Barnaul miracle. Vasilyeva N.V., Soap bubble of the “Barnaul miracle”

By blessing His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II

A story about the true events that happened in the city of Barnaul with Claudia Ustyuzhanina in 1964

Story by K.N. Ustyuzhanina was written down verbatim by her son Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin

I, Klavdiya Nikitichna Ustyuzhanina, was born on March 5, 1919. in the village of Yarki Novosibirsk region V large family peasant Nikita Trofimovich Ustyuzhanin. There were fourteen children in our family, but the Lord did not abandon us with His mercy.

In 1928 I lost my mother. My older brothers and sisters went to work (I was the second to last child in the family). The people loved their father very much for his responsiveness and fairness. He helped those in need with everything he could. When he got sick typhoid fever, it was hard for the family, but the Lord did not abandon us. In 1934, my father passed away.

After seven years of school, I went to study at a technical school, and then completed a driver’s course (1943 - 1945). In 1937 I got married. A year later, a daughter, Alexandra, was born, but two years later she fell ill and died. After the war I lost my husband. It was hard for me alone, I had to work in all sorts of jobs and positions.

In 1941, my pancreas began to hurt, and I began to turn to doctors for help.

I got married a second time, and we didn’t have children for a long time. Finally, in 1956, my son Andryusha was born. When the child was 9 months old, my husband and I separated because he drank heavily, was jealous of me, and treated my son badly.

In 1963 – 1964 I was forced to go to the hospital for examination. I was discovered malignant tumor. However, not wanting to upset me, I was told that the tumor was benign. I wanted to be told the truth, without hiding anything, but they only told me that my card was in the oncology clinic. Arriving there and wanting to find out the truth, I pretended to be my sister, who was interested in the medical history of a relative. They told me that I had a malignant tumor, or so-called cancer.

Before undergoing surgery, in the event of death, I needed to arrange for my son and make an inventory of his property. When the inventory was made, they began to ask relatives who would take my son, but everyone refused him, and then they registered him in an orphanage.

I hear everything and understand what they are talking about. I feel and worry, but I can’t let them know that I’m here.

Suddenly I found myself in an area completely unfamiliar to me, where there were no residential buildings, no people, no forest, no plants. Then I saw a green alley, not very wide and not very narrow. Even though I was on this alley in horizontal position, but it was not lying on the grass itself, but on a dark square object (about 1.5 by 1.5 meters), but I could not determine what material it was made of, since I was not able to touch it with my own hands.

The weather was moderate: not very cold and not very hot. I didn’t see the sun shining there, but I couldn’t say that the weather was cloudy. I had a desire to ask someone about where I was. On the western side I saw a gate, reminiscent in its shape of the royal gates in the temple of God. The radiance from them was so strong that if it were possible to compare the radiance of gold or some other precious metal with their shine, then it would be like coal in comparison with these gates (not radiance, but material. - Ed.).

Suddenly I saw that it was coming towards me from the east tall Woman. Strict, dressed in a long robe (as I later learned - a monastic robe), with her head covered. One could see a stern face, the ends of the fingers and part of the foot when walking. When She stood with her foot on the grass, it bent, and when She removed her foot, the grass unbent, taking its previous position (and not as it usually happens). Walking next to Her was a child who only reached Her shoulder. I tried to see his face, but I never succeeded, because he always turned to me either sideways or with his back. As I found out later, this was my Guardian Angel. I was happy, thinking that when they came closer, I would be able to find out from them where I was.

All the time the child asked the Woman for something, stroked Her hand, but She treated him very coldly, not heeding his requests. Then I thought: “How ruthless She is. If my son Andryusha asked me for something the way this child asks from Her, then I would even buy him what he asks for with my last money.”

Not reaching 1.5 or 2 meters, the woman, raising her eyes upward, asked: “Lord, where is she?” I heard a voice that answered Her: “She needs to be brought back down, she died before her time.” It was like a man's voice crying. If one could define it, it would be a velvety baritone. When I heard this, I realized that I was not in some city, but in heaven. But at the same time, I had hope that I could go down to earth. The woman asked: “Lord, how should I lower her, she has short hair?” I heard the answer again: “Give her a braid in right hand, to match the color of her hair.”

“Yes,” I answer and hear: “So, I feel three times sorry for each of you. And I have so many of you that there is no such number. You walk by My grace, you breathe by My grace, and you incline Me in every way.” And I also heard: “Pray, a meager century of life remains. Not the powerful prayer that you read or learned somewhere, but the one that is from the bottom of your heart, stand anywhere and tell Me: “Lord, help me! Lord, give it to me! I see you, I hear you."

At this time, the Woman with a scythe returned, and I heard a voice addressing Her: “Show her heaven, she asks where heaven is.”

The woman came up to me and extended Her hand over me. As soon as She did this, it was as if I was given an electric shock, and I immediately found myself in vertical position. After that, She turned to me with the words: “Your paradise is on earth, and here is what paradise is,” and showed me left side. And then I saw a great many people standing closely together. They were all black, covered in charred skin. There were so many of them that, as they say, there was nowhere for the apple to fall. Only the whites of the eyes and teeth were white. There was such an unbearable stench coming from them that when I came to life, there was still some time left. I felt it for a while. The smell in the toilet is like perfume in comparison. People were talking among themselves: “This one has arrived from the earthly paradise.” They tried to recognize me, but I could not identify any of them. Then the Woman said to me: “For these people, the most expensive alms on earth is water. Countless people drink from one drop of water.”

Then She held her hand again, and people were no longer visible. But suddenly I see twelve objects moving towards me. In their shape, they resembled wheelbarrows, but without wheels, but there were no people visible to move them. These objects moved independently. When they swam up to me, the Woman gave me a scythe in her right hand and said: “Step on these wheelbarrows and walk forward all the time.” And I went first right foot, and then putting the left one to it (not the way we walk - right, left).

When I thus reached the last, twelfth, it turned out to be without a bottom. I saw the whole earth, so well, clearly and clearly, as we cannot even see our own palm. I saw a temple, next to it there was a store where I Lately worked. I told the Woman, “I worked in this store.” She answered me: “I know.” And I thought: “If She knows that I worked there, then it turns out that She knows what I did there.”

I also saw our priests, standing with their backs to us and in civilian clothes. The woman asked me, “Do you recognize any of them?” Having looked at them more closely, I pointed to Fr. Nikolai Vaitovich and called him by his first name and patronymic, as secular people do. At that moment the priest turned in my direction. Yes, it was him, he was wearing a suit that I had never seen before.

The woman said, “Stand here.” I answered: “There is no bottom here, I will fall.” And I hear: “We need you to fall.” - “But I’ll crash.” - “Don’t be afraid, you won’t break yourself.” Then She shook her scythe, and I found myself in the morgue in my body. I don’t know how or in what way I entered it. At this time, a man whose leg had been cut off was brought into the morgue. One of the orderlies noticed signs of life in me. We informed the doctors about this, and they accepted everything necessary measures to salvation: they gave me an oxygen bag and gave me injections. I remained dead for three days (died on February 19, 1964, came to life on February 22). A few days later, without properly stitching my throat and leaving a fistula in the side of my abdomen, I was discharged home. I couldn’t speak loudly, so I spoke the words in a whisper (damaged vocal cords). While I was still in the hospital, my brain was thawing very slowly. It manifested itself this way. For example, I understood that this was my thing, but I couldn’t immediately remember what it was called. Or when my son came to me, I understood that this was my child, but I couldn’t immediately remember what his name was. Even when I was in such a state, if I had been asked to tell about what I saw, I would have done it immediately. Every day I felt better and better. An unstitched throat and a fistula in the side of my stomach did not allow me to eat properly. When I ate something, some of the food passed through the throat and fistula.

