Ordinary Wonders: Stories of Unexpected Grace

by Olesia Nikolaeva, Alexandra Weber (Translator)

"A trailblazer in Russian Orthodox prose." -- Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), author of the 2011 bestseller Everyday Saints

The Deceitful Onion Bulb. A Blessing to Smuggle. The Conjuror of Rain. In this collection of stories as whimsical as their titles, award-winning author Olesia Nikolaeva poignantly recounts life for Christian believers in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In a manner reminiscent of the bestselling Everyday Saints these tales reveal a common theme - the subtle, sometimes imperceptible movement of Divine Providence at work in the lives of saints and sinners alike. Her writings bring us to what the ancient Celts called “thin places” where the boundaries of heaven and earth meet and the sacred and the secular can no longer be distinguished.

Genres: Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Olesia Nikolaeva is a prolific and award-winning author, poet, and essayist. She has been composing verse since her early youth and was first published at the age of seventeen. Bishop Tikhon (Shevkhunov), author of the 2011 bestseller "Everyday Saints", called her "a trailblazer in Russian Orthodox prose."

Reviews

[Signe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely compilation of memoirs from a Russian author who is a Matushka (wife of an Orthodox Priest) and a poet. Her vignettes mostly take place as Russia is beginning to recover from Communism and Orthodox Christians are more able to practice their faith without persecution.

Many of the stories tell of the sad state of society with food shortages, people are homeless, milling around, and have no money to buy medicine. There are many con artists and thieves constantly seeking money from others. People are extremely ignorant of the faith or have taken up pagan practices inviting in bad spirits. In short, it sounds a lot like what the USA is becoming. Until this week I wouldn't have thought America was the place for food shortages, but now that flu strikes and panic sets in the shelves are empty and stores have had to hire security guards to break up fights between people competing for some item at the grocery store.

There are glimpses of many beautiful moment of grace in this book, however sometimes it was a struggle to get through it, possibly due to translation. Overall, it gives a good sense of the particularly Russian sort of piety and cultural ethos, especially as she visits Corfu and the relics of our beloved St. Spyridon and she contrasts the Greek sort of piety to what she is accustomed to in a much harsher country.

She comments on Russians:

It seems obvious to me that many issues within our national character can be explained by the terrain and climate. For seven months of the year, it's a low leaden sky, which is never even visible in big cities, depressingly bitter cold, unpredictable torrents of rain, poor weather, nightfall, darkness, gloom. And then, we have those endless expanses: fields, meadows, woodlands, steppes. Nothing to rest your eyes on. You shrink internally and curl up, trying to preserve any warmth, exerting yourself until the point of exhaustion, like the children in the painting of the Peredvizhnik painter Perov (one of the Wanderers), dragging their terrible load behind them in the snow. Everything is achieved through heroic effort, labor, and struggle. There comes a point when the Russian soul becomes torn; it aches and is metaphysically fatigued. You just want to sit in a corner, focus on one immovable thought and drink something hot in order to warm up and soften your soul, hardened by trials.

My favorite quote from this book:

There is an answer to every question in holy Scripture, though there may not be an answer to a concrete question: what should I, someone of no particular importance, do right now, at this time? The human free will is boundless, but simultaneously limited by a desire to always follow God's will, which is often incomprehensible.

An abbot of my acquaintance one said: "If you don't know how to act, just say with all your heart: 'Lord, I love You! Glory to You!'

[EC · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book full of short stories of miraculous events in various people's lives. I love it and highly recommend this!

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely stories of life as a Matushka during the waning days of the Soviet State and early post-Soviet state after. Miracles abound.