Tutayev, Yaroslavl Province, Russia, August 6, 2021
Photo: foma.ru
A festive procession was held in the town of Tutayev, Yaroslavl Province, on Sunday with the Borisoglebsky Icon of the Savior—the largest icon in Russia.
Practically the whole town joined in the procession with the holy 15th-century image, also known as the All-Merciful Savior Icon, reports the online journal Foma.
The icon is more than 9.2 x 10.5 feet and requires 30-40 men to carry it. It’s believed it was originally in the dome of the local Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb. The icon is now usually to be found in the Holy Resurrection Cathedral, though it’s brought out for processions twice every summer.
The first procession takes place on the 10th Sunday after Pascha on the right side of the Volga River. The second was established in 1888 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’. It was interrupted during Soviet times and resumed in 1989. The procession is held on the last Sunday before the feast of the Prophet Elijah, when the icon is transported by ferry to the left side of the river, as there is no bridge.
The procession grows in size every year, and boatmen had to work all day ferrying pilgrims back and forth across the river to accompany the icon as it was carried around to all the churches on the left side of the Volga as well as the grave of the venerated Archimandrite Pavel (Gruzdev).
Late in the evening, the icon returned to its place in the Resurrection Cathedral, where it will remain until next summer.
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