Firebird Videos, Audios & Books
St. Innocent Monastic Community
Redford, Michigan

 

 I. VIDEOS IN ENGLISH

 

VE-26. ST. XENIA:
HER TOMB & SMOLENSK CHURCH
at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery,
St. Petersburg, Russia
ENGLISH VERSION
DVD      10 MINS.   MADE IN RUSSIA IN 1992
ISBN 1-881211-90-8
PRICE: $9.95
ENGLISH VOICE-OVER MADE IN 2002 BY ST. INNOCENT/FIREBIRD VIDEOS 
(ENGLISH VERSION OF THE RUSSIAN VIDEO, #VR-27)
DESCRIPTION:
ST. XENIA: HER TOMB & SMOLENSK CHURCH at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery, St. Petersburg, Russia, is a must-see for all lovers of St. Xenia. It is another in the ST. INNOCENT/ FIREBIRD series of English voice-overs of out-standing Russian-made videos about the Orthodox Faith and culture. With voice-overs, these wonderful videos now become accessible to the English-speaking world.
 
This video provides a brief look at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery at the northwestern edge of St. Petersburg, where Blessed St. Xenia of Petersburg (ca.1719-30 – ca.1803) spent most of her nights during her 45 years of wandering the streets of St. Petersburg, and strikingly conveys the sense of her presence here yet today. Here she secretly helped in the building of the Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Birthgiver of God, by carrying bricks up to the top of the scaffolding every night. This church and its sacred namesake icon are shown. It was at this cemetery where Blessed Xenia was buried, and eventually a chapel was built over her tomb. This chapel is a major place of pilgrimage in St. Petersburg, always bustling with people who come to venerate the saint’s tomb and to ask for her help, and to pray the Molebens and Akathists that are offered throughout the day. People pray with great fervor by her relics.
 
Included are: small excerpts of processions and Molebens; the interiors and exteriors of both buildings and the cemetery grounds; various icons of St. Xenia and the wonder-working Smolensk icon of the Mother of God; an awesome evocation of the saint’s presence; and a visit by Patriarch Aleksei II to venerate Blessed Xenia’s tomb.