In modern Russia, which has taken the path of spiritual revival, the words of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt are coming true: “Russia will be saved by religious processions.”

More and more Orthodox Christians, putting aside everyday needs and worries, set out on the road, wanting to accomplish at least a small feat for Christ’s sake, enduring the hardships of walking, abandoning the usual comfort and pleasing the flesh.

Alexander Viktorovich Dorodnitsyn, Major General of the All-Great Don Army, Deputy Ataman for work with the church and youth came from Novocherkassk to go together with the Lipetsk religious procession to Zadonsk:

“What is the meaning of religious processions in modern Russia? First of all, in the spiritual unity of the people, in the return of Russia to the Orthodox faith, which has kept it for many centuries from all enemies, both internal and external.

Even during the Soviet godless years, our people retained the Orthodox faith, which the communists were never able to uproot from the hearts of the Russian people. Grandmothers always tried to bring their grandchildren a colored egg, prosphora, Easter cake for Easter - these Orthodox traditions were not interrupted even during the most severe persecution, because the true faith cannot be destroyed either by fire or by sword.

When in the nineties in the new Russia they began to look for an ideological replacement for the party and the Komsomol, no alternative was found, and the Orthodox faith remained the unifying core, as for many centuries.

The Orthodox faith is a genuine Russian idea, capable of uniting our divided people.

I remember that we were with the ataman of the Don Army at the confessor of the Odessa Holy Dormition Monastery, Elder Jonah, who in a conversation noted that only the Orthodox faith and the unity of people in the Church will save Russia.

Today many people complain about economic problems, but their solution also depends on spiritual development.

Just as a flower reaches out to the light, so the human soul reaches out to spiritual light - to Christ, and not to money. In the procession of the cross, even people with little church faith vividly feel the presence of God. This encourages them to make a physically difficult, but spiritually joyful journey another time in order to become stronger in their faith.

Therefore, religious processions are more relevant today than ever - this revived Orthodox tradition of our people is a spiritual need for the whole society. In Russia there has never been, is not and will never be an alternative to the Orthodox faith as a unifying principle and Russian idea. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!” Alexander Viktorovich concluded his speech with the Jesus Prayer, which every cross-walker will read more than one thousand times during the journey, consecrating his native land by invoking the name of God.

The words of the congregational prayer to the Lord, spoken by hundreds of lips in the spiritual impulse of hundreds of hearts, attract the grace of God to the area through which the procession moves. And the banners fluttering in front signify that the Lord Himself is walking with the pilgrims with His Most Pure Mother and the holy saints, about which St. Philaret of Moscow inspiredly wrote two centuries ago: “When you enter the procession of the cross, think that you are walking under the leadership of the saints whose icons are in They walk in it, and you come closer to the Lord Himself, to the extent that it is possible for us to be weak. The earthly shrine signifies and calls upon the Heavenly Shrine... On the paths and crossroads we make prayers in order to cleanse all the paths defiled by our sins. Let us raise sacred icons from churches, wear out honorable crosses, and sometimes, where available, the most sacred relics of saints in order to sanctify both people and everything that they need for life - that is, houses, paths, waters, air and the earth itself, as trampled and defiled by the feet of sinners. All this is so that the inhabited city and the whole country become partakers of divine grace, rejecting from themselves everything destructive and pernicious; We pray that He who became incarnate for us and took on the slavish form of a slave, Whom the divine icons and images represent, will be merciful to us.”

Few people know that prayer processions, like the parishes of new churches, are organized on the initiative of the believers themselves, who express their spiritual desires in a petition to the ruling bishop for permission to hold a religious procession, or to build a temple in their area. This reveals the conciliar life of the Orthodox Church. Many religious processions, out of people's special love for them, become annual. This is how ours became - “Lipetsk-Zadonsky”.

Among the crusaders there are those who walked from Lipetsk to Zadonsk for all fifteen years. The chairman of the Orthodox community of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers remembers the first religious procession on the feast of St. Tikhon Georgy Nikolaevich Bernikov:“The first religious procession to Zadonsk took place in 2001. Then there were about forty of us walking. The path ran along a different route: from the Evdokievsky Church of Lipetsk through Bruslanovka, Butyrki, Tyunino, and further to Zadonsk, where we joined the procession from Voronezh.

That time we walked without traffic police escort, without prior agreement on accommodation and food, without transport to transport things - we carried all our belongings on ourselves, as was always the case in religious processions in Rus'.

Do you feel the fragrance from the Don Icon of the Mother of God, which is walking with us to Zadonsk? - Georgy Nikolaevich interrupted. – The Lady of the Don went with us to religious processions throughout Georgia, along the Don, in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and Montenegro. The icon smelled fragrant during all these processions just as it does now. We also visited Mount Athos, in the Serbian monastery of Hilandar.

We had an amazing meeting there. A monk came up to me, greeted me in Russian and said that he once went with us to a religious procession from Lipetsk to Zadonsk. The Athonite monk turned out to be from Lipetsk! What drove him on this journey was the desire to quit smoking. Entering the Zadonsk monastery, he realized that he wanted to stay here forever. Such grace touched his heart. And indeed, he remained in the monastery as a laborer, soon became a novice, and then by the Providence of God he ended up on Athos. Truly inscrutable are the Ways of the Lord!”

Didn’t miss a single religious procession to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and Spartak Sokolov, baptized Daniil:
“I can’t even imagine life without a religious procession! I know for sure that if I don’t go, I’m lazy, then there will definitely be troubles in life. When the religious procession is underway, everything around is sanctified, and the pilgrims themselves receive help from the Lord Jesus Christ, especially those who are having a difficult time. I have experienced everything in my life. In my youth I sinned a lot: I fought, behaved hooliganly, and used foul language.

How did you come to God? My parents are kind and pious people, but unchurched, so they could not advise me to go to church, and they themselves still rarely go to church. A miracle helped: my sister got married and went to live in Italy, where she had a son who fell ill with hemophilia - Tsarevich Alexei also suffered from this disease.

Once I tearfully prayed for the health of my nephew to Tsar Nicholas the Passion-Bearer in front of his icon, and it flowed abundantly with myrrh. At the same time, all the sockets in the house burned out, the fuses were knocked out, the lights went out, and I realized that my prayer had been heard. Since then, Tsar Nicholas has been guiding me through life. When my sister arrived with her son from Italy to Lipetsk, I baptized him in an Orthodox church. And her husband is a Catholic! And it had to happen that on the night after baptism, a baby who was less than a year old took a cross in his mouth and accidentally cut his tongue. Everyone was terrified - the bleeding did not stop. What to do?

In the morning I gave communion to my nephew in the church, although they tried to dissuade me, and the bleeding stopped immediately! When, upon returning to Italy, he had blood tests done, the doctors could not believe their eyes: you brought another child from Russia! The composition of the blood has changed dramatically. Since then, hemophilia has not even reminded of itself, although this disease, as you know, is considered incurable. Be that as it may, now the boy’s abrasions and cuts are healing quickly, like other children’s.

Emperor Nicholas loves Russia very much. Together with his family, he shared her fate, shared the punishment of the Russian people that followed for apostasy from the faith. Although he could have saved himself by calmly going abroad, he remained with his subjects so that they would strengthen in the faith and become a God-bearing people again. That’s why we go to religious procession to Zadonsk every year.”

Yes, Lipetsk residents go to Zadonsk every year, but there are still few of them: from the half-million Lipetsk there were only two hundred and fifty people, but from neighboring Voronezh, a city with a population of one million, ten times more crusaders come, although their path is much longer than ours .

The first stop on the way was the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The parishioners greeted the pilgrims hospitably in Russian, preparing a hearty meal for the travelers as much as possible according to the rules of the strict Dormition Fast.

But first, according to tradition, a prayer service was performed, after which rector of the temple Archpriest Sergius Kosykh, Having sprinkled the crusaders with holy water to strengthen their strength, he addressed them with a pastoral word: “The Lord calls us to the eternal and heavenly. It is a pity that His holy words do not touch many. Why? Because this is not earthly wisdom, not worldly wisdom, this is not experience acquired by a person, but wisdom given from above, which can only be accepted in the simplicity of the heart.

