Paraskeva (Dybova) of Starobilsk

Blessed Paraskeva of Starobilsk (in the world Praskovia Semyonovna Dybina, 1867-1942) was a nun and fool for Christ in the Luhansk region. She was glorified locally in the Severodonetsk diocese (Ukrainian Orthodox Church) by decision of the Synod of 19 June 2014, and was the first saint of the Luhansk region; she is commemorated on 17 (30) October, the day of her repose, and in the Synaxis of the Saints of Starobilsk on 14 (27) May.

She was born on 27 October 1867 in the village of Novoakhtyrka, Starobilsk district, to a peasant family, the eldest daughter of Simeon and Melania Dybin, who had four more children. From childhood she showed the gift of foresight. At twelve, while tending the cattle, she had a vision of which she told no one, and afterwards fled to the Starobilsk convent. Her parents came for her three times, and three times she hid, knowing of their coming in advance.

At Starobilsk she received monastic tonsure, with the name Paraskeva, after Saint Paraskeva of Serbia, and took up the feat of folly for Christ. She remained at the convent from 1879 to 1924. After it was closed she moved to the Dormition-⁠Seraphim (Razdabarovo) convent in the Kupiansk district, where she stayed until 1928. When that convent too was closed, she began to wander through the villages with a few novices. People, hearing of her foresight, brought her food and clothing, but she gave nearly all of it to the needy. She healed many of the sick, and refused to heal some, saying that otherwise they would not be saved. Several times she was imprisoned for months for confessing the word of God.

In 1933 she was arrested again and exiled to Kotlas in the Arkhangelsk region; two novices, Anna and Nadezhda, came after her. When the prisoners were being moved to another place, she said that she had seen Saint George the Victorious, who told her to return to Ukraine. She stepped out of the column of prisoners and the guards took no notice. After long wanderings she settled at Lysychansk, where she was arrested in 1938 and held in the prisons of Makiivka and Artemivsk. She foretold the beginning of a long and terrible war.

She spent her last years at Lysychansk and passed peacefully to the Lord on 30 October 1942. She was buried not in a cemetery but in the yard of the house where she had lived, and left an instruction that no families should settle in the house and no animals be kept there, because the place is one of prayer. Today a chapel dedicated to Saint Paraskeva of Serbia stands on that spot. In 1992 the restoration of Starobilsk Monastery began, as she had foretold. On 30 October 2008 her incorrupt relics were found and transferred to Starobilsk.

The documents for her canonization were prepared in March 2013 by the commission of the Severodonetsk diocese and sent to the synodal commission. The Synod blessed her local glorification on 19 June 2014, and on 6 October 2014 Metropolitan Onuphry served the Liturgy with the rite of glorification, in the Nativity Cathedral of Severodonetsk. On 23 December 2014 the Synod entered her in the Church calendar, with commemoration on 17 (30) October. Her remains are regarded as holy relics.