Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg was revered during her lifetime and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as an ambulance attendant and miracle worker. For the sake of salvation and love for others, she took upon herself the feat of appearing insane. For her labors, prayers, fasts, wanderings, and humbly enduring ridicule, the blessed one received from God the gift of perspicacity and miracle-working. Her chapel at the Smolensky Cemetery was covered with thanks for the miracles performed through her prayerful intercession.
In June 1988, Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg was canonized at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Blessed Xenia was born between 1719 and 1730 and performed her life-saving feat in St. Petersburg. Ksenia's husband was Andrei Feodorovich Petrov, a chorister of the court choir. Nothing is known about the childhood and youth of the blessed one, the people's memory has preserved only what is associated with the beginning of Xenia's feat of foolishness – the sudden death of her husband, who died without Christian repentance.
Shocked by this terrible event, the 26-year–old widow decided to begin the most difficult Christian feat – to appear insane, in order to sacrifice to God the most valuable thing that a person has, reason, and beg the Creator for mercy for her suddenly deceased spouse. Ksenia renounced all the benefits of the world, renounced her rank and wealth, and moreover, herself. She left her name and, taking the name of her spouse, went through her entire way of the cross under his name, bringing gifts of all-saving love for her neighbor to the altar of God.
When, on the day of her husband's funeral, Ksenia put on his clothes: a doublet, a caftan, trousers and a cap and went to see off his coffin in such a suit, her husband's relatives and Ksenia's acquaintances decided that Andrei Feodorovich's death had clouded her consciousness. They were very sorry for her. Ksenia, as if she had lost her mind, comforted them saying: "Andrei Feodorovich did not die, but he became incarnate in me, Ksenia, who died a long time ago." So began her wandering through the streets of St. Petersburg.
She decided to give the house that remained to her after the death of her husband to Paraskeva Antonova, who rented a room from her, distribute her property to the poor, and take the money to the church for the repose of the soul of "servant of God Xenia."
Upon learning of this decision, her husband's relatives petitioned the authorities of the deceased Andrei Feodorovich, asking not to allow Xenia to distribute her property in a frenzy. However, after an appropriate examination, it was concluded that she was perfectly healthy and had the right to dispose of her property.
After that, Blessed Xenia gave away everything she had and, wearing only her husband's suit, went outside on her ascetic journey. She spent her days wandering around St. Petersburg, winter and summer, in the heat and cold, being subjected to all kinds of attacks and ridicule. Her strange costume and unintelligible speech, her meekness and gentleness gave rise to evil people, especially naughty boys, to mock her. But blessed Xenia, unceasingly praying, meekly carried out her saving feat.
The construction of a new stone church at Smolenskoye Cemetery dates back to this time. The erected structure was already very high, and the masons had to first lift the brick onto the scaffolding, and then put it in the masonry. Blessed Xenia decided to secretly help the builders. All night long, in any weather, she lifted bricks and stacked them on the scaffolding. The next morning, the workers only marveled at what had happened. Finally, they decided to find out who their invisible assistant was, and when they came to the construction site at night, they discovered that it was the "mad" Xenia, known to the entire St. Petersburg side.
During the day, Ksenia wandered around the city like a madwoman, and at night, hiding from the eyes of people, she went outside the city, into the field, and stayed there in prayer, alternately bowing to all four corners of the world. In the field, she said, the presence of God was "more pronounced."
Soon, others began to notice that her words and actions often had a deep meaning. They noticed that if Ksenia asked for something, it was a sign of impending adversity or trouble for the one who was asked, and, conversely, if she gave it to someone, the recipient would soon receive unexpected joy.
When the mothers saw Xenia, they hurried to her with their children, asking her to bless or just pat the child on the head, convinced that one touch of the blessed one would heal him.
Through her great humility, the feat of spiritual and physical poverty, love for her neighbors, and prayer, Xenia acquired the grace-filled gift of perspicacity. With this gift, she helped many people in the matter of life and spiritual salvation.
Blessed Xenia struggled in the feat of foolishness for about 45 years, it can be argued that she went to the Lord at the very beginning of the nineteenth century.
The holy Mother of God was buried at the Smolensky Cemetery in St. Petersburg, where she helped build a church in the name of the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk.
About two centuries have passed since the death of the blessed one, but the miracles performed through the prayers of the saint do not cease and the national memory of her does not disappear.
In 1902, a new chapel with a marble iconostasis and a tombstone was built over the grave of Blessed Xenia. It has always been open for memorial services, and nowhere have there been so many memorial services as at the grave of Blessed Xenia.
Currently, the chapel has been restored and reopened for access and prayer.