The Nun Barbara (Stashan) from the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Perished” in Astana Passed Away in the Lord

January 16, 2025. Astana. At the age of 96, the nun Barbara (Stashan), a resident of the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Perished,” passed away in the Lord.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan served a memorial litany for the departed at the Iveron-Sergian chapel of the Metropolitan’s residence in Almaty.

The burial service for the newly reposed nun, with the blessing of the Head of the Metropolitan District, was led by the spiritual father of the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Perished,” Hieromonk Modest (Drozdov). The funeral service took place in the Alexander Nevsky Church of the monastery after the Divine Liturgy.

Nun Barbara (in the world — Anna Donatovna Stashan) was born on February 19, 1929, in the village of Kreslavka, Krasnoturansky district, Krasnoyarsk Territory. During the Great Patriotic War, after finishing primary school, she worked on a collective farm and as a nanny in an orphanage. After the war ended, Anna Donatovna moved to Krasnoyarsk, where she began working on the railway, initially as a conductor and later as a train brigade leader.

In 1968–1969, she relocated to Akmola (now Astana) and worked as a courier in the editorial office of the newspaper Kommunizm Nury. In 1984, Anna Donatovna left her job and entered the women’s monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Perished,” where she carried out various obediences in household duties — in the garden and the kitchen.

In 1990, she went to Riga and served under the spiritual guidance of the late confessor of the faith, Archimandrite Cyril (Borodin).

In 1991, Anna Donatovna was tonsured as a novice with the name Barbara, in honor of the Great Martyr Barbara. Three months later, she received monastic tonsure under the same name from Archimandrite Cyril (Borodin).

With his blessing, Nun Barbara returned to the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Perished” in Astana, where she continued to carry out church obediences.

The reposed nun was distinguished by her diligence, responsible attitude toward her duties, modesty, love for prayer and worship, and compassionate treatment of people.