Among the many church myths and legends that actually happened in real life, a story called "Petrified Zoya" stands out with special horror. Believers consider the case from Kuibyshev (now the Russian city of Samara) in 1956 to be valid, while skeptics note many factors that indicate the unreality of the event.
History in several versions
So, let's consider various versions of the Samara phenomenon and try to answer the question for ourselves: is the stone Zoya true or a myth? The most common versions are:
- Zoya was dumbfounded at home;
- the dancer turned into a stone at a party;
- the standing image of a maiden is the invention of an old woman.
The legends of old-timers and churchmen say that on December 31, a certain a resident of the Soviet city Kuibysheva gathered to celebrate the arrival of the New 1956 year with her friends. Being a member of the Komsomol, she did not particularly listen to the instructions of her believing mother that during the days of Great Lent one should not have fun and dance. The girl called her friends and was waiting for the arrival of her boyfriend Nikolai, whom she met the other day.
Time passed, the hands inexorably approached the 12 mark on the clock, but Zoya's admirer was still not there, while all the friends came with the guys. The young Komsomol member felt offended as a woman, and she decided to express her act of protest in front of God's will and grabbing icon of St. Nicholas who stood among the others on the iconostasis, began to dance with her.
Friends were frightened by such an unexpected decision of the girl and tried to stop her, but in Zoya it seemed dark forces moved in, and she continued to spin in a strange dance. “My Nicholas is gone, I will dance with Nicholas the Wonderworker,” she said cheerfully with hysterical laughter. Also a young Komsomol member doubted the existence of God and added that "if he exists, then let him punish her."
Retribution for a great church sin did not have to wait long, exactly at 12 at night lightning struck the girl from the ceiling and she froze. The petrified girl with the icon of the saint caused panic among the rejoicing youth, especially since what happened was unexpected and lightning fast. The friends of the girl who danced with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker tried to somehow revive her and take the holy image out of her hands, but all in vain.
There are even authentic proofs of Zoe's standing. photographs of 1956. The young Komsomol member looks like a statue on them, tightly pressing the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to her motionless chest. Eyewitnesses of the petrification noted that the girl's heart was barely audible. The ambulance brigade and militia called also could not help the unfortunate woman. They did not take medical needles to Zoya, and some law enforcement officers were simply afraid to approach her.
They tried to bring the frozen image back to life following methods:
- tried to pierce with syringes;
- move by force;
- persuasion and prayerful reprimand.
The rumor about a standing Kuibyshev woman spread like lightning around the city, and this led to a lot of onlookers and other curious people to the place. In order to avoid religious hysteria or other manifestations of vandalism, the house number 84 on Chkalov Street was cordoned off by the police, and the guards stood guard for several days.
The mother, who had not left the house since the incident, told the priests that her daughter seemed to wake up at night and utter slurred phrases. Sometimes a woman who despaired of seeing Zoya alive could distinguish the intelligible requests of the stone maiden that everyone should pray for the sins of mankind.
Hearing a story about his compatriot, Hieromonk Seraphim volunteered to help her. The priest persuaded the guards to let him through to the frozen woman. Once in the room where the negligent Zoya seemed to freeze forever, the holy father calmly took the icon from her hands and predicted that the Komsomol member will come around for Easter.
And so it happened, the maiden, who turned to stone, came to her senses and began to show signs of life 128 days after her petrification. Since Zoya stood for more than four months, her body was exhausted, and she died after 3 days.
Zoya standing - version two
There is another version according to which a similar rumor about a petrified girl went. It was also New Year's Eve. Young people were having fun in the house at the above address, a nun passed by the window and, seeing what was happening, said that for such a sin, the girls having fun should turn into “pillars of salt”, as in one of the biblical legends. These words were heard by an old woman who happened to be nearby, and after a while the rumor about a great miracle spread throughout the city.
Another variation on the theme of “Zoyka’s standing” says that a certain Claudia Bolonkina lived in house number 84 on Chkalova Street with her son, who threw a party in honor of the New Year. Among the invited friends was Zoya, who a few days earlier began dating a guy named Nikolai. Further, this version repeats the already existing generally accepted variation of events.
