Why people ask St Xenia of Petersburg
Finding a job
The Orthodox ask her help in finding work. In her lifetime the shopkeepers of Petersburg counted a visit from her as a blessing on their trade.
Her feast day
24 January: Her feast in the Orthodox churches on the new calendar. Those on the old calendar keep it on 6 February.
Blessed Xenia of St Petersburg, 24 January, Orthodox Church in America
When it is said
Both hymns belong to her feast on 24 January. In her service the troparion is sung at Vespers, at Matins and at the Liturgy, and the kontakion at Matins and at the Liturgy.
Anyone who asks her prayers can say them at home.
Where it comes from
No author known
Widowed at 26
Xenia Petrova lived in St Petersburg in the 1700s and was married to an army officer named Andrew Petrov. He died suddenly at a party when she was 26. What grieved her most was that he had died without Confession or Communion. She put on his clothes, asked to be called by his name and told people that it was Xenia who had died. Then she gave her house and possessions to the poor.
Bricks carried at night
Xenia lived about 45 years after her husband’s death, most of them wandering the poor quarter of St Petersburg with nowhere to lay her head. At night she prayed in a field outside the city. When a new church was going up at the Smolensk cemetery, the builders found that someone was carrying bricks up the scaffolding at night. They set out to learn who their helper was, and it was Xenia.
Orthodox Church in America, Blessed Xenia of St Petersburg; Azbyka, Blessed Xenia of Petersburg (in Russian)
Why people ask her help with work
People in Petersburg counted a visit from her to their home or shop a great blessing. They noticed that a merchant’s trade went well when she took some small thing from his shop. After her death people came to her grave at the Smolensk cemetery to ask her prayers. The Orthodox Church in America says she is known for helping people who seek jobs.
Orthodox Church in America, Blessed Xenia of St Petersburg; Azbyka, Blessed Xenia of Petersburg (in Russian)
What the words mean
“They took you for a fool”
The way of life Xenia chose is what the Church calls foolishness for Christ’s sake, and many people thought she was mad. Its root is in Paul’s letters, where anyone who thinks himself wise by the standards of this age is told to become a fool, so that he may become wise (1 Corinthians 3:18).
The Scripture in it
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.
In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Church Slavonic
Суеты́ земна́го ми́ра отве́ргшися, кре́ст жития́ бездо́мнаго во стра́нничестве прия́ла еси́, скорбе́й, лише́ний, людска́го осмея́ния не убоя́лася еси́, любо́вь же Христо́ву позна́ла еси́, е́юже ны́не на Небеси́ услажда́ешися, Ксе́ние блаже́нная Богому́драя, моли́ся о спасе́нии ду́ш на́ших.
На земли́ я́ко стра́нна пребы́вши, о Небе́снем же оте́чествии воздыха́ющи, юро́да от бу́йих и неве́рных, прему́дра же и свя́та от ве́рных познава́ешися, и от Бо́га сла́вою и че́стию венча́ешися, Ксе́ние мужеу́мная и богоу́мная, сего́ ра́ди зове́м ти: ра́дуйся, я́ко по стра́нствии земне́м в дому́ О́тчем водворя́ешися.