Tomsk Catholics have gathered annually since 2009 at the grave of the nuns Olympia Bida and Lavrentiya Gerasimiv, who died in exile in Siberia. Up to 150 people come to Harsk to pray. They come to the martyrs for the faith from Germany, Ukraine and various cities of Russia....
On September 28, 2024, clergy and parishioners from Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Kuibyshev, Barabinsk, Ubinsky made the traditional annual pilgrimage to the taiga village of Kharsk (Tomsk region), to the resting place of the blessed sister-monks Olympia and Lavrentiya.
Nuns Olympia and Laurentia from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph the Betrothed of the Blessed Virgin Mary served God and people in the town of Hirov, Lviv region, during the difficult times of Soviet persecution of religion in general and the Greek Catholic Church in particular. In 1950 they were arrested by the MGB and sent into permanent exile in Siberia. A total of ten nuns from the Congregation of St. Joseph were exiled to Siberia at that time. Sisters Olympia and Laurentia could have avoided exile at the cost of renouncing their monastic vocation, but they chose the path of fidelity to Christ and the Church. The place of their settlement in Siberia was the village of Kharsk, Molchanovsky district, Tomsk region. Unbearable labor, harsh climatic conditions, illness and lack of medical care soon did their work: Sister Olympia went to the Lord on January 23, 1952, at the age of 49, and in August of the same year, at the age of 40, Sister Laurentia followed her.
People who lived in Kharske recalled that the sisters showed themselves to be unusual, loving people. The Mashin family - Gennady and Nadezhda - lives in Sulzat (a village on the road to Kharske). The sisters lived with Gennady's parents in those years, when he was still a teenager.
- I was 13 years old at the time," says Gennady Mashin. - I can't tell you how many sisters there were, I think there were six. The other nuns worked in the backyard, digging potatoes. Sisters Lavrentiya and Olympia were sick with tuberculosis and could not work. They originally lived not far from here in Smolokurovka, but they were chased away by the locals. According to Gennady, the nuns were needlewomen. One of the six, an older woman, sewed well, and people from the village went to her to order fur coats.
- I remember my sisters would ask me to play the harmonica, and they would start singing to it. In their own way, in Ukrainian.
Gennady's wife, Nadezhda, also remembers the sisters.
- For some reason they were feared. Although they were good people, they never did anything bad to anyone. I never heard them say a swear word. I remember when we were getting married, and one of my sisters made me a beautiful wreath of flowers.
After the death of Sisters Laurentia and Olympia, the other nuns bought a separate house for themselves. "They prayed constantly, and everything inside the house was filled with icons," adds Gennady Mashin.
On June 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II, during his apostolic visit to Ukraine, beatified the sisters along with other Catholic martyrs and confessors of the Soviet era. That same year, the nuns of the Congregation of St. Joseph went to search for the graves of the Blessed Sisters in Kharsk. A resident of the neighboring village of Sulzat, Gennady, whose parents had once lived with the sisters, was able to show them the burial place. In 2005, the Catholics conducted an exhumation and most of the relics were taken away.
In September 2005, the relics of the Monk Martyrs were found: their remains were exhumed in an abandoned cemetery in Harsk and transported to Ukraine, to the homeland of the Blessed. At the request of Bishop Joseph Werth, the particles of the holy relics were transferred to the Diocese of Transfiguration for nationwide veneration. Regular diocesan pilgrimages to Harsk began in 2009.
Pilgrims note that this is a place of special power, where heaven touches every soul, every person who goes here to take an example from these women. People need such places where there was love, kindness, holiness. We still remember it to this day. We thank the Lord for the good weather, for the opportunity to come to the graves of the blessed sisters and bring our intentions, for peace on earth, strong faith, health of loved ones and many other things.
Hymn to the Sweet Olympia and Laurentia.
You have not sought the glory that is among men,
You have not sought the glory that is in this world.
You kept your hearts in humility and purity,
The flowers of the Lord are unfading.
Chorus:
Jubilate Olympia, jubilate Laurentia,
Before the face of our Lord and God.
And sing Olympia, and sing Lawrence.
In the midst of thousands upon thousands of angels.
The red raspberry is drooping, shedding tears.
And how many there are, no one can count.
You sisters have decided to suffer for Christ,
The flowers of the Lord are unfading.
Chorus:
Though the cross is heavy, yet joy is greater than all troubles.
Blessed are those who follow God.
Rejoice, sing sisters in heaven, on earth.
Beautiful is the goal - one road.
