In Rus' they have always loved and revered the sick, the crippled, the wretched, who bear their infirmity without grumbling, but with gratitude to God. Their humble “lying” or “sitting” was perceived by the popular consciousness as asceticism or foolishness for Christ’s sake. This was the case both during the heyday of piety and during troubled, godless times. In an era of persecution of faith, the importance of such people in the Church increases: the spiritually weak seek consolation from them and learn Christian patience in sorrow. One of these lamps of God, burning in the darkness of the sinful world, in the 20th century was (and is, since God has everyone alive) Blessed Matrona, to whom our book is dedicated. It contains the memories of ordinary believers - their candid stories about what they themselves saw, heard, experienced or learned from loved ones. Orthodox Russian women, they lived and grew old at a time when not only spiritual patristic literature was inaccessible to believers, but also sermons by priests in churches were prohibited...Recommended for publication by the publishing council of the Russian Orthodox Church