Domna of Tomsk

Blessed Domna of Tomsk (Domna Karpovna, early nineteenth century - 16 October 1872) was a fool for Christ who lived in the city of Tomsk, in Siberia. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church on 10 June 1984, in the Synaxis of the Siberian Saints, among the blessed. At Tomsk she is venerated as the "Siberian Xenia", after Xenia of Petersburg. She is commemorated on 16 October (the day of her death) and on 10 June (the synaxis of the Siberian saints).

Life

The main source about the life of Domna is the data gathered by the Tomsk priest N. Mitropolsky and published by him in 1883. According to the census lists, Domna Karpovna was born in Poltava province, in a noble family according to the Ukrainian source, and, orphaned early, was raised by an aunt. She received a good education and knew several foreign languages. To avoid marriage, she left home and began to wander. Without a passport, she was arrested for vagrancy and, under the name Maria Slepchenko, was exiled by the court to the village of Itkul, in the Kainsk district, Tomsk province. Settling in the town of Kainsk, she began her foolishness for Christ. From the start of the 1860s she settled at Tomsk.

Domna had no fixed dwelling, often slept in the street and carried with her sacks of rags, which were her chains of labor. In her pockets she kept broken glass, stones, splinters, sawdust and lumps of sugar; all these she gave to people, giving the gift an allegorical meaning. In church, at services, she moved from place to place, moved and put out candles, and some she took and put into her sacks. She loved dogs greatly, fed them, and they followed her in a pack.

She was marked by non-⁠possession and would not accept alms in money, but bread, which she gave to travelers. A case is known when Bishop Porphyry (Sokolovsky) of Tomsk gave her his fur coat, which Domna put on as a sign of respect, and then gave to the poor. Wishing to help the arrested, she walked the streets and sang spiritual songs aloud, for which she was detained and ended up at the police station, where her admirers brought her food, which she gave to the prisoners. It is said that, when she put aside the foolishness, she had sensible speech and held conversations of spiritual profit. Once a woman of noble birth passed through Tomsk, who proved to be an acquaintance of hers, and Domna spoke with her all night in a foreign language.

Domna Karpovna reposed on 16 October 1872 and was buried in the cemetery of the convent of Saint John the Baptist in Tomsk, in the presence of many townspeople and of clergy. In 1927 the convent was closed, and three years later its cemetery was abolished; on its site the student town of the Tomsk Technological Institute was later built. In 1996, on the centenary of the laying of the institute's foundation, a chapel was built on the supposed site of the grave of Blessed Domna.

Veneration

In 1916 the name of Domna was entered in the "Siberian Paterikon", compiled by Archbishop Sylvester (Olshevsky) of Omsk. She was canonized among the blessed on 10 June 1984, in the Synaxis of the Siberian Saints.