Matrona Dmitrievna Nikonova,, the Blessed Eldress of Moscow,, also referred to as Matrona of Moscow.
Background
Matrona was born to Dmitry and Natalia Nikonov in the village of Sebino in Tula Province. Her struggling parents planned to place her in an orphanage after her birth but her mother changed her mind after she had a dream, in which she saw that a white bird of divine beauty, with empty eye sockets, landed on her breast. When Matrona was born, she was blind, with eyelids closed over empty eye sockets.
Her mother took this as a heavenly sign.
Career
She was the fourth child in the family. According to legend, by the time she was eight, she had revealed prophetic and healing powers. At a time when other religious people were sent to the Gulag or sent into exile for their beliefs, no one ever betrayed Matrona"s location.
People continued to come to Matrona for advice and for help with their troubles.
A story, related by her biographer, Zinaida Zhdanova, tells how Matrona told Zinaida"s mother, Evdokia, described as a plain 28-year-old, that she would marry a handsome nobleman. Evdokia moved to Moscow and became a cook at the house of a rich nobleman whose son, Vladimir, was betrothed to one Shukhova.
Shortly thereafter, Vladimir is said to have had a dream in which a voice told him to marry a woman named Evdokia. The next morning he asked if there was such a woman in the household, met her, and nearly fainted.
Later, he was sent for training to Permanent with Evdokia, and Zinaida was born shortly thereafter.
She is said to have predicted her own death three days in advance, accepting all visitors during those final days. Following her death in 1952, her gravesite became a pilgrimage site. Her remains are now in the Church of the Protecting Veil of Our Lady at Intercession Convent in Moscow.
The lines of people waiting to visit her gravesite is reported as regularly being quite long (often needing three or four hours to make a short visit to the gravesite) and well-behaved, which some have stated is rather unusual in Moscow.
Her day is commemorated by some members and groups of the Orthodox Church on May 2.