In March 1964, I underwent a second operation in order to find out about the state of my health and to have stitches sewn up. Repeated operation conducted by the famous doctor Alyabyeva Valentina Vasilievna. During the operation, I saw how the doctors delved into my insides, and wanting to know my condition, they asked me various questions, and I answered them. After the operation, Valentina Vasilyevna, in great excitement, told me that there was not even a suspicion in my body that I had stomach cancer: everything inside was like that of a newborn.

After the second operation, I came to the apartment of Israel Isaevich Neimark and asked him: “How could you make such a mistake? If we make a mistake, we will be judged.” And he replied: “This was ruled out, since I saw it all myself, all the assistants who were present with me saw it, and, finally, the analysis confirmed it.”

By the grace of God, at first I felt very good, I began to go to church and take communion. All this time I was interested in the question: Who was that Woman Whom I saw in heaven? Once while in the temple, I recognized Her image on one of the icons Mother of God(Kazan Icon. - Ed.) Then I realized that it was the Queen of Heaven Herself.

Having told about. I mentioned to Nikolai Vaitovich what happened to me about the suit I saw him in then. He was very amazed by what he heard and somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he had never worn this suit before that time.

The enemy of the human race began to plot various intrigues; many times I asked the Lord to show me evil power. How unreasonable man is! Sometimes we ourselves don’t know what we are asking for and what we need. One day they carried a dead man past our house with music. I wondered who was being buried. I opened the gate, and - oh horror! It is difficult to imagine the state that gripped me at that moment. An indescribable sight appeared before me. It was so terrible that there are no words to express the state in which I found myself. I saw many evil spirits. They sat on the coffin and on the deceased himself, and everything around was filled with them. They rushed in the air and rejoiced that they had captured another soul. "Lord have mercy!" - involuntarily escaped from my lips, I crossed myself and closed the gate. I began to ask the Lord to help me continue to endure the machinations of the evil spirit, to strengthen my weak strength and weak faith.

In the second half of our house there lived a family that was connected with an evil force. They tried to find various ways to spoil me, but the Lord did not allow this for the time being. At that time we had a dog and a cat who were constantly attacked by an evil spirit. As soon as they ate anything thrown by these sorcerers, the poor animals began to twist and bend unnaturally. We quickly brought holy water to them, and the evil force immediately left them.

One day, by God's permission, they managed to spoil me. At this time my son was in a boarding school. My legs were paralyzed. I lay alone for several days without food or water (at that time no one knew about what had happened to me). There was only one thing left for me to do - trust in the mercy of God. But His mercy towards us sinners is inexpressible. One morning she came to me elderly woman(secret nun) and began to look after me: she cleaned, cooked. I could control my hands freely, and so that I could sit down with their help, a rope was tied to the back of the bed, at my feet. But the enemy of the human race tried to destroy the soul in various ways. I felt a struggle between two forces taking place in my mind: evil and good. Some told me: “No one needs you now, you will never be the same as you were before, so it’s better for you not to live in this world.” But my consciousness was illuminated by another, already bright, thought: “But cripples and freaks live in the world, why shouldn’t I live?” Again the evil forces approached: “Everyone calls you a fool, so choke yourself.” And another thought answered her: “It’s better to live as a fool than as a smart person and rot.” I felt that the second thought, the bright one, was closer and dearer to me. Knowing this made me feel calmer and happier. But the enemy did not leave me alone. One day I woke up because something was bothering me. It turned out that the rope was tied from my feet to the head of the bed, and a noose was wrapped around my neck...

I often asked the Mother of God and that’s it Heavenly Powers heal me from my illness. One day my mother, who was caring for me, changed homework and having prepared the food, she closed all the doors, lay down on the sofa and fell asleep. I was praying at that time. Suddenly I see a tall woman enter the room. Using a rope, I pulled myself up and sat down, trying to see who had entered. A woman came to my bed and asked, “What hurts you?” I answered: “Legs.” And then She began to slowly move away, and I, trying to get a better look at Her, not noticing what I was doing, began to gradually lower my legs to the floor. She asked me this question twice more, and the same number of times I answered that my legs hurt. Suddenly the Woman was gone. I, not realizing that I was standing, walked into the kitchen and began to look around, wondering where this Woman could have gone, and I thought that she had taken something. At this time my mother woke up, I told her about the Woman and my suspicions, and she said in surprise: “Klava! After all, you’re walking!” Only then did I understand what had happened, and tears of gratitude for the miracle performed by the Mother of God covered my face. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord!

Not far from our city of Barnaul there is a spring called Pekansky (“key”). Many people received healing there from various ailments. People came there from all sides to drink holy water, anoint themselves with miraculous mud, but most importantly, to be healed. The water in this source is unusually cold, scalding the body. By the grace of God, I visited this holy place several times. Each time we got there by passing cars, and each time I received relief.

Once, having asked the driver to give me his seat, I drove the car myself. We arrived at the source and began to swim. The water is icy, but there was no case of anyone getting sick or even getting a runny nose. After swimming, I came out of the water and began to pray to God, the Mother of God, St. Nicholas, and suddenly I saw the Mother of God, whom I had seen at the time of my death, appearing in the water. I looked at Her with reverence and a warm feeling. This went on for several minutes. Gradually the face of the Mother of God began to disappear, and now it was no longer possible to distinguish anything. I was not the only one who saw this miracle, but many people present here. With a grateful prayer we turned to the Lord and the Mother of God, who showed His mercy to us sinners.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!

A story about the true events that happened in the city of Barnaul with Claudia Ustyuzhanina in 1964,
written down verbatim by her son Andrei Ustyuzhanin, archpriest.

I, Klavdiya Nikitichna Ustyuzhanina, was born on March 5, 1919. in the village of Yarki, Novosibirsk Region, in the large family of peasant Nikita Trofimovich Ustyuzhanin. There were fourteen children in our family, but the Lord did not abandon us with His mercy.

Ustyuzhanina Klavdiya Nikitichna

In 1928 I lost my mother. My older brothers and sisters went to work (I was the second to last child in the family). The people loved their father very much for his responsiveness and fairness. He helped those in need with everything he could. When he fell ill with typhoid fever, it was hard for the family, but the Lord did not abandon us. In 1934, my father passed away.

In 1941, my pancreas began to hurt, and I began to turn to doctors for help.
I got married a second time, and we didn’t have children for a long time. Finally, in 1956, my son Andryusha was born. When the child was 9 months old, my husband and I separated because he drank heavily, was jealous of me, and treated my son badly.

In 1963 – 1964 I was forced to go to the hospital for examination. I was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. However, not wanting to upset me, I was told that the tumor was benign. I wanted to be told the truth, without hiding anything, but they only told me that my card was in the oncology clinic. Arriving there and wanting to find out the truth, I pretended to be my sister, who was interested in the medical history of a relative. They told me that I had a malignant tumor, or so-called cancer.

I didn’t feel the process of separating my soul from my body, only suddenly I saw my body from the outside the way we see, for example, some thing: a coat, a table, etc. I see how people are fussing around my body, trying to bring me back to life.
I hear everything and understand what they are talking about. I feel and worry, but I can’t let them know that I’m here.

Suddenly I found myself in an area completely unfamiliar to me, where there were no residential buildings, no people, no forest, no plants. Then I saw a green alley, not very wide and not very narrow. Although I was in a horizontal position on this alley, I was not lying on the grass itself, but on a dark square object (about 1.5 by 1.5 meters), but I could not determine what material it was made of, since I was unable to touch it with my own hands.

Claudia Nikitichna Ustyuzhanina in last years own life. The cancer patient lived another 14 years without any signs of cancer. She died on March 29, 1978 from atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis.

