Thousands of
Orthodox faithful gathered in the Vyatka Metropolia for the Velikoretsky (“Great River”) Cross Procession, held
annually from June 3 to 8.According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kirov Region,
27,000 pilgrims attended the opening of the 110-mile holy march with
an ancient copy of the Velikotretsky Icon of the St. Nicholas the
Wonderworker to the banks of the Great River, to the place where the
icon appeared, reports the press service of the Diocese of Vyatka and Sloboda.
The icon of St.
Nicholas the Wonderworker was discovered in 1383. A peasant named
Semyon Agalakov from the Krutitsy village discovered the icon on the
bank of the Velikaya River, hence its name, Velikoretsky [“of the
‘Velikaya,’ or ‘Great’ River”].
In about 1400, the icon was sent to the town of Khlynov which was
later renamed Vyatka (and in 1934 renamed Kirov). Khlynov residents
vowed to bring the icon to the site of its appearance every year.
Until 1777, the procession of the cross was arranged by water—on
boats and rafts along the Vyatka and Velikaya Rivers, and then it was
held by land.
In the 16th century, by order of Tsar Ivan IV, the icon was brought
from Khlynov to Moscow. Sick people were healed and other miracles
occurred en route. At the tsar’s command, one of side chapels of the
Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, which then was under
construction, was dedicated in honor of the “Velikoretsky” icon of St.
Nicholas. From that time on the veneration of the miraculous icon
began to spread all over Russia. The icon was brought to Moscow for
the second time by order of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich in the 17th
century. The feast in commemoration of the icon (June 6 according to
the new calendar) was established in 1668.
In 1935, when the cathedral in Kirov was destroyed, the miraculous
icon was lost. The Velikoretsky Cross Procession was officially
prohibited in the 1930s and was not resumed until 1989. Today,
pilgrims carry one of the copies of this icon instead of the original
in the procession.