Gospel words: “I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), found their embodiment in the popular proverb: “Without God you cannot reach the threshold.” What is a “threshold” in this case? This is the beginning of any undertaking, and it is impossible to take on its undertakings without God’s help - not a single action of ours, even an insignificant one, will be successful without God’s blessing, without prayer.

Living exclusively by earthly interests, people move away from God. They are sincerely surprised - why go to church? What is the point of religious processions? The power of earthly cares bends these people to the ground so much that they cannot raise their heads to God and, not understanding Orthodox values, without even trying to understand, they indiscriminately deny the existence of the spiritual world and its immutable laws.

And the Lord calls us to listen to Him. The closest disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He led to Mount Tabor, heard the voice of God the Father addressed to us: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5).

The Lord calls us to Himself, but where we go depends only on ourselves. The Holy Scripture warns us: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap up for themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4).

Now we are just experiencing a time when people prefer to listen to fables - they are accessible and understandable, and most importantly, they do not require changing our comfortable life.

Having strengthened spiritually and physically, the crusaders continued on their way. At the end of the day, many felt very tired. How difficult it is for a modern city dweller to endure the hardships of a religious procession. How tempting the thought seems: wouldn’t it be easier to buy a bus ticket to Zadonsk? An hour's drive and you are at the relics of the Saint. Nevertheless, many choose to overcome their weaknesses with God’s help, to work themselves out for the sake of glorifying the memory of the saint, for the sake of repentance, for the sake of the spiritual joy that the cross-walkers experience when setting out on the journey and entering the holy monastery.

Servant of God George went on a religious procession for the first time in my life:
“I must admit that I also had the idea of ​​coming to the festive service by bus, but I still decided to join the procession. Perhaps the time has come! With age comes an understanding of the importance of participating in this charitable work, which I had never even thought about before.

But when the decision to go was made, what thoughts came into my head! They say, you are sick and old, you should sit at home, it will be calmer - both for you and your family, who from the very beginning did not approve of this idea. Only I stood my ground: I’ll go anyway!

On the first day, the road to the church in Lenino turned out to be very difficult - my heart was racing, my legs were hurting, my joints were aching. But after Father Vladimir sprinkled us with holy water in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Lenino, and the next morning we partook of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, my strength, by God’s grace, returned, and it was much easier for me to walk to Krutiye Khutor. Now I am already sure that I will reach Zadonsk, and this will not be my last religious procession.

The Lord helps: yesterday, after coming to Krutiye Khutor, I drank ice-cold water and my throat became sore - in city life I am often plagued by acute respiratory infections. But after the unction and spending the night near the altar, everything passed as if nothing had happened. Such is the power of God's grace. Thank God for everything!"

Anyone who went to the religious procession will understand George. Schema-Archimandrite Vitaly (Sidorenko) said: “The power of God’s grace today is the same as in apostolic times, the whole point is in ourselves.”

Every pilgrim knows how palpable Divine grace is in the procession of the cross, “always healing the weak and replenishing the impoverished,” he has experienced its effect on himself. How else can one explain that a person with the first group of disabilities - and there were several such people among the pilgrims! - who in city life has difficulty getting to the pharmacy, in a religious procession covers several tens of kilometers, or even all the way to Zadonsk!? “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

Many crusaders walk, not afraid of difficulties, with small children, even one and a half years old, who travel most of the way in strollers.

Servant of God Tatiana, mother of Fyodor and Vyacheslav:
“Fedor, my youngest son, is only one and a half years old, but he is no stranger to pilgrimage: I went to the religious procession with him the year before last, when I was pregnant with him. Don’t look at how small he is – he already has solid crusading experience! – Tatyana smiles. – Is it difficult with a small child on such a long journey? Yes, he doesn’t cause me any problems - rather, he supports and strengthens me. And Vyacheslav, my middle son, helps.

They tried to dissuade me from taking him with me, they said that he was still too small. But I immediately decided that I wouldn’t go without Fedor - there was some kind of internal call. And I also had a sad experience: one day I decided to leave my eldest at home, and he, exactly on the day of remembrance of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, August 26, broke his arm. You can't live without children! What about difficulties? What difficulties? The Lord will guide and help! My Fedya will not miss a single icon - he always tries to venerate each one, knows how to make the sign of the cross, and soon, I hope, he will master the first prayers. Thank God for everything! True, it happens that he eats poorly, but this is a fixable matter. We go with God's help, the Lord gives grace. I am sure that the religious procession is a family affair, the whole family must go, receive grace from childhood, and join in the holy cause.”

And if Tatyana was unable to gather the whole family, since her husband and eldest son could not take time off from work, then the Lipetsk Kharin family is going in full force - five of them.

Roman Nikolaevich Kharin, wife Ksenia, Elena, Ilya and Lazar Kharin:“We are going for the first time with this lineup, with three children. We started going to church several years ago. Everyday problems and sorrows brought us to the Church. Every person probably faces a difficult life situation when they wonder where to get help and support? Who to rely on? And happy are those people who turn to God in such situations - they receive consolation and grace from Him.

So, fortunately, when I got into trouble in life, the idea was born that I needed to visit the temple. I remember well the day when I first arrived at the Zadonsky Monastery and entered the Vladimir Cathedral. Until that moment, I was left with no doubts; I was overcome by an internal murmur: why was I even going there? How can they help me there? And who needs me there? And even the close road seemed very long and boring.

But, having crossed the threshold of the temple, I was simply captivated by its blissful atmosphere. I felt like I was immersed in the prayerful singing of a church choir. After that I became a different person. My wife began to join the church with me: on the advice of the priest, we immediately got married, and now we go to religious processions with the whole family. It can be difficult, of course, sometimes children get tired and start to be capricious, but faith and prayer solve all problems. Through the prayers of Tikhon of Zadonsk we go, we rejoice and do not bother!”

Priest Sergius Buryakov, rector of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the village of Bolshaya Polyana, Terbunsky district, I went to the religious procession for the first time while still a seminarian at the Voronezh Theological Seminary. He does not change this tradition today. Among the pilgrims he is affectionately called our crusading priest.

“It’s not surprising that people take such kids with them, no. – says Father Sergius. – People walk with faith, with prayer, and the Lord helps. It often happens that during a religious procession, by the grace of God, people’s illnesses recede, and these four days of travel only add strength and health to them. During the congregational prayer, each of the cross-walkers is immersed in the grace of God. To understand this, you need to go through a religious procession yourself at least once.

Notice how joyful the faces of the crusaders are! And this despite fatigue, calluses and sore joints. The religious procession is the threshold of heaven on earth. Participation in it gives you the strength to fight your passions, that’s why I go myself and advise others.”

The next stop of the procession was Church of the Annunciation in Krutiye Khutory, where the crusaders received a traditionally warm welcome. The parishioners of the temple, led by rector Archpriest Mikhail Chepelev They went out to meet the pilgrims several kilometers from the village.

After the water-blessing prayer, Father Michael performed the Sacrament of Unction for the pilgrims. Considering that many of them, after twenty-five kilometers of a day's journey, were not able to stand for long, the priest gave his blessing to put benches in the courtyard of the temple.

After the unction, the clergyman began a lively conversation with the congregation, which lasted almost until midnight.

“People are divided into two categories,” the priest noted. – Some want to succeed spiritually, while others want to succeed financially. They go to the religious procession for the sake of Christ, for the sake of their salvation. The procession of the cross is a living sermon, a living repentance. Just don’t think that it’s your merit that you are going with the procession and have already reached Krutiye Khutor. The Lord said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” (John 14:17). Therefore, you must thank God that He has granted you such mercy and in no case think that since we have accomplished such a feat, we can now teach everyone how to be saved. Salvation must begin with oneself. Until those around us see the light of Christ in us, they will not listen to us. And when people see in you the good fruits of the faith of Christ, they will want to be like you, Orthodox not only in word, but also in deed.