Walking next to Her was a child who only reached Her shoulder. I tried to see his face, but I never succeeded, because he always turned to me either sideways or with his back. As I found out later, this was my Guardian Angel. I was happy, thinking that when they came closer, I would be able to find out from them where I was.
All the time the child asked the Woman for something, stroked Her hand, but She treated him very coldly, not heeding his requests. Then I thought: “How ruthless She is. If my son Andryusha asked me for something the way this child asks from Her, then I would even buy him what he asks for with my last money.”

Not reaching 1.5 or 2 meters, the woman, raising her eyes upward, asked: “Lord, where is she?” I heard a voice that answered Her: “She needs to be brought back down, she died before her time.” It was like a man's voice crying. If one could define it, it would be a velvety baritone. When I heard this, I realized that I was not in some city, but in heaven. But at the same time, I had hope that I could go down to earth. The woman asked: “Lord, how should I lower her, she has short hair?” I again heard the answer: “Give her a braid in her right hand, matching the color of her hair.”

Claudia Ustyuzhanina worked as a salesperson in a store next to the Intercession Church

The woman came up to me and extended Her hand over me. As soon as She did this, it was as if I was thrown up by an electric current, and I immediately found myself in an upright position. After that, She turned to me with the words: “Your paradise is on earth, but here is what paradise is,” and showed me on the left side. And then I saw a great many people standing closely together. They were all black, covered in charred skin. There were so many of them that, as they say, there was nowhere for the apple to fall. Only the whites of the eyes and teeth were white. There was such an unbearable stench coming from them that when I came to life, there was still some time left. I felt it for a while. The smell in the toilet is like perfume in comparison.

The store where Ustyuzhanina worked

People were talking among themselves: “This one has arrived from the earthly paradise.” They tried to recognize me, but I could not identify any of them. Then the Woman said to me: “For these people, the most expensive alms on earth is water. Countless people drink from one drop of water.”
Then She held her hand again, and people were no longer visible. But suddenly I see twelve objects moving towards me. In their shape, they resembled wheelbarrows, but without wheels, but there were no people visible to move them. These objects moved independently. When they swam up to me, the Woman gave me a scythe in her right hand and said: “Step on these wheelbarrows and walk forward all the time.” And I walked first with my right foot, and then putting my left one to it (not the way we walk - right, left).

When I thus reached the last, twelfth, it turned out to be without a bottom. I saw the whole earth, so well, clearly and clearly, as we cannot even see our own palm. I saw a temple, next to it there was a store where I had recently worked. I told the Woman, “I worked in this store.” She answered me: “I know.” And I thought: “If She knows that I worked there, then it turns out that She knows what I did there.”

I remained dead for three days (died on February 19, 1964, came to life on February 22). A few days later, without properly stitching my throat and leaving a fistula in the side of my abdomen, I was discharged home. I couldn’t speak loudly, so I pronounced the words in a whisper (my vocal cords were damaged). While I was still in the hospital, my brain was thawing very slowly. It manifested itself this way. For example, I understood that this was my thing, but I couldn’t immediately remember what it was called. Or when my son came to me, I understood that this was my child, but I couldn’t immediately remember what his name was. Even when I was in such a state, if I had been asked to tell about what I saw, I would have done it immediately. Every day I felt better and better. An unstitched throat and a fistula in the side of my stomach did not allow me to eat properly. When I ate something, some of the food passed through the throat and fistula.

In March 1964, I underwent a second operation in order to find out about the state of my health and to have stitches sewn up. The repeated operation was performed by the famous doctor Valentina Vasilyevna Alyabyeva. During the operation, I saw how the doctors delved into my insides, and wanting to know my condition, they asked me various questions, and I answered them. After the operation, Valentina Vasilyevna, in great excitement, told me that there was not even a suspicion in my body that I had stomach cancer: everything inside was like that of a newborn.

By the grace of God, at first I felt very good, I began to go to church and take communion. All this time I was interested in the question: Who was that Woman Whom I saw in heaven? Once, while in church, I recognized Her image on one of the icons of the Mother of God (Kazan Icon - Ed.) Then I realized that it was the Queen of Heaven Herself.
Having told about. I mentioned to Nikolai Vaitovich what happened to me about the suit I saw him in then. He was very amazed by what he heard and somewhat embarrassed by the fact that he had never worn this suit before that time.

Claudia Ustyuzhanina (right) with her older sister Agrippina (second from right)

Some told me: “No one needs you now, you will never be the same as you were before, so it’s better for you not to live in this world.” But my consciousness was illuminated by another, already bright, thought: “But cripples and freaks live in the world, why shouldn’t I live?” Again the evil forces approached: “Everyone calls you a fool, so choke yourself.” And another thought answered her: “It’s better to live as a fool than as a smart person and rot.” I felt that the second thought, the bright one, was closer and dearer to me. Knowing this made me feel calmer and happier. But the enemy did not leave me alone. One day I woke up because something was bothering me. It turned out that the rope was tied from my feet to the head of the bed, and a noose was wrapped around my neck...

She asked me this question twice more, and the same number of times I answered that my legs hurt. Suddenly the Woman was gone. I, not realizing that I was standing, walked into the kitchen and began to look around, wondering where this Woman could have gone, and I thought that she had taken something. At this time my mother woke up, I told her about the Woman and my suspicions, and she said in surprise: “Klava! After all, you’re walking!” Only then did I understand what had happened, and tears of gratitude for the miracle performed by the Mother of God covered my face. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord!

I looked at Her with reverence and a warm feeling. This went on for several minutes. Gradually the face of the Mother of God began to disappear, and now it was no longer possible to distinguish anything. I was not the only one who saw this miracle, but many people present here. With a grateful prayer we turned to the Lord and the Mother of God, who showed His mercy to us sinners.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!

The story of Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin about the death and subsequent resurrection of his mother Claudia

The servant of God Claudia was born into a family of pious parents in the village of Yarki, Novosibirsk region in 1919; she was the second to last child. Her mother died in 1928. My father, having been in the Gulag, also died soon (in 1934). Claudia's father was a poor man and a believer; always willingly lent, never demanding anything back. Take this fact: before the start of dispossession, her father, Nikita Timofeevich, annually sowed three hectares of land with wheat in order to distribute the harvest to needy fellow villagers. In the family, besides Claudia, there were thirteen children, so when the father was imprisoned, it was very difficult; they even asked for alms. One day the boys robbed Claudia - they took all the bread and alms, and the family was left hungry.

Shortly before the war, Claudia got married. My husband returned from the front very sick. Soon she married a second time. From his second marriage a son was born (now Father Andrei). Ever since the beginning of the war, Claudia began to be disturbed stomach pain, which intensified over time, and in 1964 doctors discovered a tumor and strongly recommended surgery. To find out the nature of the tumor, Claudia resorted to a trick and, calling herself own sister, asked the receptionist for her medical history. The diagnosis was: a malignant tumor of the pancreas.

In February 1964, she was admitted for surgery to the railway hospital in Barnaul, where she lived at that time. The famous surgeon, Israel Isaevich Neimark, operated on her.

Even before the war, Claudia moved to Barnaul, where she got a job in a grocery store. By the way, the store was located next to the church. Although Claudia did not believe in God, she was not His irreconcilable opponent. Sometimes she went into the church and lit candles for the repose. At first I was confused and wrote down the names of the living and the dead at the funeral service. She also sometimes prayed for the peace of her neighbors in home prayer.

Although the surgeon who operated was very skilled in his profession, Claudia still died under the scalpel. The cancer was very extensive and, in fact, there was nothing to cut out.

Claudia described the first seconds after death as follows. Suddenly she saw herself standing away from the operating table. I saw and heard the doctors and assistants complaining as they tried to bring her body back to life. Claudia told them that there was no need to do this, but the doctors did not hear her. When all methods of resuscitation had been tried, the peritoneum of the deceased was sutured and the body was sent to the morgue. Then her soul began to travel to all the places she had visited in her life from birth to death; she even ended up in the place where the boys took away her alms. On the third day the soul ascended to heaven.