Third or official version
Officials in the course of a journalistic investigation confirmed the fact that a lonely woman named Klavdiya Bolonkina did indeed live at 84 Chkalova Street. There is also information about Zoya Karnaukhova, who worked at a local factory, however, the fact that she ever visited the address mentioned in the story remains an unconfirmed fact. It is also interesting that the wooden building, where the alleged standing of Zoya Karnaukhova happened, where now there is a wasteland, was destroyed by fire. Fate owners of house number 84 really unknown to anyone.
The former first secretary of the Kuibyshev Regional Committee of the CPSU, Mikhail Efremov, who had to "disentangle" the current situation, confirmed the fact that the house on Chkalov Street had been cordoned off. Being in office from 1952 to 1959, a communist by conviction, the man suggested that the inhabitants of the city back in 1956 became victims of a strange mass psychosis, which is a direct shame for the communist committee.
In order to appease the public and upset the feelings of believers, on January 24, the Volzhskaya Kommuna newspaper published a feuilleton entitled “Wild Case”. It spoke in an ironic way about the event and emphasized that it was really fiction. During this period, the local authorities, as best they could, tried to hush up the situation about the petrification of the Komsomol member.
History is not forgotten
Do not forget about this case and in modern cinema. At the beginning of the 21st century, namely in 2000, the TRC "Terra" shot a short documentary film "Zoya's Standing". The film was directed by Dmitry Oderusov, who noted that such religious themes are very popular in modern world movie.
After 9 years, the feature film directed by Alexander Proshin "Miracle" was released, in which modern popular actors of the post-Soviet space were noted. In 2015, a film called Zoya was released, based on the play by Alexander Ignashev. The female director Alla Korovkina worked on the picture, and the viewer saw the story of many years ago from a different angle.
In September 2017, the phenomenon of Zoya Karnaukhova was discussed in the popular show "Actually". An entire issue was devoted to this issue. Some participants in the program say that this is indeed a real miracle, while others, as usual in such cases, are confident in the unreality of what happened in the city of Samara.
In the world of writers, many writers are interested in the topic of a petrified man, whose biography is not completely known. Most of all, believers are puzzled by this case, which is why 3 years ago a book by Archpriest Nikolai Agafonov was published by the publishing house of one of the monasteries in Moscow. The work under the laconic title "Standing", according to the author, is based on real facts that the holy father collected over many months.
The mysterious story of Zoya is not forgotten by the church, and new believers constantly come to the scene, who themselves want to see the place where the wrath of the Lord manifested itself. In 2012, in the former front garden of house No. 84, a statue of Nikolai Ugodnik was installed, which the clergy consecrated after some time. The ill-fated house was destroyed by an unexpected fire 2 years after the installation of the monument to the iconized saint.
Whoever says anything about this not completely clear history of 1956, but the fact remains. It is known, after all, that there is no smoke without fire, which means that something really happened in the city of Kuibyshev.
petrified zoe
60 years ago, one of the most amazing events in the history of the USSR took place. On the outskirts of the closed Kuibyshev, a young girl Zoya petrified with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in her hands.
Zoya's standing became an all-Union scandal: crowds of people from Zoya's house were dispersed by mounted police, party officials did everything to hide this mysterious incident.
“The whole city is buzzing like a beehive! You are sitting here, and there ... The girl froze with the icon in her hands, as if rooted to the spot! They say God punished her!” Dr. Anna gasped with excitement.
The fact that the fact of petrification of the girl was, there are eyewitness accounts of those days, documents of party meetings.
This extraordinary and mysterious event took place on December 31, 1956 at 84 Chkalov Street. An ordinary woman Claudia Bolonkina lived in it, whose son decided to invite him to new year's eve his friends. Among the invitees was the girl Zoya, with whom Nikolai had begun dating shortly before.
All her friends are with gentlemen, but Zoya was still sitting alone, Kolya was late. When the dancing began, she declared: “If there is no my Nicholas, I will dance with Nicholas the Pleasant!” And she went to the corner where the icons hung. Friends were horrified: “Zoya, this is a sin,” but she said: “If there is a God, let him punish me!” She took the icon, pressed it to her chest. She entered the circle of dancers and suddenly froze, as if she had grown into the floor. It was impossible to move it, and the icon could not be taken from the hands - it seemed to be glued tightly. The girl showed no outward signs of life. But in the region of the heart, a barely perceptible knock was heard.