Remember that Orthodox Christians should not chase after external signs of distinction, because God looks at the quality of your soul - how much goodness, humility, meekness you have.

I am glad that the number of pilgrims in the religious procession is increasing. This is the first year that our church does not have enough room for everyone to spend the night, but before they did. God bless! The Russian people are taking the path of repentance, otherwise the famous prophecy of Anthony the Great is beginning to be fulfilled before our eyes: “There will be a time when they will say: you are mad because you do not want to take part in our common madness. But we will make you be like everyone else” (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3,4).

With any action a person approaches either God or the enemy the devil - he cannot be in the middle. And today's life is such that many people have broken the resistance of reason, shame and conscience, animal instincts have been awakened, leading to personality degradation, the destruction of the family foundations of fatherhood, motherhood, and the responsibility of parents for saving the souls of their children. The high concept of culture is being eroded, which is becoming more and more immoral: not only corruption penetrates into it - mass culture is trying to flirt with evil spirits, chanting the “rights” of the rich and powerful, calling for enrichment at any cost. This spiritual damage quietly penetrates children's heads through computer games and modern cartoons, in which sin is proclaimed not only as the norm, but as the goal of life to which one should strive. And if the public tries to resist this, they hear in response: “Do not violate our rights!”

It’s good that the government of our state is aware of the danger of this pernicious trend,” Father Mikhail continued. – Did you hear the speech of our first person at the Valdai Club? So here it is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin explained very clearly why he is so hostile to the so-called values ​​of Western civilization. I will quote our President: “We see how many Euro-Atlantic countries have actually taken the path of abandoning their roots, including Christian values, which form the basis of Western civilization. Moral principles and any traditional identity - national, cultural, religious or even legal - are denied. A policy is being pursued that puts large families and same-sex partnerships, faith in God and faith in Satan on the same level.” So, my dears, we are not in conflict with America and Obama - there is a war between God and the devil. And if through our actions we do not become closer to God, then we inevitably draw closer to the enemy of the human race.

There is also such a terrible state as spiritual delusion. For example, a person begins to be proud of himself: I was in a religious procession, and took communion, and bathed in holy springs, went to Diveevo, I have candles from Jerusalem at home, and he calms his conscience - I am good, I already have a direct road to the Kingdom of Heaven ! But we must understand that all external exploits are not an end in themselves, but a means to acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is impossible without humility. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” says Scripture (1 Pet. 5:5).

We must strive, brothers and sisters, so that our Christian piety is not ostentatious. After all, the Lord says: “Give Me, son, your heart” (Proverbs 23:26). What matters to God is not our external deeds, but what kind of heart they are done with – a humble one or a proud one; We acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit by our deeds, or, being proud of them, we lost it.

Brothers and sisters, you have taken upon yourself a great feat by deciding to go through the religious procession; try to do it with humility, so that this work becomes for you an act of repentance, and not a reason for vanity.

God grant that Lipetsk wakes up spiritually, comes to its senses and begins to live with other goals, so that there are more crusaders in it,” the priest wished at the end of the conversation.

In the morning August 23 Father Mikhail and the parishioners escorted the crusaders to the worship cross on the Lipetsk-Voronezh highway and invited those wishing to take part in the parish procession September 27, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.

At the worship cross at the turn to the village of Vasilyevka I joined the procession the rector of the Nativity of the Theotokos Church of the village, Priest Mikhail Novoseltsev.“The religious procession is a special repentant prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ,” noted Father Mikhail. – Processions of the cross have been known since the times of the Old Testament, when Jews walked around the walls of Jericho seven times with the Ark of the Covenant, which fell from the voice of the sacred trumpets and the prayerful singing of the Jewish people.

In Byzantium, starting from the 4th century, penitential religious processions began to be held during natural disasters: earthquakes, floods and droughts, in which people saw God’s punishment for their sins.

But the Russian people especially loved religious processions. I am glad that in modern Russia this pious tradition is being revived on a large scale. For example, in the Velikoretsk procession in honor of the appearance of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, almost one hundred thousand people walked this year.

It is known that many people who took part in the procession, by the grace of God, solved a variety of life problems, but the main thing is not even this, that the person gains spiritual strength to fight sin.

People walk with faith: they pray for mercy for themselves, their country, and their loved ones. And the Lord responds, because a person in a religious procession carries out, albeit a small, feat. And every cross-walker feels that the Lord is getting closer to him. From the consciousness of this, a person becomes more diligent in prayer and good deeds.

Glory to God that He called and united us! After all, without God’s help a person cannot do anything good and soul-saving: “Without Me you can do nothing,” says the Scripture (John 15:5).”

I agree with Father Mikhail cardiac surgeon from Voronezh Nikolai Aleshin.“I’ve been going to religious processions for probably ten years. I am a native Lipetsk resident and on the feast of St. Tikhon I go with the Lipetsk religious procession together with my friends, with whom I once served as an altar boy at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral.

The religious procession provides a rare opportunity in these times to turn to your soul and become closer to God. For me, an operating cardiac surgeon, this is especially important, since I specialize in thrombectomy operations - the removal of blood clots, complex operations, the success of which is largely in the hands of God. I don’t take up a scalpel without prayer!

Processions of the cross greatly strengthen me not only as a believer, but also as a surgeon. After them I feel an influx of strength, everything is going well, the operations go without complications.

I also noticed that believers are much less likely to end up on the operating table, and if they do, their postoperative period proceeds more smoothly. After all, every physical disease has its own spiritual background! And this is not fiction at all, and not pretentious words - I can confirm with concrete examples that this is exactly what happens. Therefore, I am not surprised that after the religious procession many people with serious health problems feel much better. “What is impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18:27).”

Servant of God Nadezhda, novice of the Mother of God-Tikhonovsky (Tyunin) Monastery confirms the words of the doctor: “Over the past seven years, I have not missed a single religious procession. But God alone knows how many health problems I have. When I worked in production, I received a strong electric shock and am now on disability. For a long time I could not decide to go to the religious procession - it seemed to me that I would not be able to cope with this path. But one day she finally got ready and, through the prayers of St. Tikhon, reached Zadonsk itself.

Amazing thing! The number of years increases, but strength only increases - the Lord supports the weak. Now I am a novice at the Tyunin Monastery and am doing hard physical work - landscaping the monastery. One day I thought: why did the Lord save me, why did he give me a second life and strength to go to the religious procession? And I came to the conclusion that it was for repentance.”

In the evening August 23 The religious procession came to the village of Arkhangelskie Borki, where it had not been for two years. In the village, the crusaders were met by parishioners Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, headed by its rector, Archpriest Igor Mosolov:“Brothers and sisters, with your prayer you sanctify our land,” Father Igor addressed the pilgrims. “We are all very glad that the religious procession, after a two-year break, came again to our village, to our church. This is a big holiday for us! The procession of the cross is especially important to us because of its grace-filled power of congregational prayer - our village is small, poor; The temple is large, but there are not so many believers who regularly visit it. Let us thank the Lord for bringing the religious procession to our village again and giving you the strength to accomplish this good deed.”

And the crusaders, in turn, rejoiced at how noticeably the local temple had improved over these two years.

Son of the rector of the temple Ilya Mosolov, student at the Medical Academy, shared his plans: “From an early age I was raised in the Orthodox faith, and I, naturally, was going to enter the seminary. But after graduating from school, inspired by the life of St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol, in the world professor of medicine Valentin Feliksovich Voino-Yasenetsky, he decided to enter the medical academy.

In practice, at the Lipetsk Regional Clinical Hospital, I chose to specialize in purulent surgery - a branch of medicine in which Professor Voino-Yasenetsky became famous for his works. After graduating from the medical academy, I plan to work as a surgeon, and then, if the Lord wills, I will enter a theological seminary.”

In Arkhangelskiye Borki, a large group of pilgrims joined the religious procession, so many did not have enough room to sleep in the temple, and they spent the night on the grass near the temple, laying tourist rugs on it.

From Arkhangelskie Borok to Zadonsk, the pilgrims had to walk at a fast pace, almost without stopping, so as not to be late to meet the religious processions from Voronezh and Yelets.