Claudia talked about it this way: “I was in some kind of endless space. It was like fog, but at the same time not fog, and it went off into infinity.” She herself was lying on a dark square object, similar to dense matter, which was located on a very long alley with lush green grass. The source of the light was unclear, the light came from everywhere; the alley also began at infinity. On the western side stood the Royal Doors, made of a shining, luminous metal, much more precious than earthly gold and platinum.

Soon Claudia saw that they were coming towards her along the alley tall woman in a monastic robe and a crying young man (as she thought, her son).

All this time the young man asked this Wife for something, stroked Her hand, but She rather sternly refused his tearful pleas.

Claudia still thought then: “How cruel she is! Yes, if my son, Andryusha, had begged like that with tears, I would have bought what he asked for with my last money.” At the same time, Claudia noticed that when the Woman stepped on the grass, she squashed down, but when she removed her foot, stepping over it, the grass returned to its previous position. Soon the Woman answered the young man walking next to him (as Claudia later found out, this was her Guardian Angel): “Now let’s ask the Lord what to do with this soul.” And only then did Claudia realize that she had been ascended to heaven.

Then the Wife, raising her hands, asked: “Lord, what’s wrong with this soul?”

And from somewhere on high, a strong and powerful voice, but at the same time full of sorrow and tears, was heard: “Send this soul back. She died at the wrong time.” Then the Woman asked: “Lord, her hair is cut, where should I let it go?” The Lord replied: “Take a braid that matches the color of her hair and lower it.” After this, the Woman went out through the Royal Doors, but the young man remained near Claudia.

When the Woman left, Claudia thought: “If She spoke to God, then I can too.” And she said: “They say on earth that you have heaven somewhere here.” There was no answer. Then she turned to the Lord again: “I have a small child left.” And she heard in response: “I know. Do you feel sorry for him?” “Yes,” she answered. And he hears: “So, I feel three times more sorry for each of you. And I have so many of you that there is no such number. You walk by My grace, breathe by My grace and scold Me in every possible way.” And she also heard: “It’s not the powerful prayer that you read or learned somewhere, but the one that comes from a pure heart. Get up and tell Me: “Lord, help me!” I see you, I hear you.”

At this time, the Mother of God returned with a scythe. And then a voice was heard addressed to Her: “Show her heaven, she asks where heaven is.” The Mother of God approached and extended Her hand over Claudia. As soon as the Mother of God did this, Claudia seemed to be thrown up by an electric current and she immediately found herself in an upright position. After which the Mother of God said: “Your paradise is on earth. And here is your paradise.” And she ran her hand along the left side. And then Claudia saw a huge crowd of people standing close to each other. They were all black as firebrands; Only the teeth and whites of the eyes were white. But the most unbearable thing was the stench emanating from them; the stench from the garbage pit is like French perfume compared to that stench. This stench tormented her for a long time after the resurrection.

As the elders of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (in particular, Archimandrite Kirill) later explained to her, these were the souls of sinners prayed by the Church from hell. The Lord delivered them from suffering, but did not let them into heaven, because in earthly life they sinned a lot, but repented little, or did not repent at all. (This precisely indicates the absence of Catholic Purgatory, for if the Church had not prayed, no one would have been purified. But even someone who has been purified will not immediately go to heaven, or even until the Last Judgment will remain on the threshold of paradise. From here we can conclude , that Claudia was shown the true state of her soul, which could only go to this “paradise”.)

Then the Mother of God said to Claudia: “For these people, the most expensive alms on earth is water. Countless people drink from one drop of water.” Then She held her hand again and people were no longer visible. Meanwhile, Claudia saw that twelve objects were moving in her direction, reminiscent of wheelbarrows in shape, but without wheels. When they floated up to her, the Mother of God gave the scythe in her right hand and said: “Step on these wheelbarrows and walk forward all the time.”

When they reached the twelfth object, it turned out to have no bottom. Then Claudia saw the whole earth, and as clearly as in the palm of her hand. Then I saw the city of Barnaul, my house, the church, and near it the store where I worked. Claudia then said: “I worked in this store.” The Mother of God replied: “I know.” (Hearing this, Claudia thought: if She knows that I worked there, then she knows what I did there.)

In the temple she saw priests standing with their backs to them, and people in civilian clothes. The Mother of God asked: “Do you recognize any of them?” Claudia pointed to Fr. Nikolai Voitovich, out of secular habit, calling him by his first name and patronymic. At that moment the priest turned in her direction. Then the Mother of God commanded: “Stand here.” Claudia objected: “There is no bottom here, I will fall.” “Don’t be afraid, you won’t break,” the Mother of God commanded again. Then she shook the scythe that was in Claudia’s right hand. She stepped down and found herself in the morgue in her body.

According to Claudia’s recollections, she was unbearably disgusted to enter her own corpse, but an irresistible force pushed her there. Claudia's body began to come to life, making convulsive movements (especially since other corpses had already been piled on top of her). The morgue caretakers, seeing that the “dead man” was moving, called an ambulance, and Claudia was taken to intensive care: but not to the railway hospital where she died, but to another.

By God's permission, they did not have time to take Claudius from the morgue and bury him.

Father Andrei did not specify why; Apparently, there were several reasons for this. Firstly, the relatives were informed about the death late - on the second day. While they were sending telegrams (Claudia had numerous relatives), while they were borrowing money for the funeral and digging the grave, time passed. Finally, when they came to pick up the body, the relatives learned that the deceased... had come to life and had been taken to the hospital.

Claudia's older brother even received two telegrams. One with the text: “Claudia died.” And the next day the second: “Claudia has risen.”

After two months of intensive care (she was dead for three days, which is why recovery was slow), Claudia was discharged home. Her body did not accept food for a long time; she had two fistulas - one in her throat and the other in her side, on the right, so all the food came out there. Brain function also recovered slowly. When they handed her an item and asked: “Is this your item?”, she answered: “Yes.” But she couldn’t answer the question of what it’s called. Also to the question: “Is this your son (or another relative)?” - answered: “Yes.” And again I couldn’t remember what the name was.

When Claudia's health improved, she was again admitted to the hospital (where she underwent intensive care) for a second autopsy and determination of the severity of the disease. This time Claudia was operated on by surgeon Valentina Vasilyevna Alyabyeva. Alyabyeva’s husband was a relative of Claudia’s husband, so she knew the story of Claudia’s resurrection and insisted on the operation. Valentina Vasilyevna left the operating room with tears of joy and bewilderment. She said, "You know, she doesn't have any cancer. Her insides are pink, like a baby's. She's completely healthy."

Having finally recovered and wanting to get rid of doubts, Claudia went home to the surgeon I. I. Neimark. Having opened the door to his former patient, he was greatly taken aback. Claudia asked: “Israel Isaevich, how could you make a mistake, because you are a famous surgeon? If we make mistakes in trade, then we are severely punished.” To which Neimark replied: “I could not be mistaken, because the state of your insides was seen not only by me, but also by the entire operating room staff; there were continuous metastases. This is firstly. Secondly, the tests clearly indicated: the tumor is malignant. Thirdly "We fought for your life. Nothing helped - neither injections, nor oxygen."

Claudia was finally convinced that all this was not a dream and she was really dead for three days. When she went to church after recovery, she recognized the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God as the Woman who was talking with her in heaven; Her attire and appearance were the same as on this holy icon.

A year after the resurrection, VTEC recognized Claudia as completely healthy. She was again invited to work in the store (although she handed over all the work, there was no order to dismiss). But something always got in the way, suddenly an illness struck and Claudia could not go to work. The Lord directed her to another path - the path of preaching. For thousands and thousands of people learned about her, hundreds visited her house. Many people gained faith thanks to this.