The ambulance doctor Anna tried to revive Zoya. Anna's sister, Nina Pavlovna Kalashnikova, is still alive, I managed to talk to her. She ran home excited. And although the police took a non-disclosure agreement from her, she told everything. And about how she tried to give the girl injections, but it turned out to be impossible. Zoya's body was so hard that the needles of the syringes did not enter it, they broke ... 
The law enforcement agencies of Samara immediately became aware of the incident. Since it was connected with religion, the case was given the status of an emergency, a police squad was sent to the house in order not to let onlookers inside. There was something to worry about. By the third day of Zoya's standing, all the streets near the house were crowded with thousands of people. The girl was nicknamed "Zoya stone."
Nevertheless, the clergy had to be invited to the house of the “stone Zoya”, because the policemen were afraid to approach her, holding the icon. But none of the priests managed to change anything until Hieromonk Seraphim (Poloz) came. They say that he was so bright in soul and kind that he even had the gift of divination. He was able to take the icon from Zoya's frozen hands, after which he predicted that her "standing" would end on Easter Day. And so it happened. They say that Poloz was then asked by the authorities to refuse involvement in Zoya's case, but he rejected the offer. Then they fabricated an article about sodomy and sent him to serve time. After his release to Samara, he did not return ... 
Zoya's body came to life, but her mind was no longer the same. In the first days, she kept shouting: “In sins, the earth perishes! Pray, believe!" From a scientific and medical point of view, it is difficult to imagine how a young girl's body could survive 128 days without food and water. The metropolitan scientists, who came to Samara at that time for the sake of such a supernatural case, could not determine the “diagnosis”, which at first was mistaken for some kind of tetanus.
After the incident with Zoya, as her contemporaries testify, people massively reached out to churches and temples. People bought up crosses, candles, icons. Those who have not been baptized have been baptized… But it is known that from fright, a change in consciousness and heart occurs in exceptional cases. As a rule, a “good” person becomes only for a while. To deeply feel the essence of everything spiritual and real, to open the heart to goodness and love, the work of the soul is required. And religious, like any external attributes, have nothing to do with it.
Therefore, we are talking about Zoya or about some other character with whom something out of the ordinary happened, the question begs the following: why do we need dramas, tragedies in order to gain faith, pay attention to ourselves, our actions, our own life or miracles and mysticism? Until the thunder breaks out, the peasant will not cross himself?
This unusual happened mystical story December 31, 1955 in the city of Samara, which at that time was called Kuibyshev. There is even a specific address - Chkalov Street, house 86. Subsequently, this amazing incident was described as Zoya's Standing. But whether this is true or not is unknown to this day. However, let's first get acquainted with the chronology of events, and only after that we will try to draw conclusions.
Chronology of events
The incident happened in a house that belonged to Claudia Bolonkina, a woman who sincerely believes in God. She had a son named Nicholas. He decided to invite friends and girlfriends to celebrate the New Year holiday with them. Before the arrival of the guests, the mother left the house to her relatives, so as not to interfere with the youth to have fun.
Among those invited was Zoya Karnaukhova. She was considered the girlfriend of Nicholas. The guy had tender feelings for her, but he had not started talking about the wedding yet. During the fun, he spent most of the time near Zoe, and then went off somewhere and left the girl alone. She got bored, and everyone around began to dance.
Frustrated that the boyfriend was still gone, Zoya went up to the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nicholas the Ugodnik), which was hanging in the corner, took it off, pressed it to her chest and exclaimed: “Since my beloved Nikolai is gone, I will dance with Nikolai the Ugodnik.” The guests looked back at the exclamation, began to dissuade the girl from committing such a sin, but she did not listen to anyone. She said: "If there is a God, then he will punish me." After these words, with the icon pressed to her chest, Zoya began to circle the room to the sound of a gramophone.
The further course of events, according to eyewitnesses, looks incredible and fantastic. Allegedly there was a thunderclap, lightning flashed and the lights went out. Someone lit a candle, and in its light the guests saw that Zoya froze in the middle of the room with the icon in her hands. They tried to move the girl, but she seemed to have grown into the floor. She stood motionless, cold and white as a marble statue. Thus began the Standing of Zoya, which lasted 128 days and ended only on the day of Easter.