A festive atmosphere reigned in Zadonsk itself. The Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery greeted pilgrims with the joyful ringing of bells - just as in the middle of the 19th century. As we approached the monastery, pictures of the national celebration came to life from the memoirs of priest Alexander Kremenetsky about the procession with the relics of St. Tikhon on August 13, 1861 in honor of the glorification of the saint of God as a saint: “The procession stopped for the service of lithium on all four sides of the monastery. It stretched for at least a mile and presented a stunning sight! All the monastery buildings and the fence around the monastery, the high four-tiered monastery bell tower - everything was filled, humiliated with people, in the monastery garden people were hanging on the trees, holding on to the branches, in the city the tiled roofs of many houses were dismantled and strewn with people.

The path along which the holy relics were carried was covered with piles of donated items, which made even the religious procession difficult. Victims fell like rain: they threw money, pieces of linen, towels, scarves, Yelets lace under the saint’s shrine; they took off and threw away their belts, vests, caps, hats, etc. One peasant, having nothing, took off his caftan and threw it on the road along which the saint of God was following.”

It is known that after the religious procession, only 50 thousand arshins of canvas were collected, and about 600 rubles of money. By order of Metropolitan Isidore, who presided over the celebrations, the donated items were distributed to the poor. “Let St. Tikhon dress the poor with them,” answered the Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg when asked what to do with the collected things.”

According to official statistics, three hundred thousand people gathered in Zadonsk that day, and there were more than five thousand carriages, not counting peasant carts.

More than 150 years have passed since then, but the flow of pilgrims to St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, a mourner for the common people, who was canonized as a saint in the year of the abolition of serfdom, does not stop.

24 August In 2016, the procession of the cross went around the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery and entered the monastery through the northern gate. On the porch of the Vladimir Cathedral, the crusaders from Voronezh, Lipetsk and Yelets were met by the holy archimandrite of the monastery, His Eminence Metropolitan Nikon of Lipetsk and Zadonsk. Here, in the open air, icons were installed and a solemn prayer service was performed for the bishops of Voronezh, the miracle workers of all Russia - Saints Mitrofan, Tikhon and Anthony.

After the prayer service, the pilgrims were cordially fed a monastic meal and accommodated in hotels and churches of the monastery.

...Ahead of the pilgrims awaited the joy of the festive divine service on the day of remembrance of St. Tikhon, Bishop of Voronezh, Zadonsk Wonderworker - that spiritual jubilation for which they, leaving earthly cares, labored for four blessed days in the labors and prayer of Jesus, covering more than eighty kilometers on foot, but most importantly , overcoming human weakness with the power of God.

At the beginning of July, the largest Orthodox religious procession began not only for Ukraine, but for the entire Russian Orthodox Church. All-Ukrainian religious procession, which will take place in the dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In the east of the country it began from the Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra. In the west - from the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra - it will begin on July 9. On July 27, on the eve of the celebration of the day of the Baptism of Kievan Rus and the memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, these religious processions will meet in Kiev on Vladimirskaya Hill and together will go to the Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

The purpose of the All-Ukrainian Cross Procession, held with the blessing of Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and all Ukraine, is a prayer for peace, for unity and mutual understanding in Ukraine: the procession is designed to unite Orthodox Christians in all regions.

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• Ten results of the All-Ukrainian Religious Procession 2016- Vyacheslav Pikhovshek

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A procession of the cross is an Orthodox rite carried out in the form of a reverent procession of believers with icons, crosses, banners and other Christian shrines, organized with the purpose of glorifying God, asking Him for mercy and gracious support.

"Procession to Flora and Laurus." Artist Alexander Makovsky. 1921

The religious procession can be carried out either along a closed route, for example, around a field, village, city, temple, or along a special one, where the starting and final destinations are different.

The religious procession is deeply symbolic.

The practice of performing religious processions has ancient origins. Processions of the cross arose in the 4th century in Byzantium. Saint John Chrysostom organized night processions through the streets of Constantinople against the Arians. For this purpose, silver crosses were made on poles, which were solemnly carried around the city along with the holy icons. People walked with lit candles.

Later, in the fight against the heresy of Nestorius, special religious processions were organized by St. Cyril of Alexandria, seeing the emperor’s hesitation. Later, in Constantinople, to get rid of mass diseases, the Life-Giving Tree of the Honest Cross was taken out of the churches and carried along the streets of the city.

The immediate reason for organizing propitiatory processions could be emergency circumstances, for example, natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, droughts, crop failures), epidemics, or the threat of enemy seizure of territory. Such processions were accompanied by general prayers containing requests to God to protect the land and the inhabitants living on it from harm. In the event of a city siege, the route could run along the city walls or along the walls.

During the spread of heresies, special religious processions were held, motivated by the desire to protect the Orthodox faith from desecration, and the believers themselves from mistakes and delusions.

Over time, the practice of performing solemn religious processions took root in the Church. Such moves were carried out on some holidays, during the consecration of churches, the transfer of the relics of holy saints, and miraculous icons.

One of the most ancient, Old Testament prototypes of the Processions of the Cross is the seven-day circumambulation of the walls of Jericho by the people of Israel (Josh. 6:1-4), the solemn transfer of the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abeddar to the city of David (2 Sam. 6:12).

An integral sign of any religious procession are banners. During the journey of the children of Israel to the Promised Land, all 12 tribes made their journey following their signs, or banners, and every banner was carried in front of the tabernacle, and all their tribes followed it. Just as in Israel every tribe had its own banners, so in our church every church parish has its own banners. Just as all the tribes of Israel traveled following their banners, so with us every parish during the procession follows their banners.

Instead of the trumpet sounding of that time, we now have a church gospel, which makes all the air around and all the people sanctified, and all the demonic power is driven away.

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Religious processions in Russia

We offer you a little information about some famous religious processions in the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. In reality, of course, there are more of them; religious processions are held annually in almost every diocese.

The St. George Procession to the places of military glory and heroic defense of Leningrad takes place in St. Petersburg every year. The tradition began in 2005, the year of the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. War veterans, representatives of search teams, the youth organization "Vityazi", scouts, cadets of military universities, and parishioners of St. Petersburg churches gather at the battlefields and burial sites to remember the fallen defenders of Leningrad.

Organizer: Archpriest Vyacheslav Kharinov, rector of the St. Petersburg Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” on Shpalernaya.

Route: From Nevsky Piglet (St. Petersburg) through Sinyavinsky Heights to the Assumption Church in the village of Lezier-Sologubovka, next to which is the Peace Park.

One of the largest annual religious processions in Russia. Passes with the revered Velikoretsk miraculous icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The religious procession has been known since the beginning of the 15th century. Initially it was performed along the Vyatka and Velikaya rivers on boats and rafts on the first Sunday after the feast of the transfer of the holy relics of St. Nicholas to Bar-grad (May 22). Since 1668, with the blessing of Bishop Alexander of Vyatka, a new date for the celebration was established - June 24/6. Later, in 1778, a new route was developed - an overland route, which is still in use today. During the 5-day journey, pilgrims cover 150 km.

Organizer: Vyatka diocese.

Route: Starts on June 3 from the St. Seraphim Cathedral in Kirov, passes through the village of Makarie, the villages of Bobino, Zagarye, Monastyrskoye, Gorokhovo. The final destination is the village of Velikoretskoye, where prayer services are held in churches and on the banks of the Velikaya River.

The pilgrims return back through the village of Medyany and the village of Murygino and arrive in Kirov on June 8.

The procession takes place in memory of the murdered royal family every July. Participants in the procession walk from the Church on the Blood to the Monastery of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers on Ganina Yama. They follow the roads along which the bodies of the murdered Romanovs were transported in 1918. In 2015, the procession attracted about 60 thousand pilgrims.

Organizer: Ekaterinburg diocese.

The religious procession takes place with the “Kaluga” Icon of the Mother of God, as part of the celebration of the anniversary of the repose of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and the day of remembrance of Blessed Lawrence.