However, the devil fought: there were cases when neighbors wrote to the appropriate authorities in order to stop the endless flow of pilgrims going to the Ustyuzhanins. This ultimately caused the family to move from Barnaul to the city of Strunino Vladimir region. Moreover, the KGB told her unequivocally: “If you don’t stop preaching, we will find a way so that you will not be resurrected again.”

But the move to the city of Strunino was providential, because it allowed Claudia to visit holy places; in particular, in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Elder Kirill (Pavlov) told her this: “The Lord resurrected you through the prayers of your parent, who was awarded the heavenly abodes for poverty, alms and innocent suffering in the camps.”

Servant of God Claudia Nikitichna Ustyuzhanina lived for more than 14 years after her first death on February 19-22, 1964. She died in the town of Strunino, Vladimir region. Her son, Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin, serves in the Holy Trinity Church of the Assumption Convent in the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region.

Story about. Andrei is not unfounded, because he has documents in his hands: medical reports on the causes of death (medical history, conclusion of a council of doctors), as well as on resurrection (medical history with conclusions about subsequent recovery, the result of a repeat operation (diagnosis - absence of tumor and metastasis ), about a completely healthy gastrointestinal system).

Additions and clarifications to the described case
about the resurrection of Claudia Ustyuzhanina

In 1996, the publishing house "Around the World" published a brochure prepared by Nikolai Leonov - "Two Lives and Two Deaths of Claudia Ustyuzhanina." In this regard, I would like to make some amendments and additions.

For example, the brochure states that Ustyuzhanina’s corpse had significant damage. Father Andrei, telling this story, mentioned in passing that the students practiced on his mother’s corpse. The result of this practice was a slit throat and damaged vocal cords, as well as an unstitched abdomen (it was only stapled).

Even earlier, in 1993, the Trim publishing house published the book “Orthodox Miracles of the 20th Century,” which also describes this incident. But, unfortunately, the material was not checked in detail. Take, for example, the episode when the Lord allegedly sent Claudia to hell. According to Father Andrei, this did not happen. Or, for example, the book describes how surgeon Neimark and a group of assistants burst into the operating room when V.V. Alyabyeva performed a second autopsy. Not only did he allegedly interfere with the operation, but it also turns out that he tried to persuade Alyabyeva to poison Claudia (?!). Then the authors, scrupulously following the canons of the operatic genre, pit Ustyuzhanina and Neimark in a dispute (during the operation!) on issues of an almost universal level, from which the operated woman emerged victorious with honor.

The third lie is also striking, which, by the way, is also pointed out by Nikolai Leonov. This is that Klavdia Nikitichna (the daughter of a repressed, “kulak”, enemy of the people) was a prominent party worker. It is also a lie that she drank endlessly and generally led a riotous lifestyle...

As they say in such cases, let's leave it to the conscience of the authors.

I would like to briefly comment on some of the details noted in the brochure. For example, such an important detail: the Mother of God told Claudia that many people get drunk with one drop of water (i.e. alms). This once again shows that the deceased need prayerful remembrance.

The nature of Claudia's persecution is also described in detail. And they came both from neighbors who practiced witchcraft, and from godless authorities. The neighbors diligently cast spells on Claudia, which is why she fell ill with paralysis of her legs. No treatment helped. And only the Mother of God, who appeared at the diligent prayers of the sick woman, healed her.

Claudia told about it this way: “I was praying at that time and suddenly I saw a tall Woman enter the room. She came up to my bed and asked: “What hurts you?” I answered: “Legs.” And then She became slowly moving away... As she walked away, She asked me the same question twice more, and the same number of times I answered: “Legs." Suddenly the Woman was gone. I, not realizing that I was standing on my feet, walked into the kitchen and began to look around, wondering where that Woman could have gone."

The walker, a secret nun, who woke up at this time, in response to Claudia’s story told her with surprise: “Klava, you’re walking!” And only then did she realize what a miracle had happened to her.

The authorities also did not leave Klavdiya Nikitichna alone. In addition, the neighbors actively signaled about the pilgrims besieging the Ustyuzhanin house. First they tried to intimidate him with summonses to the prosecutor's office, and then they convened court hearings seven times, which, by the will of God, were always disrupted (son Andrei and his friends knelt down and read akathists to the Mother of God and St. Nicholas). Once they even called forty false witnesses. But a miracle happened: conscience suddenly awoke in their hearts, and they began to accuse the judges of putting pressure on witnesses and even bribing them. Instead of the trial of Claudia, her defense began; at the same time, in the noise and fever, someone hit the judge in the ear.

Then the authorities decided to use the tactics of 1937. Therefore, having once seen a “funnel” near her house, Claudia met her son at a school many blocks from home and said that he had to leave. Andryusha initially objected because he was hungry, but his mother asked him to be patient. And then he himself remembered that many times uncles came to pick up his mother. military uniform, but, fortunately, she was not at home. And once there was a case when Klavdia Nikitichna had to hide in the closet. The mother's feeling of anxiety was transmitted to her son, and he resignedly followed her.

Having abandoned everything they were wearing, they left home and eventually settled in the city of Strunino, not far from the holy monastery of Sergius of Radonezh.

Barnaul miracle.

A story about the true events that happened in the city of Barnaul with Claudia Ustyuzhanina in 1964

The story of K. N. Ustyuzhanina was recorded verbatim by her son Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin

I, Klavdiya Nikitichna Ustyuzhanina, was born on March 5, 1919 in the village of Yarki, Novosibirsk Region, in the large family of peasant Nikita Trofimovich Ustyuzhanin. There were fourteen children in our family, but the Lord did not abandon us with His mercy.

In 1928 I lost my mother. My older brothers and sisters went to work (I was the second to last child in the family). The people loved their father very much for his responsiveness and fairness. He helped those in need with everything he could. When he fell ill with typhoid fever, it was hard for the family, but the Lord did not abandon us. In 1934, my father passed away.

After seven years of school, I went to study at a technical school, and then completed a driver’s course (1943-1945). In 1937 I got married. A year later, a daughter, Alexandra, was born, but two years later she fell ill and died. After the war I lost my husband. It was hard for me alone, I had to work in all sorts of jobs and positions. In 1941, my pancreas began to hurt, and I began to turn to doctors for help.

In 1963-1964. I was forced to go to the hospital for examination. I was diagnosed with a malignant tumor. However, not wanting to upset me, I was told that the tumor was benign. I wanted to be told the truth, without hiding anything, but they only told me that my card was in the oncology clinic. Arriving there and wanting to find out the truth, I pretended to be my sister, who was interested in the medical history of a relative. They told me that I had a malignant tumor, or so-called cancer.

Claudia Ustyuzhanina

I didn’t feel the process of separating my soul from my body, only suddenly I saw my body from the outside the way we see, for example, some thing: a coat, a table, etc. I see how people are fussing around my body, trying to bring me back to life. I hear everything and understand what they are talking about. I feel and worry, but I can’t let them know that I’m here.

Suddenly I found myself in an area completely unfamiliar to me, where there were no residential buildings, no people, no forest, no plants. Then I saw a green alley, not very wide and not very narrow. Although I was in this alley in a horizontal position, I was not lying on the grass itself, but on a dark square object (about 1.5 by 1.5 meters), however, what material it was made of, I could not determine, since I was unable to touch it with my own hands.

Suddenly I saw a tall Woman walking towards me from the east. Strict, dressed in a long robe (as I later learned - a monastic robe), with her head covered. One could see a stern face, the ends of the fingers and part of the foot when walking. When She stood with her foot on the grass, it bent, and when She removed her foot, the grass unbent, taking its previous position (and not as it usually happens). Walking next to Her was a child who only reached Her shoulder. I tried to see his face, but I never succeeded, because he always turned to me either sideways or with his back. As I found out later, this was my Guardian Angel. I was happy, thinking that when they came closer, I would be able to find out from them where I was.

