A pious, 200-year tradition was continued on Sunday in Estonia when scores of faithful pilgrims gathered to process in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos on before feast of her holy Dormition.The procession moves from the St. Elias Skete of Pukhtitsa Monastery in Vasknarva to Pukhtitsa Monastery itself, covering a distance of 20.5 miles, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists, with reference to the site of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The faithful carried Pukhtitsa’s wonderworking Dormition Icon the entire course of the procession.

Following the Sunday Liturgy, His Eminence Metropolitan Eugene of Tallinn and All Estonia and Abbess Philareta traveled to the skete, where they took part in the procession that gathered clergy, monastics, and faithful.

The Pukhtitsa Dormition Convent is one of the most beloved monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church, bearing the special distinction of having never been closed during the godless Soviet years. The monastery’s unbroken line of spiritual continuity has given rise to several notable spiritual figures, such as the previous abbess, the ever-memorable Schema-Abbess Barbara (Trofimova), and Blessed Eldress Ekaterina, who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in March. (Quelle: www.orthochristian.com, 29. August 2018)