Organizer: Kaluga Missionary Department of the Kaluga Diocese.

Route: From the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kaluga through more than 30 settlements of the Kaluga, Kozelsk, and Pesochensk dioceses with a return to Kaluga

Procession with the Tabyn Icon of the Mother of God

In Bashkiria, since 1992, the Bashkortostan Metropolis has been hosting the annual Tabyn religious procession - a procession with the Tabyn Icon of the Mother of God.

Organizer: Ufa and Salavat diocese

Route: passes through the regions of the Salavat and Ufa dioceses of the Bashkortostan Metropolis to the place of the apparition on the river. Usolke near the salty springs village. Resort in the Gafuri region, where a miraculous image was found more than 450 years ago.

Dates and duration: Several religious processions can begin from different settlements on different days, while the end of the processions, merging into one procession, is timed to coincide with the ninth Friday of Easter - the day of celebration of the Tabyn Icon of the Mother of God.

The Trinity Cross passes around Ufa: pilgrims walk more than 120 km and pray for the health and salvation of all residents of the city of Ufa.

Organizer: Ufa Diocese

Route: Starts from St. Sergius Cathedral in Ufa and runs along the outskirts of Ufa.

Dates and duration: begins annually on the day of the Holy Trinity and lasts 5 days.

Procession with the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign"

The Kursk Icon of the Sign of the Mother of God is one of the oldest icons of the Russian Church, found in the 13th century, during the Tatar invasion. On the days of the movement, the icon is transferred from Kursk to the Korennaya Hermitage and back in a solemn religious procession, which stretches the entire way from the Znamensky Monastery in Kursk to the Korennaya Hermitage - 27 versts.

Organizer: Kursk diocese.

Route: Znamensky Monastery - Kursk Root Nativity-Virgin Hermitage.

Dates and duration: 9th Friday of Easter every year.

Procession with the icon of the Mother of God "Deliverer from Troubles" in Tashlu

The religious procession with the Tashlin Icon of the Mother of God, organized by the Cossacks of the Krasnoglinskaya village of the Samara District Cossack Society, began in 2014 and passed through the territory of the Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Penza and Ulyanovsk regions.

The Tashlin Icon of the Mother of God “Deliverer from Troubles” - a miraculous icon revered in the Volga region, the main shrine of the Samara diocese - was found on October 21, 1917 near the village of Tashla, Samara province.

Organizer: Samara diocese.

Route: Samara - Tashla village, about 71 km.

Dates and duration: beginning on the first day of Peter's Lent, duration 3 days.

Procession of the Cross in memory of all new martyrs and confessors of Russia

The religious procession has been held annually since 2000. It is dedicated to the memory of all the new martyrs and confessors of Russia, including the martyrs of Vavilov Dol: the inhabitants of a cave monastery killed during the years of Soviet power, which was once located in a picturesque forest area of ​​the Volga region.

The total length of the religious procession is 500 kilometers.

Organizer: Saratov diocese.

Route: Saratov - Vavilov Dol

The Volga Cross Procession began its history in 1999. Then, on the eve of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus', on June 20, a religious procession began from the source of the Volga along the waters of three great Slavic rivers: the Volga, the Dnieper, and the Western Dvina. In 2000, the pre-revolutionary tradition of consecrating the source of the Volga River and the beginning of the Volga religious procession were combined into one holiday from that time on. In 2016, the XVIII Volga religious procession will take place as part of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the presence of Russian monasticism on Holy Mount Athos.

Organizer: Tver diocese.

Route: Olga Monastery in the Volgoverkhovye - Ascension Cathedral in the city of Kalyazin.

Route: Borisoglebsky Monastery – Trinity-on-bor – Selishche – Shipino – Kishkino – Komarovo – Pavlovo – Ilinskoye – Red October – Yazykovo – Aleshkino – Kuchery – Ivanovskoye – Titovo – Zvyagino – Emelyaninovo – Georgievskoye – Nikulskoye – Gorki – Zubarevo – Davydovo – Novoselka – Kondakovo – well of St. Irinarch

Dates and duration: Held annually on the 3rd - 4th week of July. The dates are approved by Bishop Kirill of Yaroslavl and Rostov approximately a month before it begins.

Today the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation will host a round table “Crusading as a form of social consolidation and spiritual mobilization.” About multi-day religious processions, everyday life, life and miracles of the crusaders - a conversation with Andrei Bardizh, the organizer and leader of walking religious processions, including one of the longest in the history of Russia, the participants of which in 2015 walked 2000 km along the route Sevastopol-Kerch- Smolensk

Christianity must be suffered - here and now

- Andrey, tell me, why do people go to the religious procession? What task do you set for yourself?

One of the tasks of the multi-day religious procession is to form a community. On routes less than 1,000 kilometers long, the community, as a rule, does not have time to develop. If you need to travel 1500-2000 kilometers, everyone gets very tired, and such projects are not always justified. This is a very important and interesting process when complete strangers of different ages, coming from different regions and dioceses, representing different classes and professions, begin to get used to each other - and to get used to Christ. They learn to pray with each other, help each other, share the last, lend a shoulder, literally “bear each other’s burdens.” This is what pastoral sermons and good books call us to do. In practice, unfortunately, this does not happen so often, but in a religious procession this happens every day, every minute. And since everything is done to the limit of strength, it is immediately clear who is who in reality.

If a person goes with prayer, works in the sweat of his brow, rubs his feet until they bleed, gives God his strength and time, unselfishly, voluntarily sacrificing what he has, this is comparable to the feat of wearing chains, to being a pillar warrior. As one bishop said in his sermon, for participating in such a procession, for enduring voluntary suffering and sorrow for the glory of God, God forgives many sins.

Of course, any participation is good, but, you see, there is a difference: making a bow from the waist or making a hundred earthly tears of repentance. Everyone participated in this matter in a variety of ways - with their time, feet, prayer, money, pies, someone gave them an overnight stay with a bathhouse... The Lord values ​​not what comes easily to us, but our efforts. It is for them, for prayerful work in patience and humility, that God gives every person the right to beg something from Him. The more effort made, the more tangible the result.

- Sometimes processions of the cross are called comfortable bus rides and excursions...

I think that it is not entirely correct to call such events processions of the cross. In general, over the 15 years of the existence of religious processions in Russia, different traditions have formed in different places, in different dioceses, not always, in my opinion, correct. It is difficult to transplant the same tradition to another soil. She doesn't get used to it. It's one thing to walk for a few days, but quite another to go for a few weeks or months. This is the same as inviting a person who has recently learned to ride a bicycle in the yard to participate in the Paris-Dakar rally. There is a completely different scale here, different tensions, different efforts are required from a person. There is a difference: to come and live in a monastery for a few hours or to work hard in it for a month, two, three.

But most people have families, work, and they have neither the time nor the energy to participate in a long and large-scale religious procession.

Agree. As a rule, people really don’t have time for such multi-day projects, but they can go on one-day religious processions (for example, in Yekaterinburg). And other people can go on five-day ones, such as the Velikoretsky or Irinarkhovsky religious procession. Tens of thousands of people take part in them, but the return is different.

- Are there many young people in religious processions?

As a rule, the main participants are not young people. Today's youth are unable to do this. The young people have no need, no conscious need, no understanding of the purpose and meaning of the religious procession. It’s no wonder that our participants are often over 50, 60 and even 70 years old. They have seen life, they know the value of words and deeds. Some of them looked death in the eye. But again and again they choose the religious procession as the most significant thing in their lives. To understand, you have to try and experience it yourself - suffer. Here, unnecessary pathos and empty talk pass quickly, a real assessment of yourself, your life and, perhaps, a new, correct goal appears. Christianity must be suffered, not through the efforts of previous generations, but here and now - for each of us. Conversations and photographs alone will not do.

With a prayer for peace

- Please tell us how the route is created.