Not reaching 1, 5 or 2 meters, the woman, raising her eyes upward, asked: “Lord, where is she?” I heard a voice that answered Her: “She needs to be brought back down, she died at the wrong time.” It was like a man's voice crying. If one could define it, it would be a velvety baritone. When I heard this, I realized that I was not in some city, but in heaven. But at the same time, I had hope that I could go down to earth. The woman asked: “Lord, how should I lower her, she has short hair?” I again heard the answer: “Give her a braid in her right hand, matching the color of her hair.”

After these words, the Woman entered the gate I had previously seen, and Her child remained standing next to me. When She passed away, I thought that if this Woman spoke to God, then I could too, and I asked: “They say on earth that you have heaven here somewhere?” However, there was no answer to my question. Then I turned to the Lord again: “I have a small child left.” And I hear in response: “I know. Do you feel sorry for him?” “Yes,” I answer and hear: “So, I feel three times sorry for each of you. And I have so many of you that there is no such number. You walk by My grace, you breathe by My grace, and you incline Me in every way.” And I also heard: “Pray, a meager century of life remains. Not the powerful prayer that you read or learned somewhere, but the one that is from the bottom of your heart, stand anywhere and tell Me: “Lord, help me! Lord, give it to me!” I see you, I hear you.”

At this time, the Woman with a scythe returned, and I heard a voice addressing Her: “Show her heaven, she asks where heaven is.”

Claudia Ustyuzhanin several years after surgery, death and resurrection

The woman came up to me and extended Her hand over me. As soon as She did this, it was as if I was thrown up by an electric current, and I immediately found myself in an upright position. After that, She turned to me with the words: “Your paradise is on earth, but here is what paradise is,” and showed me on the left side. And then I saw a great many people standing closely together. They were all black, covered in charred skin. There were so many of them that, as they say, there was nowhere for the apple to fall. Only the whites of the eyes and teeth were white. They gave off such an unbearable stench that when I came to life, I still felt it for some time. The smell in the toilet is like perfume in comparison. People were talking among themselves: “This one has arrived from the earthly paradise.” They tried to recognize me, but I could not identify any of them. Then the Woman said to me: “For these people, the most expensive alms on earth is water. Countless people drink from one drop of water.”

Then She held her hand again, and people were no longer visible. But suddenly I see twelve objects moving towards me. In their shape, they resembled wheelbarrows, but without wheels, but there were no people visible to move them. These objects moved independently. When they swam up to me, the Woman gave me a scythe in her right hand and said: “Step on these wheelbarrows and walk forward all the time.” And I walked first with my right foot, and then putting my left one to it (not the way we walk - right, left).

When I thus reached the last, twelfth, it turned out to be without a bottom. I saw the whole earth, so well, clearly and clearly, as we cannot even see our own palm. I saw a temple, next to it there was a store where I had recently worked. I told the Woman, “I worked in this store.” She answered me: “I know.” And I thought: “If She knows that I worked there, then it turns out that She knows what I did there.”

A few days later, without stitching my throat properly and leaving a fistula in the side of my abdomen, I was discharged home. I couldn’t speak loudly, so I pronounced the words in a whisper (my vocal cords were damaged). While I was still in the hospital, my brain was thawing very slowly. It manifested itself this way. For example, I understood that this was my thing, but I couldn’t immediately remember what it was called. Or when my son came to me, I understood that this was my child, but I couldn’t immediately remember what his name was. Even when I was in such a state, if I had been asked to tell about what I saw, I would have done it immediately. Every day I felt better and better. An unsutured throat and a fistula in the side of my stomach did not allow me to eat properly. When I ate something, some of the food passed through the throat and fistula.

In March 1964, I underwent a second operation in order to find out about the state of my health and to have stitches sewn up. The repeated operation was performed by the famous doctor Valentina Vasilievna Alyabyeva. During the operation, I saw how the doctors were digging into my insides, and wanting to know my condition, they asked me various questions, and I answered them. After the operation, Valentina Vasilyevna, in great excitement, told me that there was not even a suspicion in my body that I had stomach cancer: everything inside was like that of a newborn.

By the grace of God, at first I felt very good, I began to go to church and take communion. All this time I was interested in the question: Who was that Woman Whom I saw in heaven? One day, while in church, I recognized Her image on one of the icons of the Mother of God (Kazan Icon - Ed.) Then I realized that it was the Queen of Heaven Herself.

The enemy of the human race began to plot various intrigues; many times I asked the Lord to show me evil power. How unreasonable man is! Sometimes we ourselves don’t know what we are asking for and what we need. One day they carried a dead man past our house with music. I wondered who was being buried. I opened the gate, and - oh horror! It’s hard to imagine the state that gripped me at that moment. An indescribable sight appeared before me. It was so terrible that there are no words to express the state in which I found myself. I saw many evil spirits. They sat on the coffin and on the deceased himself, and everything around was filled with them. They rushed in the air and rejoiced that they had captured another soul. "Lord have mercy!" - involuntarily escaped from my lips, I crossed myself and closed the gate. I began to ask the Lord to help me continue to endure the machinations of the evil spirit, to strengthen my weak strength and weak faith.

One day, by God's permission, they managed to spoil me. At this time my son was in a boarding school. My legs were paralyzed. I lay alone for several days without food or water (at that time no one knew about what had happened to me). There was only one thing left for me to do - trust in the mercy of God. But His mercy towards us sinners is inexpressible. One morning an elderly woman (a secret nun) came to me and began to look after me: she cleaned and cooked. I could control my hands freely, and so that I could sit down with their help, a rope was tied to the back of the bed, at my feet. But the enemy of the human race tried to destroy the soul in various ways. I felt a struggle between two forces taking place in my mind: evil and good. Some told me: “No one needs you now, you will never be the same as you were before, so it’s better for you not to live in this world.” But my consciousness was illuminated by another, already bright, thought: “But cripples and freaks live in the world, why shouldn’t I live?” Again the evil forces approached: “Everyone calls you a fool, so choke yourself.” And another thought answered her: “It’s better to live as a fool than as a smart person and rot.” I felt that the second thought, the bright one, was closer and dearer to me. Knowing this made me feel calmer and happier. But the enemy did not leave me alone. One day I woke up because something was bothering me. It turned out that the rope was tied from my feet to the head of the bed, and a noose was wrapped around my neck. . .

I often asked the Mother of God and all the Heavenly Powers to heal me from my illness. One day, my mother, who was caring for me, had finished her homework and prepared food, locked all the doors, lay down on the sofa and fell asleep. I was praying at that time. Suddenly I see a tall woman enter the room. Using a rope, I pulled myself up and sat down, trying to see who had entered. A woman came up to my bed and asked: “What hurts you?” I answered: “Legs.” And then She began to slowly move away, and I, trying to get a better look at Her, not noticing what I was doing, began to gradually lower my legs to the floor. She asked me this question twice more, and the same number of times I answered that my legs hurt. Suddenly the Woman was gone. I, not realizing that I was standing, walked into the kitchen and began to look around, wondering where this Woman could have gone, and I thought that she had taken something. At this time my mother woke up, I told her about the Woman and my suspicions, and she said in surprise: “Klava! After all, you are walking!” Only then did I understand what had happened, and tears of gratitude for the miracle performed by the Mother of God covered my face. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord!

Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will to men!

If your brothers do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then even if someone were to rise from the dead, they will not only not repent, but will not even believe (Luke 16:31).

18.11.2005 13:44

An article restoring the real outline of the events that took place more than 40 years ago in Barnaul was published by the Altapress website. Despite the clearly “yellow” nature of the material, the problem discussed in it is quite important, because The “Barnaul miracle” is mentioned in many church works, and introducing documentary clarity into this issue seems necessary.

