21 June 2019 года

The procession with the cross arrived to Diveyevo

On June 20, bell ringing greeted the arrival of the procession from the men’s Oranky Theotokos Monastery carrying the revered Vladimirskaya Oranky icon of the Mother of God. The cross-bearing pilgrims covered over 400 kilometers.

The tradition to walk the procession with the cross began in 1771 when the Nizhny Novgorod province was smitten with plague. At the request of Nizhny Novgorod residents and with the blessing of His Eminence Theophan, the miraculous image of the Ever Pure Lady was delivered to the city and carried around its kremlin in a procession. Soon afterwards, the epidemic subsided. In gratitude, the citizens of Nizhny Novgorod vowed to conduct an annual solemn procession with an icon from the Oranky Monastery. They held on to the vow for almost 150 years until 1917. This tradition was restored in 2004.

The Oranky icon was carried inside the Diveyevo’s Trinity Cathedral and Archimandrite Nektary, the Oranky Theotokos Monastery’s abbot, served a prayer service before it.

The cross-bearing pilgrims venerated the relics of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov and walked around the holy Kanavka.