St. Petersburg, May 31, 2013
The cross procession was dedicated to 185th years since the birth of St John of Kronshtadt. The aim of the event was not only the restoration of spiritual traditions of pilgrimages to the shrines of the Russian north, but also to attract attention to the Sura Convent of St. John. Sura is the village town in Archangelsk province where St. John of Kronstadt was born.
The participants in the cross procession sailed 2,000 kilometers on the Neva River, through Lake Ladoga, the Svir River, Lake Onega, the White sea to Arkhangelsk, and further down the North Dvina and Pinega Rivers to the village of Sura.
Prayer services and processions involving local parishioners were held during the stops. The scheduled route included three dioceses: St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk and Karelia, and Arkhangelsk and Holmogory.