Another resurrection of Claudia, or the Barnaul miracle-yudo

The ghost of Claudia Ustyuzhanina is again wandering through the pages of newspapers. The Barnaul resident, “resurrected in 1964 in a morgue,” was loudly remembered by Grabovoi’s fans. The same one who offered the mothers of Beslan to revive their children. “You don’t believe that the dead are resurrected, but what about the Barnaul miracle?” The image of the saleswoman from the Barnaul grain merchant is again raised on the shield by a number of priests. What really happened then in Barnaul? A correspondent for the Marker-Express newspaper decided to make an “autopsy” of a long-standing story.

The miraculous resurrection of Claudia has been written and rewritten, and each time the details of the miracle were different. Some said that before the “resurrection” Ustyuzhanina was an active communist, and then she handed over her party card, others that she drank and partied, and then came to her senses. The scenes in the morgue also look different.

Articles about the “miracle” were written even after Claudia’s actual death. She died in 1978, but despite this, one of the newspapers published a story on her behalf 20 years after her death. Allegedly, 79-year-old woman Klava sits and talks... This is the incident.

The son of Claudia Nikitichna, Archpriest Andrei Ustyuzhanin, a priest of the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, politely said on the phone that the most truthful version is the one he wrote down from the words of his mother. The rest simply wrote down incorrectly, making mistakes. Here are fragments of the story, recorded from the words of Ustyuzhanina’s son.

The soul went to hell

“In 1963-1964, I was forced to go to the hospital for examination. A malignant tumor was discovered in me. However, not wanting to upset me, they told me that the tumor was benign. I wanted to be told the truth, without hiding anything, but I was only told that my card was in the oncology clinic. Having arrived there and wanting to find out the truth, I pretended to be my sister, who was interested in the medical history of a relative. They told me that I had a malignant tumor, or so-called cancer.

On February 17, 1964, I handed over the work in my store, and on February 19 I was already in surgery. It was conducted by the famous professor Israel Isaevich Neimark (Jewish by nationality) together with three doctors and seven student interns. It was useless to cut anything out of the stomach, since it was all covered in cancer; 1.5 liters of pus were pumped out, and death occurred right on the operating table. I didn’t feel the process of separating my soul from my body, only suddenly I saw my body from the outside the way we see, for example, some thing: a coat, a table, etc. I see how people are fussing around my body, trying to bring me back to life. I hear everything and understand what they are talking about. I feel and worry, but I can’t let them know that I’m here.

Suddenly I found myself in places close and dear to me, where I had ever been offended, where I cried, and in other difficult and memorable places. However, I did not see anyone near me, and how long it took for me to be able to visit these places, and how my movement was carried out - all this remained an incomprehensible mystery to me. Suddenly I found myself in a completely unfamiliar area. Suddenly I saw a tall Woman walking towards me from the east. Strict, dressed in a long robe (as I later learned - a monastic robe), with her head covered. A stern face was visible; a child walked next to Her, reaching only to Her shoulder. I tried to see his face, but I never succeeded, because he kept turning to me either sideways or with his back. As I found out later, this was my Guardian Angel. I was happy, thinking that when they came closer, I would be able to find out from them where I was.

Not reaching 1.5 or 2 meters, the Woman, raising her eyes upward, asked: “Lord, where is it?” I heard a voice that answered Her: “She needs to be brought back down, she died before her time.” It was like a man's voice crying."

After this, Claudia was allegedly shown hell with burnt bodies and said: pray, there is a meager century left. So what is next:

"...I found myself in the morgue in my body. I don’t know how or in what way I ENTERED it. At that time, a man whose leg was cut off was brought into the morgue. One of the orderlies noticed signs of life in me. They reported about this to the doctors, and they took all the necessary measures to save me: they gave me an oxygen bag, gave me injections. I remained dead for three days (died on February 19, 1964, came to life on February 22). In March 1964, I underwent a second operation, in order to find out about the state of my health and to have my stitches sewn up. The second operation was performed by the famous doctor Valentina Vasilievna Alyabyeva. During the operation, I saw how the doctors were delving into my insides, and, wanting to know my condition, they asked me various questions, and I answered them. After the operation, Valentina Vasilyevna, in great excitement, told me that there was not even a suspicion in my body that I had stomach cancer: everything inside was like that of a newborn." After this, according to the official version, the former atheist became a convinced preacher of faith in the Lord.

Death certificate

Believe me, it was so,” assured priest Andrei. - Now the doctors say that my mother was in intensive care. But I remember, they brought me to my mother, and I remember the words “don’t kiss me on the mouth, kiss me on the forehead.” They probably wouldn’t have allowed me into the intensive care unit... But priest Anatoly Berestov saw with his own eyes the certificate of her death, which was issued when my mother was in the morgue.

When asked where this certificate is now, Father Andrei hesitated: “Mom used to have it, but then it disappeared somewhere.”

With Hieromonk Anatoly Berestov, doctor medical sciences and the rector of the house church, Rev. Seraphim of Sarovsky at the Moscow Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, we phoned on Friday, November 11.

Indeed, I met this woman in the 60s at the Yaroslavl station,” the hieromonk shared. - I forgot the details. She said that she was able clinical death died on the operating table. I saw the death certificate and a certificate from a mental hospital about schizophrenia. But “schizophrenia” was never written on the certificates; a code was given. So, someone needed to give her this certificate so that they wouldn’t believe her? She struck me as normal calm person. She said that she woke up in the morgue, and the attendant saw her pink legs. I can judge what happened only from her story. I, as a doctor, kept asking her: “How could this be?” She answered: “I don’t know.” She complained about poor sleep and that the authorities were oppressive.

Why did you leave Barnaul? She said that she must testify to the whole world about God. As a priest, I believe in the miracle of resurrection. I myself recently witnessed how a seriously ill drug addict, dying of AIDS, recovered. I personally saw him in a pre-agonal state. He said, get ready, there is no more than a day left. And suddenly he returns to this world and recovers.

"Klavka was a charlatan"

Priest Andrei Ustyuzhanin said that he and his mother lived on Krupskaya Street, 96, and then left Barnaul “by the will of God.”

On Saturday, November 12, dogs barked loudly from behind the fence of this wooden house. The owner of the house, who had once bought the house from the Ustyuzhanins, said she was ill and refused any conversations. But her neighbor, hearing that they were interested in Ustyuzhanina, could not stand it:

This is a swindler, this Klavka. A common swindler. She told everyone that she had been resurrected, people began to come to her, thinking that she was a saint. If the bent-over grandmother arrived empty-handed, she wouldn’t let him in, but if they arrived with trunks of gifts, she would let him in. They put her in the bathroom, wash her, and then drink the water themselves. Ugh. - After these words, the woman, who did not want to introduce herself, went into the house without saying goodbye.

In Barnaul they didn’t consider this a miracle?

Things took a different turn. But neighbors are neighbors. In neighborly relations, they say, sometimes the devil himself will break his leg. What will the Barnaul priests say about Claudius?

“I don’t know the details of this story well,” said Konstantin Metelnitsky. “I only know that she lay in the morgue for three days and then was resurrected.” Priest Nikolai Voitovich knows this better. One of the many stories about the miraculous resurrection says that Claudia saw Nikolai Voitovich in a dream in a suit that he had, but he never put it on. She also said that Father Nikolai advised hiding medical certificates away.

There was nothing like that,” says priest Nikolai Voitovich, “and she didn’t show me the death certificate. She had clinical death, I spoke with the doctors afterwards. And she could, of course, see different pictures when she recovered from anesthesia. When she showed up, I didn’t pay any attention to her stories. Then, during a sermon in Tomsk, the priest spoke about the “Barnaul miracle”; crowds of people came here from Tomsk. But in Barnaul this is not considered a miracle.