However, on New Year's Eve, no one knew anything about this. The guests called the doctors, but they could not help. They tried to give an injection, but the needle just broke. They tried to take the icon from the hands of the frozen girl, but nothing happened. However, the Aesculapius declared that Zoya was alive, since her heart was barely audible. Then the police came, escorted everyone out and set up a post near the house.
As soon as the eyewitnesses of the incident left, rumors about an amazing miracle immediately spread throughout the city. People rushed to the house on Chkalov Street, but the police squad did not let anyone closer than 50 meters to the scene. Later, local authorities moved the bus routes as far as possible from the ill-fated house, so that it would be difficult for the curious to get to it.
Further course of events
Now it is difficult to say who saved the poor girl. It is only known for certain that at first the local party authorities did not allow the ministers of the church to enter the scene. However, the people were worried, various rumors crawled around the city, and in the house with frozen Zoe allowed Hieromonk Seraphim. He served a prayer service and took the icon out of the girl's hands. After that, he said that Zoe's Stand would end on the day of Passover. And indeed, on the specified date, the skin of the unfortunate turned pink, the poor thing began to move, breathe, and then began to speak.
But there is another interesting version. Allegedly, a handsome old man tried to pass through the police cordon. For many days in a row they did not want to let him in, but then the policemen took pity and let the stubborn petitioner into the house. He approached the frozen girl and quietly asked: “Tired of standing? Will you blaspheme no more?" After that, he easily took the icon out of Zoya's hands and vanished into thin air. The girl herself then came to her senses and left the house on her own. There was a rumor among the people that the old man was none other than Nikolai Ugodnik himself.
Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nicholas the Pleasant)
The further fate of Zoya Karnaukhova
Before the ill-fated incident, Zoya worked at a pipe factory. But after the numbness subsided, the girl did not return to normal life. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. There she lived for many years and died within the walls of this institution. According to another version, Zoya was released from the hospital, and the ministers of the church took her to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. There the woman spent the remaining years of her life in repentance and prayer.
So was Zoe's Standing or not?
Newspapers such as Komsomolskaya Pravda and Moskovsky Komsomolets wrote about this amazing incident. It follows from them that this story was invented by the owner of the house Claudia Bolonkina. It was she who said that young people danced in her house, and one girl took the icon in her hands and began to dance with it. After that, the cooler turned to stone.
Pious old women, having heard this story, passed it on to others, and rumors spread around the city. The people went to the ill-fated house, and the police set up a post near it. As a result of such actions, rumors began to spread even more actively. Realizing their mistake, the local authorities removed the police post, but the rumors remained and grew into a whole story about Zoya's Standing. But there was no miracle in the house on Chkalov Street, and only a pious old woman lived there.
Already at the beginning of the 21st century, the city archives were checked. It turned out that Claudia Bolonkina actually lived in house 84 on Chkalova Street. But such names as Zoya Karnaukhova and Hieromonk Seraphim were not found in the archives. It is assumed that the youth really arranged dances with the icon. One of the pious people saw this and said that for such a sin one can turn into a pillar of salt. Bolonkina heard this and declared that such a miracle had happened in her house.
Subsequently, some woman, fanatically believing in a miracle, declared that she was just that same petrified girl. It was she who called herself Zoya Karnaukhova, and the miracle was transformed into the Standing of Zoya and turned into an urban legend.
At the same time, it can be assumed that the above case is the pure truth, since too many people spoke about it at the time. But creating a legend from scratch is not so easy. People are not as gullible as they seem and they always need proof.
For more than 60 years, the people have kept the memory of the extraordinary incident that took place in Kuibyshev (now Samara). It is called "Zoya standing", the rumor about it is passed from mouth to mouth, sometimes something is added or subtracted. Some details of this miracle were invented, as it turned out, but what the petrified girl with the icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker really was, there is no doubt. Otherwise, why is there so much talk about him even after many years?!
