Moscow, September 8, 2025
ria.ru
Approximately 40,000 people participated in a cross procession in Moscow yesterday, marking the revival of a tradition that had been discontinued for many years.
The procession, held on the feast day of All Saints of Moscow, stretched nearly four miles from Christ the Savior Cathedral to Novodevichy Convent. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia led the prayer march.
“For the first time in many years, a religious procession in memory of the saints of Moscow took place in the capital, with 40,000 people participating,” said Vitaly Suchkov, head of Moscow’s Department of National Policy and Interregional Relations, according to TASS.
The procession concluded at the Novodevichy Convent with a brief moleben, after which Pat. Kirill addressed the gathered faithful.
His Eminence Archbishop Savva (Tutunov), deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Affairs, noted that the event marked the revival of large-scale Moscow processions, a tradition that had lasted over four centuries before the 1917 revolution.
ria.ru
The historical roots of the procession date back to 1525, when the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God was ceremonially transferred from the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin to the Novodevichy Convent. That original procession was led by Grand Duke Vasily III and Metropolitan Daniel, establishing an annual tradition that continued for four centuries.
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