Any religious procession must have a relevant theme, a logical beginning and end, fit into a reasonable time frame, go through new populated areas and, if possible, away from federal highways. There's a lot to consider. When we plan a route with God’s help, we never know whether we will make it to the end, whether we will overcome all the difficulties that will be along the way, all the adversities, bad weather. For example, in 2004 it rained all summer, and 2010, as you remember, was very hot. Sometimes the whole route doesn’t work out right away. So in 2015, it didn’t work out for a long time; even Sevastopol and Smolensk did not appear right away. There was an idea to walk with a prayer for peace along the border with Ukraine, but when, how and where to go was the question.

By the way, we talked with Metropolitan Isidore of Smolensk about the fact that it was no accident that the delegation of the Smolensk Metropolis had been in Crimea a year earlier on the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, because we have an icon of the Intercession! I think it is God’s Providence to go through the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War along the border with Ukraine from Sevastopol to Smolensk, where in the cathedral there is the Hodegetria icon of the Mother of God, which has been a guide for our Orthodox people for many centuries.

Walking in a religious procession, a person changes

- Did experienced crusaders participate in the Sevastopol-Smolensk procession?

Most of the participants were newcomers from Crimea. In my opinion, there are no such large religious processions in Crimea. There are short distances - a religious procession can go on for a day, two, a week, rarely more. During this time, a person does not have time to really get tired, or get sick, or even get properly hungry. We walked not for three days, but for more than three months. Here we need a different approach, a different margin of safety. We have strict discipline, although not army discipline.

Several military men, who have their own idea of ​​discipline and order, also took part in this religious procession. Although these are Russian Orthodox people, at first it was very difficult with them. Fortunately, we parted as friends. Here people really change for the better. This is repentance.

According to established tradition, at the end of the religious procession, I leave a notepad on the table and ask those who want to take part in the next project to leave their phone number and address. And almost everyone wrote: our military, and the grandmothers who walked with us. I kicked one of them, an old friend, out of the religious procession twice for disobedience. For her it was a real tragedy. But she was able to find the strength to ask for forgiveness, repent and return. And we remained friends. I think that all these 65-70-year-old grandmothers (like, for example, Schema-nun Seraphim) will go to the religious procession again.

- How and for what purpose do people get involved in your projects?

We are extremely naked, we come as we are, and it turns out that we don’t need anything from God

Most people come through word of mouth, although sometimes through websites, social networks, and mail. They come to us again and again in search of the truth, which they often lack - a simple truth that they understand. It seems to me that people love the religious procession because of its sincerity. In modern life there is too much prudence, deceit, lies, betrayal, cowardice, empty talk, profit. But there is no basis for this here. Here we receive communication with like-minded people and, most importantly, we dare to turn to God. We are extremely naked, we come as we are, and it turns out that we don’t need anything from God, by and large.

How is this not necessary?! Read prayers - in them we usually ask for health, work, housing, some kind of well-being for our grandchildren, children...

In the religious procession it turns out that there are more important things; here a person manifests himself in the most unexpected way. You seemed so right and good to yourself, well, just very Orthodox, rarely - a little bad in something. And suddenly, when you, concentrating on your work, walk and pray in constant tension, overcome the difficulties of continuous daily walking, regardless of the weather and your health, you suddenly turn towards your neighbors, friends and yourself with some new, not always good, facets. You have to change, learn to be better - without this you can’t survive here, you can’t get along with others, you can’t get through. Through repentance with God's help, we change.

- You said that 20 people walked the entire path from Sevastopol to Smolensk, and how long did the rest of the people walk with you?

Thousands of people participated in the religious procession in fragments, that is, they walked with us for an hour, two, three, sometimes a day or two. There were cases when people came for a day, plunged into it, saw the beneficial effects of the procession and returned again after a while. The religious procession ended on the day of the celebration of the Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God. And I received a lot of congratulations on my phone and email from those people who somehow took part in the procession. They wrote, for example: “Thank God, you got there! We watch the Soyuz channel, read Orthodox newspapers, and root for you. We were sure that you would get there. Thank God it happened." They asked about what would happen next. We discussed possible options for the development of events with representatives of the Smolensk diocese. Having plunged into this project, they unexpectedly, it seems to me, saw in it what they themselves needed, what the Orthodox residents of Smolensk, Roslavl, and those smaller settlements that were on our way needed. None of them remained indifferent. This touched everyone in the best possible way - it connected them with each other and with God.

- Do you remember any striking incidents?

In this procession there were two people, not newcomers, participants in our previous projects. One lives permanently in the Urals, the second in Moscow. At first they walked for two weeks in Crimea, then, out of necessity, they went home, and when they returned, they both said: “We returned for another religious procession.” The same one, with the same people, but different, changed, become a little better. This is a very serious, important moment.

Here the Lord controls, clearly showing that He is always near

- What makes the same people take part in religious processions?

The road actually goes - into itself

The search for God and His truth. The person who entered this story often cannot get out of it, since there is nothing like it anywhere. This is already some kind of different existence, I would venture to say - more correct. Various people, priests from Moscow and other large cities have said more than once or twice that they live in urban conditions, where there is noise, passions, urban problems, dynamics, running, bustle. And they strive to escape to the religious procession at least for a day or two, for a week, to live, to breathe a different air, a different spirit. Here the road actually goes - into itself. But at the same time this movement takes place collectively, together. It can be very difficult here - to the point of tears, to the point of fainting, and you - amazing! - I'm glad about this. Because it is done for the sake of Christ, nothing else.

We go with the Jesus Prayer, which works miracles with people. The Lord helps those who sincerely ask God. He is always there. On church holidays we often come to the very church where there is a chapel or a revered image. For example, without special planning, we came to the Trinity Church in the city of Azov for Trinity. We “accidentally” celebrated the feast of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in the church dedicated to him in the village of Kletnya in the Bryansk region. Here the Lord controls, clearly showing that He is always nearby, that He is with us.

That is why a real religious procession on foot is a huge, colossal force, as if the Victory Banner was carried. These are not words we made up, but a remark from a representative of the administration, a low-church person from the outside. It had such an effect on him, he felt it, saw it. I think he saw correctly.

- Does it happen that crusaders become despondent?

Once, during another religious procession in one of the Ural dioceses, we were unsuccessfully accommodated for three nights. Despite preliminary agreements, it turned out that there was no place to sleep, wash, treat, or feed more than a hundred people. The first thought was to go to the next settlement, where everything would be more or less fine. But this could offend those few parishioners who were waiting for us here. We approached the city, standing and talking. There is nowhere to stay. Suddenly a car stops, a man comes out and says: “I built a house with no one in it. I was planning to move this week. A completely new house with extensions, a kitchen, a bathhouse. Live!” And we stayed there for two days. It was such an unexpected holiday with refreshments from the hospitable hosts! We don’t eat meat during the religious procession, but we were happy to have kebabs and sturgeon barbecue. For the owner of the house it was also a holiday, a kind of consecration of the home, of course. We once again felt the obvious presence of God. When any problems arise, He immediately helps.

Procession as a sermon

- Did the Crusaders feel physical fatigue after walking 2000 kilometers?

Certainly. But then they understand: this is the price of their true churching on the path to God. In the procession, everyone receives not only what they ask for, but even more. People come with their aspirations, problems, requests. Some of them share them. But joint prayer to God for the world and for the Church brings us together very well. The prayer “Lord, have mercy” is a prayer for Russia, and for Ukraine, and for our entire church-Christian people, and not only Christian ones.

During the procession of the cross from Sevastopol to Smolensk, we could not pass the Armenian village. And in one of the previous religious processions, they took place in an area densely populated by Tatars, where there are no Orthodox churches. But we were able to build normal friendly relations with the Tatar and Armenian communities. The Armenian Church's idea of ​​Christianity is, in our opinion, incorrect. But these were our fellow citizens, our compatriots, good, kind people who, waiting for us, prepared food, heated baths, and brought water from wells to give us something to drink. It was humanly sincere and great. I hope that through this event they will begin to have a different attitude towards Orthodoxy.

- What kind of difficulties do you have?