Wikipedia calls this event a folk legend, an urban legend. The article does not provide anything concrete in confirming the existence of a girl who once froze with an icon. But on the other hand, there is information about the book written by the priest Nikolai Agafonov "Standing". According to the author, for a long time he collected information and documents about the story about the petrified girl with the icon.
At the beginning of this century, cinema returned to this legend. Several films have been made based on her.
One of them is a twenty-minute documentary directed by Dmitry Oderusov. He made the film through the eyes of a believer Orthodox person. Blessing for the shooting of the film was given by the Archbishop of Samara and Syzran Sergius. It used eyewitness accounts and even a priest whose mother worked in an ambulance and came to Zoya on a call.
One more movie – art , directed by A. Proshkin, it is called "Miracle". Famous actors play in it:
- Sergei Makovetsky;
- Konstantin Khabensky;
- Polina Kutepova.
And the third television film "Zoya", based on the play by A. Ignashev, in which an actress from Samara played the main role.
How did it happen
The story about the petrified girl with the icon took place on New Year's Eve from December 31, 1955 to January 1, 1956. The Bolonkin family, mother and young son lived in house 84 on Chkalova Street. On this holiday, the son threw a party. Friends were invited, among whom was Zoya Karnaukhova.
After the feast, where, of course, there was alcohol, the young people arranged dances. Everyone quickly went into pairs, and Zoya was sitting alone and bored, because her boyfriend named Nikolai did not come to the party.
Probably, the tipsy girl decided to unwind and, taking out the image of St. Nicholas, said: “Since my Nicholas is not there, then I will dance with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker!”
Here, even many drunken friends sobered up and began to reason with her, saying that this was a terrible sin. To their warnings, she boldly retorted, "If there is a God, let him stop me!" Zoya began to dance with the icon, but not even a minute passed before a terrible thunder rang out and lightning flashed.
Everyone was frightened and when they turned on the light, they saw a frozen girl with the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Friends at first thought that she simply froze with fear, began to shake her, move her, but suddenly they realized that Zoya had become cold and motionless, like a stone. With cries of horror, the boys and girls ran out of the hut and fled in all directions.
Apparently, the tenants tried to stir up Zoya, push her around, but nothing worked. Then they called ambulance. The doctor, who arrived on a call, wanted to give an injection to the girl who was dancing with the icon and froze, but all attempts were unsuccessful.
The needles bent as they touched her body, as if they had been driven into stone. The surname of the female doctor Kalashnikov, her son, who became a priest, later told everyone this story.
He said that my mother arrived at dawn very excited. She shouted: “You are sleeping here, and this is happening there!”. And she told a story about a girl with an icon that happened to her. Although the doctor gave a non-disclosure agreement, she could not resist .
They also tried in vain to move Zoya from her place in order to put her on the bed. She seemed to be rooted to the floor! They even tried to cut down the boards with her with an ax, until blood gushed from the floor. The holy image from the hands of the petrified girl, too, no one could pull out. Her mother, they say, was a believer and dissuaded her daughter from a party on Christmas fast, but Zoya did not listen.
Important! Fasting, as you know, is a time of repentance, prayer and abstinence in every sense. This applies not only to food, but also to entertainment. . Therefore, the church always warns people that the New Year holiday, which falls at the end of the Advent fast, should not be spent in drunken feasts, dances, etc.
When they told the mother that her daughter was petrified with an icon, she ran and, seeing Zoya, fainted. She was taken to the hospital, and after she was discharged, the mother constantly began to pray for her daughter.
Rumor quickly spread throughout the city, and by morning many people were already in a hurry to get to this house, where the frozen girl with the icon stood. Then the residents had to call the police, who held back a huge crowd on the street. No one was allowed into the house, although there were hundreds of people who wanted to, sometimes even thousands during the day.
Important! When is celebrated according to the church Orthodox calendar
They say that the policeman who was guarding her heard at night how she screamed terribly: “Mom, pray! We all perish in sin!”
One resident of Samara says that she approached this policeman and asked: “What happened there?”. He replied that he was not ordered to disclose. But when the 26-year-old boy took off his police cap, the woman saw that his hair had turned gray. This rarely happens just like that with young people - only from severe stress.
Hearing about the miracle of the girl with the icon, the bishop came to this house. They let him in, but he could not take the icon out of his hands, so he left.
