the younger branch of this princely family. At birth, the girl received the name Evdokia and already at the age of six she was identified as a pupil of the newly opened Society of Noble Maidens at the Smolny Monastery.
In 1776, the first graduation of the Smolny Institute was adorned by Princess Evdokia Grigoryevna Vyazemskaya. The girl was immediately assigned to the court as a lady-in-waiting of Empress Catherine II. Here Evdokia had toto entertain a bored queen. But the worldly life, filled with balls, fireworks, love affairs, did not please the future saint.
Perhaps it was at one of the balls that she woke up one day. Suddenly, she clearly saw faces distorted by hypocritical smirks, unnatural poses of dance figures, clusters of shiny stones on half-naked bodies. At that moment, it was revealed to her what the true price of all this was and what was really valuable. There are many such cases in history when secular people with connections and an upcoming brilliant career “wake up” in an instant and never returned to their former life.
People who "woke up"
One can recall Dimitri Aleksandrovich Brianchaninov, who later became Saint Ignatius. The young man graduated with honors from the military engineering school, was a uniquely talented writer, excellently recited, which made him a favorite of the secular public. Another striking example is Pavel Ivanovich Plikhankov, a general who became one of the Optina elders under the name of his father Barsanuphius. The revolution in this man's life happened overnight. All of them, like St. Euphrosyne of Kolyupanovskaya, once saw the world with clear eyes and, more than anything else, were afraid to "fall asleep" again. Each of them struggled with "sleep" in different ways. Someone gave away all the property and went to the monks, and someone, like Euphrosyne, walked barefoot in the snow, put on chains under his clothes, deliberately deprived himself of the slightest attributes of a comfortable life. And all this in order not to "fall asleep" again with everythingpeace.
Escape
No one remembers the exact date of this incident, but one day Princess Evdokia simply disappeared. Her dress was found on the bank of the pond. Most likely, this was an attempt to convince possible persecutors that she had drowned. But the fugitive failed to escape. The empress gave the order to detain the princess. While being transported across one of the rivers, the police officer recognized her, after which Evdokia Grigoryevna was returned to the capital. Catherine II received the fugitive affectionately. After questioning, the reason for the escape became clear, and, convinced of the firmness of the intention of the former maid of honor to devote herself to God, the empress lowered her into the monastery, presenting her with a monastic dress made of shiny fabric. Perhaps Catherine wanted to express in this way the hidden evil irony about the unexpected choice of Evdokia.
Wandering
For more than ten years, the future Euphrosyne Kolupanovskaya wandered around different monasteries. The former secular lady had to work on the prosphora, milk the cows. In 1806, at the age of about 48, Evdokia went to Moscow, where she received a written blessing from Metropolitan Platon to carry out the feat of foolishness under the name of the fool Euphrosyne. Serpukhov Vvedensky Bishop's Monastery became her haven.
Life in a monastery
Perhaps, Catherine's ladies-in-waiting many times, passing by simple village women and men, contemptuously pinched their noses. And now one of them is sleeping on the bare floor, next to the dogs, in a stench-filled hut next to the monastery. She consciously chose it herself. "This is for me instead of perfume, which I used so much withyard. I'm worse than dogs," the saint answered the question of why she shares shelter with animals and does not want to clean her home. Perhaps in this way she punished herself for her former empty consolations, or perhaps she braved annoying guests. Even in the monastery is full of lovers of loitering in other people's cells.
Instead of the royal retinue, three dogs, two cats, chickens and turkeys became daily interlocutors and friends for Euphrosyne. They were kicked out of the house only once a year, on Maundy Thursday, when mother Euphrosyne took Communion of the Terrible Mysteries of Christ.
The saint, who for many years studied the secrets of French eloquence, now explained her thoughts with Russian jokes. Euphrosyne always bathed at Epiphany in Jordan right in her clothes and called people: "Go, guys, hot bath! Go, wash!"
At the time when Euphrosyne Kolupanovskaya lived in the Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery, the monastery was repeatedly visited by Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Filaret (Drozdov). The saint always met him outside the monastery fence and kissed the lord's hand. The Metropolitan, who considered Euphrosyne an ascetic, kissed her hand in turn.
The feat of foolishness, which the saint voluntarily carried, never remains without a reward from God. Like all known holy fools for Christ's sake, the blessed mother could relieve illnesses and foresee future events. This attracted people to her who needed healing, comfort, or good advice. At night, Euphrosinia walked around the monastery and sang psalms. During the day she gathered herbs in the forest,which she gave to patients who turned to her for help. Mother prayed in the chapel, next to the monastery, and came to the church service in the monastery cathedral.
Expulsion from the monastery
So almost forty years have passed. The history of Russian Orthodoxy shows that all the ascetics, without exception, who healed, consoled, helped with advice, in the end inevitably came under attack from people who did not succeed in receiving spiritual gifts. Euphrosyne Kolupanovskaya was no exception. In 1845, she had to leave the Serpukhov Vvedensky Vladychny Monastery because of such attacks. One of the women healed by her, Natalya Alekseevna Protopopova, invited the holy fool to her estate, the village of Kolyupanovo, located in the Aleksinsky district of the Tula region, on the banks of the Oka. Here the saint spent the remaining 10 years of her life. Therefore, mother began to be called Euphrosyne of Kolupanovskaya (Aleksinskaya).
Holy spring
Natalya Alekseevna built a separate house for the holy fool, but Euphrosinia settled a cow in it, and for herself she chose the smallest room where the domestics lived. Most likely, mother all her life asked God for forgiveness for the secular period of her life. The blessed one prayed in a ravine on the banks of the river. In the same place, in the ravine, an almost ninety-year-old old woman dug a well with her own hands, from which she asked everyone who turned to her for healing to drink.
Perhaps, thus, allegorically, the saint suggested that in order to heal from any illness, faith in Christ is needed first of all. The one who believesthe simplest remedy will also cure, even ordinary pure spring water from a source. The gospel is that very holy source. Those who "drink" from it do not get sick. After all, diseases are a consequence and indicator of damage to our souls.
Hut with a coffin
Mother Euphrosyne often went to visit one of her admirers and stayed with them for a long time. Her special sympathy was enjoyed by the manager of the Myshegsky iron foundry, Alexei Tsemsh, whom she affectionately called "son." He built a hut for the blessed one in his garden, where she lived from time to time. In the hut of furniture there was only a coffin in which mother rested.
Death and glorification of the blessed one
Three weeks before her death, Blessed Euphrosyne said that she saw two angels who said that it was time for her to visit them. It happened on Sunday, at that very time there was a service in the church. Two Sundays in a row after this event, the visions, in her words, were repeated. On the third Sunday, July 3, 1855, mother, who had reached almost a hundred years of age, took communion and peacefully, folding her arms in a cross, left. Those who were nearby recalled that at that moment the room was filled with an unusual fragrance. A similar phenomenon is described by numerous witnesses of the death of the saints.
Blessed Euphrosyne was buried in full monastic vestments in the Kazan Church in the village of Kolyupanovo. The following inscription was made over the grave of the saint: "Euphrosyne the Unknown. God has chosen to buoy the world, to shame the wise."("Euphrosinia the Unknown. God chose the unwise of the world to shame the wise"). In these words - her whole life.
In 1988, Blessed Euphrosyne of Kolupanovskaya (Aleksinskaya) was glorified among the saints of the Tula land. On the site of the burnt Kazan church there is a new temple of the Kazan convent. And those who, with prayer and faith, come to the holy spring of mother, will certainly receive help and healing.
