To the Velikaya River With St. Nicholas

Pravoslavie ^ | 8/16/21 | Natalia Krushevskaya

[marshmallow]

The Velikoretsky Procession of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Part 1

The Velikoretsky Procession of the cross, with its 600-year-long history, the longest and the most renowned in today’s Russia, has held the status of an All-Russian Procession since 2000. For five days, the pilgrims walk a total of 150 kilometers across the Vyatka region, which is a little less than ninety kilometers from Kirov (formerly known as Vyatka and also as Khlynov) towards the Velikoretsky village in the Yuriansky District of Kirov Region, and then about sixty kilometers back. They walk along the traditional route carrying at the front of the procession the Velikoretsky icon of St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia that appeared in this area, stopping at the ancient villages and settlements or what little has remained of them, thus fulfilling the promise of their ancestors—or aspiring to make their own.

June 3, 2021. I am standing on the Cathedral Square of the Holy Dormition St. Triphon monastery. The skies are clear but it’s chilly, the wind is piercing, and the swifts are flying above the domes; but the swifts are always there above the St. Triphon’s monastery, in all weather! The clergymen carry the Velikoretsky icon of St. Nicholas out of the gates. This year, the number of pilgrims was half as many compared to the previous years, so everyone was able to venerate the icon and take water from the holy spring to use while on the road. Still, there about twenty thousand of us here. The people inadvertently bump into one another’s backpacks and, accompanied by the Paschal pealing of bells, approach the monastery gates. Once there, everyone is blessed for happy travels with a sprinkling of the holy water. It is one of the most joyful moments in the procession. I am shivering from......