Different. Everyday physical activity, lack of usual comfort and mutual understanding, unpredictable events (for example, bad weather). In the religious procession there are proud people, quite radical people. This is an open space for discussion, but also a hospital, a correctional colony, if you like. Any Orthodox person can receive a blessing and participate in the procession of the cross, following the basic minimum rules: go with the Jesus Prayer, don’t drink, don’t smoke... On the other hand, this entails certain difficulties, because everyone has their own ideas, beliefs, preferences in little things, their own twists in worldview. We walk 8-10 hours a day, sometimes more. But for communication there are breaks, evenings, there is rest on Saturday and Sunday. Often there are some discussions on political, economic, but above all, of course, on spiritual topics. It is good when a person does not insist on his delusions, but strives for the truth. It is very important to have intelligent shepherds to communicate with both the participants in the procession and the local population. Need good books to give away. We often spend the night in schools, especially in those places where there is no church. Teachers, parents, and high school students come to us with questions. If there are radical people among us, the outcome of these conversations is not always good. But for some reason God gives everyone the opportunity for improvement and salvation? We all exchange experiences and some knowledge.

- Have there been cases when people left the religious procession?

It’s one thing when you preach on the Internet, lying on the couch, and quite another thing when you preach in a religious procession. This requires special responsibility!

Yes, there were two or three cases when I had to say goodbye to those people who were distinguished by unchurch views, rudeness, and inappropriate radicalism. Unfortunately, no one is immune from mistakes, misunderstandings, and misconceptions. At home, we can proudly chat about various topics on the Internet while lying on the couch. We have a free country. But when you start preaching on behalf of the procession, on behalf of the Church, it is much more serious, and you must try to be a responsible person, because many residents perceive information from the cross-walkers as the truth. And although the religious procession helps to eradicate stupidity, we must try ourselves. What is needed here is real preaching, not self-indulgence, insolence and stubbornness.

Patience test

- With what feelings did people leave the religious procession if they were kicked out?

It is necessary not only to take a universal step for everyone, but in general to subordinate our entire life to our neighbor

Either way, it's disappointing. The man walked with some hope, with some question to God. This is one of the chances that a person is given to test himself and take part in church work. But the man couldn’t, he exchanged it for nonsense. There are different levels of problems, different margins of safety among people and different strengths. We are not always able to endure each other’s peculiarities and outlandish quirks and stubborn habits. When you come to church for the Liturgy, you don’t allow yourself to make noise, chat, gnaw seeds, drink alcohol, or rattle weapons? The religious procession should be treated as a divine service. This is not a rally, not a concert, not a sporting event or a trip, but a church service. Of course, you can always tolerate a non-church person for a short time in the hope of his correction, but it can be difficult to tolerate for a long time. A simple everyday example: someone can sleep 6 hours a day, but for another 8 hours is not enough. The first one gets up early, makes noise, wakes up the others and stubbornly does not want to understand his petty sabotage. It seems like a small thing, but there is such a problem. We need not only to take a universal step for everyone, not only the pace and rhythm of movement, but in general to subordinate our entire life to our neighbor, to create a regime that is convenient for everyone. It's complicated.

In addition, we pass through different territories and deaneries. Some are close to metropolises and dioceses, where the situation with churches is more or less favorable, there are good priests, missionaries, and confessors. And there are other places where there are no churches, books, where we even have to baptize people.

Let's say, walking through Udmurtia and the Urals, on average we walked 30-40 kilometers a day. In the procession of the cross in 2015, Sevastopol-Smolensk, the distance between settlements was smaller and the average transition was 20-30 kilometers. Therefore, life was organized a little easier. But there were other problems. We left Crimea in the spring, summer was on our heels, and the heat was breathing down our necks. We just left the Krasnodar Territory, the Rostov Region, and there it was immediately hot over 40 degrees. Thank God we got away from the heat in time, because you can only move in this temperature range at night. And moving at night in the dark is difficult: this is a concern for traffic cops, for road users, etc.

On one ship called "Church"

- Did all dioceses rise to the occasion?

I sincerely thank the Smolensk diocese, where everything was surprisingly well organized, although they had no experience in holding religious processions. From the very beginning, the active participation of many priests of the Roslavl deanery, headed by the dean, Father Mikhail, set the right tone. Father Yakov also came to us several times. His friends, relatives, and children took part either in the religious procession itself, or in our accommodation and in the organization of everyday life. This is a very important moment of the procession, Christian life as it is: with real hospitality, hospitality, cordiality. What we, unfortunately, lose in everyday life is miraculously reanimated and alive here.

That the Smolensk diocese rose to the occasion, much of the credit goes to the secretary of the diocese, Father Paul, and, above all, to Metropolitan Isidore of Smolensk and Roslavl. In his sermon, he said that the religious procession unites our people at all levels, including even everyday life. If earlier, for example, you did not greet your neighbor on the street, did not notice him, then, finding yourself in the same religious procession, you realized that you are like-minded people, fellow believers. You have lived your whole life in one locality, but only now you find yourself on one ship, which is called “Church”.

- Did the secular authorities help?

Certainly. In all the dioceses where we went, a lot was done precisely by the secular authorities. They provided escort on the roads, accommodation, food, and solutions to everyday problems, because people need to be washed, treated, and washed every day. A pleasant surprise was that many government officials personally participated in the procession and walked next to us in prayer. Nobody forced them. So they saw something real here. The instructions of the governor or boss can be carried out in different ways. You can invest your soul or not. It seems to me that people put their souls into this business. As a result, one of the main tasks of the religious procession was solved - the unification of the entire society. Our religious procession Sevastopol-Smolensk achieved all possible goals, overcoming all obstacles, troubles and difficulties. And, God grant, that with God’s blessing, with the support of spiritual and secular authorities, our work will receive further continuation.

I went to the main city event of last week - the religious procession in honor of the transfer of the holy relics of Alexander Nevsky. Besides me, there were another 99 thousand 999 people there (as the organizers calculated), including the governor, metropolitan, officials, state employees, deputy Milonov and actor Migitsko. To participate in the religious procession, I was given a prop - an empty stick.

How did I get the stick?

Columns of participants in the religious procession are formed on the streets adjacent to Nevsky. The most numerous convoys gather on Kazanskaya - regional columns. There are so many people that you can barely walk down the street. But there are no random people here: those arriving in an organized manner occupy the designated places and receive props - Orthodox flags, icons, paper images. Standing shoulder to shoulder are ladies in heels, ladies in sneakers and headscarves, men in suits and ties, men in robes and yellow clerical robes. Everyone lined up in areas and are waiting for the turn to begin.

-What are you wearing? - I ask the man in yellow, representing the Epiphany Church on Gutuevsky Island.

“I don’t know, I just put it on,” he says, embarrassed.

- This is a surplice. Button up the button! – a colleague from the temple who was running past came to the rescue.

In the column of the Central District, they change clothes right on the street: church vestments are taken out of a large checkered bag, the priests take apart and put on kamilavkas. The Kronstadt district is rehearsing songs with which it will go to the religious procession: “Rejoice to the Mother of God, Virgin,” “Save, Lord,” and others. The priest distributes leaflets with texts.

They brought more sticks than signs. Carry it as is. Then you will return the stick to the Pushkin district

-Why did you come here? - I directly ask the lady in heels and with an expensive bag, standing under the sign “Kirov District”.

“We are all here at the call of our souls.” And they let us go from work! – she snapped ungraciously.

“We are a kindergarten in the Kirov district,” said the other two. – We also follow the call of our hearts, but at work we will be counted as a working day.

- And I’m still at work. “I am deputy Oleg Ivanov,” said a man from the Vyborg district. – And over there is the head of the district – Valery Nikolaevich Garnets, next to him is his deputy, and there is the school director. We're all here! Everyone is in a great mood! This event unites, unites,” the deputy explained why he came.

The Pushkin district was the best prepared for the religious procession. The entire column was armed with poles with portraits of the royal family. It turned out to be a whole forest of portraits. Why are they?

“Because we are from Tsarskoye Selo,” explained a parishioner of the Panteleimon Church. He gave me a pole too, but without a portrait.

- But there’s nothing there! – I was surprised.