From a telephone interview with Andrey Ustyuzhanin:

My mother, I remember, did not have a good relationship with my father Nikolai Voitovich. And the fact that they say that she sold water from herself is a slander. Imagine, these were the 60s, when religion was treated very harshly. She was not involved in selling water:

In those days the morgue was empty

IN incredible story about the resurrection, the real names of very respected doctors in the city appear: Neimark, Alyabyeva. Unfortunately, neither Israel Isaevich nor Valentina Vasilievna are alive. One of Alyabyeva’s colleagues from the 3rd city hospital said that she had not heard any story from her about Claudia Ustyuzhanina.

How tired of all this already,” Alexander Neimark, son of Israel Isaevich, chief urologist of the region, doctor of medical sciences, professor, shared over the phone. - It was an abnormal woman who pursued my father. In those days, patients did not die at all. There are no entries in the log book. She experienced clinical death while receiving anesthesia. The heart was started - that’s all the miracle. After that they called my father. He wrote how it all happened in one letter to the editor. This is a letter from Natalya Vasilyeva, who at that time was the editor of the publishing house medical university, quoted in one of her articles.

The stories of priests generally make me shake,” the militant atheist Vasilyeva honestly admitted. - I don't trust this public. Their specialty is lying.

According to Vasilyeva, at the beginning of the “miracle” there was an unhappy woman, clearly with a not entirely healthy psyche, inventing fables about herself and, probably, believing in them herself. Then fans who believe in her holiness come to her for “holy water” and tell others about her. And, finally, sensation-hungry journalists who completed the job.

One of the stories, recorded from the words of Claudia Ustyuzhanina, even says that the Jewish professor wanted to kill her after her resurrection.

Letter from Professor Neimark

A copy of Israel Isaevich Neimark’s letter is kept by his student, Doctor of Medical Sciences, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Yakov Naumovich Shoikhet. This letter was written in 1998 after the publication of the “Barnaul miracle” in one of the central newspapers. Here are fragments from it: “In February 1964, to the faculty clinic of the Altai medical institute At the railway hospital headed by me, Klavdiya Ustyuzhanina was admitted for surgery on the referral of oncologists with a diagnosis of transverse colon cancer. At the clinic, the patient was operated on under endotracheal anesthesia. During induction of anesthesia, cardiac arrest occurred. Resuscitation measures were immediately taken, and quickly, within two minutes, it was possible to restore cardiac activity. During the operation, a large inflammatory conglomerate was discovered emanating from the transverse colon, compressing and complicating its patency. No cancer metastases and 1.5 liters of pus mentioned in the article were found. A fistula is placed on the cecum to drain gases, intestinal contents and create conditions for eliminating inflammatory process. Thus, cancer was excluded. The picture corresponded to the inflammatory process. The entire operation lasted 25 minutes.

After the operation, the patient was unconscious for two days. She was in the intensive care ward under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. She was breathing on her own and her heart was beating normally. Then she regained consciousness and began to wonder what was found during the operation and what was done to her. I personally talked to her many times and convinced her that she did not have cancer, but had inflammation, and when it subsided, her fistula would be closed. But she didn’t believe me, because she often talked about this topic and told me that she was having a boy, Andrei. There is no father, and if she has cancer, then [she] must think about how to arrange it. I assured her that there was no cancer and there was no need to do anything, that she would raise and raise her son herself. Consequently, Claudia Ustyuzhanina did not die either on the operating table or after the operation, so there was no need for her to be resurrected. I don't understand how she could show the death certificate and medical history. I also doubt that she was a “convinced atheist”; in the hospital she often prayed, and God helped her - her heart activity quickly recovered, and there was no cancer. Subsequently, Ustyuzhanina recovered. The tumor shrank and resolved. At the city hospital, Dr. V.V. Alyabyeva sewed up her fistula, and the patient completely recovered. On the eve of the operation, Valentina Vasilievna called me on the phone, and I told her that the inflammatory tumor had resolved. V.V. knew before the operation that the patient did not have cancer.<...>As for Ustyuzhanina, she came up with a legend about how she rose from the dead. At the same time, the legend changed all the time. At first she spread the word that she had died, and they carried her, naked, into the cold into the morgue, where the corpses lay. The hospital guard came, dropped the bucket, and she woke up. The soul flew to the market (Ustyuzhanina worked in trade), an angel met her and ordered her to return to Claudia, and she came to life. In fact, at that time no one died in the railway hospital, there were no corpses, and there were never guards in the hospital at all.

Ustyuzhanina promoted her holiness and organized a business, carried out ablutions and sold the used water as holy. Her public performance accompanied by rude antics and curses in in public places city addressed to me and the employees of the railway hospital with a completely anti-Semitic connotation.

Articles similar to the one you published appeared many times in different newspapers, but with different versions of fabrications... It is clear to me that the initiator of these speeches is her son Andrei, who now serves as a priest in the Holy Dormition Convent of Alexandrov. One has to wonder how, for 20 years after the death of his mother, he exaggerates the legend she invented to create popularity and fame for himself. In addition, in all these publications there is a hint of anti-Semitism... Over many years of surgical activity, this the only case in my practice, when I have to prove the absurdity of such a publication. I could never imagine that you could publish this nonsense and become like the tabloid press... By this you caused [me] the deepest offense and mental trauma, which [I] didn’t deserve.”

It was not Neymark who started the operation!

Israel Isaevich himself did not start Ustyuzhanina’s operation,” said Yakov Naumovich Shoikhet. Another experienced surgeon, his student, operated. But before he could begin the operation, induction anesthesia was given, and the patient went into cardiac arrest. Cardiac activity was restored quickly, and the question arose of what to do next. The patient had intestinal obstruction. Someone had to take responsibility for continuing the operation after clinical death. They called Neimark, he gave instructions to save. The operation continued. They opened the abdomen, found an infiltrate that compressed the transverse colon, brought it out, and allowed the intestinal contents to exit through another opening. In fact, this saved the patient’s life. Everything was done so that later, when the intestinal obstruction passed, it would be possible to restore intestinal patency. So that a person can walk naturally and not live with his intestines out. They even foresaw this. Thanks to Neimark, the patient not only recovered, but did not remain disabled. And then this version of the “resurrection” was born. I don’t even dare to judge who first created it. Of course, partly it came from her. First she said one thing, then another. In the end, she stated that she was opened at the morgue. But every physician knows that during an autopsy, organs are isolated and a piece of tissue from each organ is taken for histological examination.

My attitude towards this woman will still be like a patient who has experienced major surgery. As to the suffering one. Despite the fact that she repaid the doctors with black ingratitude. At that moment, the doctors did absolutely everything extremely competently with a good prognosis for the future. Israel Isaevich looks here not just as an experienced, competent surgeon, but also as a courageous person who took upon himself the decision to continue the operation after clinical death. Further waiting could lead to intestinal necrosis. By delaying surgery in such cases, we endanger the patient's life. It is in such situations that a true surgeon emerges. There was an interesting episode in the life of Israel Isaevich, when the issue of an operation with a risk to the patient’s life was also decided. And without surgery there was no chance of recovery at all. He gathered all the surgeons: what are we going to do? It’s scary to operate, and not to operate means not to take advantage of the chance. Everyone spoke for an hour and a half. He says: “Think well and come to a conclusion, and I’ll go and work.” Gone. He returned an hour and a half later: “What conclusion did you come to?” - "Do a surgery". - “I already did that.” He was an amazing man. He combined the Leningrad school and the features of a surgeon who had served at the front. He was an active field hospital surgeon throughout the war. You rarely see people of such culture and such power these days. And everything that then unfolded is dirty. And he took the fire, despite the fact that his student performed the operation. And the student did everything correctly, I repeat. The real intellectual Israel Isaevich did not respond to attacks in the yellow press. He was offended by an article in a national newspaper, a newspaper that he loved. He waited until his death for an answer from the editor, but never received it... (We deliberately do not name the newspaper in question. Perhaps our colleagues will later repent).