Two Tales of One City: St. Xenia of Petersburg

Set in Russia, this revolving story follows the lives of two fascinating women and how they intersect across more than a century. Physician Lena, newly engaged, is impassioned by her work helping to heal during the Communist era, but finds herself plagued by unanswered questions. When her fiancee is assigned an old chapel as his artist workspace, Lena is reintroduced to a historical figure, St. Xenia, whom she considers a part of Russia's obsolete past. Lena is both surprised and troubled by the pilgrims and devotees to this mysterious saint who continue to gather and pray at her shrine, even after all these years and all the education that should have eradicated the old superstitious ways of thinking. Lena wanders through her own discovery of faith as the story of Xenia also unfolds through the chapters. While learning the amazing lengths to which St. Xenia went in honor of her deceased husband, and the miracles left in her wake which Lena cannot explain away with her training in science, it is ultimately a relationship with one of the believers that brings Lena's own story full circle. This tale of faith developing even through adversity is based in historical research. The fictionalized characters help bring St. Xenia alive anew. Her clarion call to believe and to follow Christ echoes through these lives and pages, bringing illumination to Russia's darkest period spiritually. Ms. Kotsonis has given us a memorable and uplifting story. May St. Xenia bless it with her prayers.