Useful video: a documentary about the petrified Zoe
The reaction of the authorities
Representatives of the Soviet government reacted very sharply to this miracle, apparently feeling some kind of threat to themselves. After all, after that, many people hurried to the only open church, received the sacraments of baptism, confessed, took communion. It even happened that all the crosses in the temple were sold out. Of course, this could not please the existing authorities.
Soon an article appeared in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, exposing "deceit and empty rumors." The editors of the newspaper, however, did not deny the presence in the house of a girl who was petrified with an icon, but called this event "a shame for the communists." What the shame was, was not disclosed in detail.
One day, the district committee called the rector of the local church with an order to announce at a sermon from the pulpit that there had never been any miracle in the house on Chkalov Street.
Then the wise father answered: “And you will let me into the house, I will see that there is nothing there, then I will tell the people. I don't have the right to lie to people." To this, the authorities replied that they would think about it and make their decision. After some time, the priest was called back and told that they would not let him into the house and there was no need to announce anything from the pulpit.
According to some reports, everyone who was at that fateful party was imprisoned for several years.
There is a version that a certain priest Demetrius came to the house, served a prayer service and was able to remove the icon from the hands of a petrified girl.
Then he accepted monasticism with the name Seraphim, and he was also imprisoned for a certain period. After his release, he served in a remote parish. The icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker, with which the petrified girl stood, he placed on the altar in his temple.
Useful video: the film "Standing Zoe"
Mysterious old man
While the authorities waged a heated fight against people's superstitions about the petrified girl , Zoya continued to stand . And it lasted not a week, not a month, but almost six months.
Some doctors and even a certain professor examined the body, establishing the beating of the heart. But they couldn't say anything specific. At first there was a version that it was an ordinary tetanus. However, with such a disease, they usually lie down, and do not stand for such a long time. Patients with tetanus can be moved from place to place, and in this case, Zoya's body could not be torn off the floor.
In addition, no human body can withstand the absence of food and water for several months. So, without really understanding this phenomenon, the doctors covered up the investigation about the girl with the icon.
And then one day to the house where Zoya froze with an icon ,
a handsome old man came up. He begged to be let inside, but the police refused him. According to rumors, he came the next day, but again there was a refusal.
On the third day, grandfather was able to somehow get into the house. Having come to their senses, the servants of the order rushed after him, but they did not find anyone in the room, except for Zoya. They began to look for him everywhere, but he seemed to have fallen through the ground. And then, according to legend, when the policemen looked at the girl, she pointed with her eyes to the red corner where the icons stood. And they realized that the old man had gone exactly there.
So there were rumors that the stone Zoya with the icon was visited by Nicholas the Wonderworker himself. It is assumed that he did this in order to forgive the girl. According to some reports, it was heard how the old man said at the entrance: “Tired of standing, dear?”
Important! Saint Nicholas, who served in the 4th century AD as an archbishop in the city of Myra in Lycia, performed many miracles during his life and after his death.
He is distinguished by such spiritual qualities as:
- kindness;
- condescension towards poor people;
- simplicity;
- responsiveness.
Since then, Zoya's body began to go limp, and soon the girl, who froze for 128 days, woke up and took to her bed. It is significant that Zoya's forgiveness and release took place on Easter. According to some rumors, having repented of her terrible sin and taking communion, she reposed on the 3rd day after the bright holiday.
According to other rumors, Zoya was admitted to a hospital (possibly a psychiatric one), and after that she shut herself up in a monastery for the rest of her days.
One way or another, people believe that there was an appearance of a saint in this house. And six years ago, a monument to St. Nicholas was erected in front of him as a sign of this miraculous event. Ordinary people later lived in that house, and in 2014 it was destroyed by fire. Some say it was arson.
Useful video: testimonies of witnesses of a secret miracle
Conclusion
Until now, people keep the memory of this incident, which in those difficult times was a serious reinforcement of the Orthodox faith. Perhaps it was no coincidence: Zoya, who danced with the icon of St. Nicholas, turned into a stone pillar like Lot's wife, who was also punished for unbelief. Most likely, this miracle was given for insight and awakening of the Soviet people.
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