– Just imagine what it is! They brought more sticks than signs. Carry it as is. “Then you will return the stick to the Pushkin district,” the parishioner ordered.

I took the stick.

Then all the columns began to move - the religious procession began. For some time I walked among the royal portraits with an empty stick over my head. There were other people nearby with empty sticks.

Nevsky Prospekt was closed to traffic the day before. But on the streets adjacent to Nevsky, there were columns of stubborn motorists. There were people standing and sitting at the stops, waiting for trolleybuses and buses. They weren’t outraged, but they didn’t join either.

The procession was very strictly guarded. At the intersections, the streets were blocked by heavy cleaning equipment, along the entire Nevsky - every 10-15 meters - there were police officers, volunteer guards, vigilantes, and in some places - metal fences. To prevent strangers from entering the passage, the guards (where there were no fences) held hands - it turned out to be a human chain. A platoon of riot police walked in front of the religious procession.

How they didn’t let me out of the prayer service

The religious procession was led by Metropolitan Barsanuphius, speaker Vyacheslav Makarov, former vice-governor, now State Duma deputy Igor Divinsky, current vice-governor Igor Albin and other officials and priests.

The splendor was disrupted only once: Orthodox activists quarreled with the police. Believers carried banners with the slogans: “Matilda is a slap in the face of the Russian people” and “The honor of the state is the honor of the people.” Law enforcement officers demanded that the slogans be removed, but the crusaders refused.

- Employees, help! - shouted the police lieutenant colonel, whom the Orthodox tried to push away from the slogans.

- Anathema on you! - the believers carrying banners cursed.

The other participants in the procession looked at the brawl with curiosity, but were absolutely silent.

In the end, the police won, the banners were confiscated, but no one was detained.

In an hour we walked from the Kazan Cathedral to Alexander Nevsky Square. There were a lot of people standing here. I wanted to leave, but they didn’t let me out. The policeman did not allow me to leave the fence and blocked my way. We had such a simple dialogue.

- May go out?

- It is forbidden!

- And to the toilet?

- I've told! Go forward. You’ll let one person out, and then you’ll all break away,” the policeman did not back down.

Some lady came to my aid and began asking the policeman whether he believed in God and why he wasn’t happy when there was such a national holiday here. The policeman replied that he was protecting us believers on his day off, and there was nothing to be happy about.

The believers listened to Makarov attentively. Some thought that it was Metropolitan Barsanuphius speaking and were baptized.

And then we all listened to the festive prayer service. We delved into the words of Governor Poltavchenko and Speaker Makarov. The speaker's speech turned out to be the highlight of the event. It has already been taken away for quotes by the media, but in its entirety it makes a very strong impression.

– Russia’s great destiny is to solve problems that no other country in the world can solve! Russia is a world power, God’s last hope on planet Earth! That is why the Lord invisibly protects Russia from its enemies, protects its small world for a saving outcome, in order to preserve Russia in its heavenly and earthly dimensions! I am Russian, I am baptized... I pray for the Russian Tsar and God. It was the authority of the tsar, the strength of the tsar and the strength of the state that allowed our great power - Russia - to be invincible! St. Petersburg is the city of St. Apostle Peter. A city that we must leave to our descendants as a great Orthodox city on planet Earth. The Lord God and the Orthodox faith are with us! - said the speaker.

The believers listened to Makarov attentively. But from the back rows it was not clear who was speaking. Some thought that it was Metropolitan Barsanuphius speaking and were baptized by the speaker.

Crusade Skirmisher

The religious procession in honor of the transfer of the relics of Alexander Nevsky took place in St. Petersburg for the fifth time. About 1.5 million rubles were spent from the city budget on organizing the celebrations. This is 400 thousand more than last year, and 800 thousand more than in 2015.

Religious processions have recently become very popular in Russia. New forms appeared - voyages of the cross and flights of the cross. Thus, on the Ob River, the Altai Cossacks spent a two-week voyage of the cross on the ship “Ataman Ermak” with the icon of the Iveron Mother of God with the relics of the apostles. In Rostov, Metropolitan Mercury and local officials held an aerial religious procession by helicopter. With the icon of the Don Mother of God, they flew around the city and prayed for the well-being of Rostov and Russia. In Taganrog, the flying of the cross was improved. The priests of the local diocese poured eight tons of holy water into the tanks of the Be-200 amphibious aircraft and sprinkled the city and surrounding area from a height of 200 meters.

There are also religious processions on bicycles, motorcycles, buses and catamarans. St. Petersburg demonstrates new approaches to crusade to other regions. This summer the first automobile religious procession took place along the route St. Petersburg - Kronstadt. Dozens of cars took part. For those who do not have their own car, 5 buses have been prepared. This format of the religious procession, according to the organizers, corresponds to the spirit of the times. “It does not contradict the Orthodox tradition,” says the official crusading website krestkhody.rf.

The voyage of the cross on a catamaran with a list of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon came from St. Petersburg to Kerch last week. The event was held by the public organization “Orthodox St. Petersburg”.

The St. Petersburg diocese believes that crucifixion needs to be further developed. Representatives of the diocese appealed to the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation with a proposal to support the idea of ​​holding religious processions throughout the country on National Unity Day. To begin with, Russia needs at least one all-Russian religious procession, otherwise everyone goes separately and at different times. And a single religious procession will contribute to the consolidation and mobilization of society.

In 2017, St. Petersburg will become the absolute leader among Russian regions in the number of large religious processions. According to the portal krestnyekhody.rf, 9 religious processions took place (and will still take place) in St. Petersburg this year. The Vyatka Metropolis is in second place among Russian regions (5 religious processions). The Moscow diocese lags behind - only 4 religious processions.

Elena ROTKEVICH

What can you get for a photo with the hashtag #Walk1209

The St. Petersburg diocese encouraged participation in the procession with the help of an online competition. The competition accepted photographs (family or selfies) taken during the religious procession and published on social networks. A prerequisite is the presence of the hashtag #KrestnyyKrestnyy1209.

The winners will be announced on September 25th. Those who take first place will receive, according to the official press release, a large pectoral “Sea” cross from an Orthodox jewelry company. For second place they will receive an encyclopedia album. For the third - also an album. All winners will also be presented with “an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, consecrated on his relics, which first arrived in Russia from the city of Bari.”

As Gorod 812 was told in the jewelry company’s company store, on August 4, items consecrated on the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker were delivered to the store. The number of consecrated items is limited. The icons of St. Nicholas are still on sale (10 pieces), costing 650 rubles each.

Where did the relics of Alexander Nevsky come from?

Alexander Nevsky died in 1263 and was buried in Vladimir in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin. According to the chronicles, in 1380 his remains were taken out of the coffin and they saw that they had not decayed. This was considered a miracle and the remains were placed “in a coffin (coffin) on top of the ground.”

In 1491, there was a severe fire, after which, according to some sources, the remains were burned, but according to others, they were miraculously preserved.

Alexander Nevsky was canonized in 1547.

In 1723, Peter the Great decided to transport the relics of Alexander Nevsky to St. Petersburg. But on the way they were again overtaken by a fire, probably after which they put a “stuffed figure” - a doll made of cotton wool with a wax head - into the shrine.

In this form, in 1724 the reliquary was transported to St. Petersburg and on September 12 it was installed in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (then it was the Holy Trinity Monastery). Since then, Alexander Nevsky has been considered the defender of the city in heaven.

In 1917, priests secretly examined the relics. What they found there was reported at the press center of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

“Under the lid of the reliquary they discovered an open cypress coffin with a wax head and a “stuffed” prince made of cotton wool sewn into silk bags. It contained genuine relics - part of a skull, bones of arms and legs and two ribs. On the paper, lying in a bag with small bones, it was indicated that the relics were collected “after the church burning,” says the press center’s website.

According to the same source, the priests placed only “genuine relics” in the shrine and threw away the rest.

In 1922, during the anti-religious campaign, the shrine containing the relics of Alexander Nevsky was publicly opened by the Bolsheviks. The found remains were transferred to the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. There they were kept until 1989, then they were returned to the Lavra.