On the day of the Cathedral commemoration of Moscow Saints, September 6, 2026, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and in coordination with the Moscow authorities, an annual Moscow-wide procession will be held. One of the greatest shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church, the miraculous list of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, will be carried through the streets of the Mother of God at the head of the procession.
The procession will be led by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"We are restoring the good and glorious tradition of Moscow processions, which existed for several centuries, right up to the revolution of 1917. Since the 16th century, Russian tsars and Moscow metropolitans have been marching in a procession from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Monastery in honor of the sacrifice of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God "Odigitria", defender of the western borders of our Fatherland," His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said before the start of the All—Moscow procession in 2025.
The Primate of the Russian Church also pointed out the importance of family participation in religious processions, noting that "a family is a small Church. If it weakens, then the life of the people weakens, and the whole Church becomes impoverished."
Before the start of the procession, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Media representatives will be accredited for the Divine Liturgy by the Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
The procession will be attended by vicars of His Holiness the Patriarch, deans of Moscow's church districts, vicars and abbesses of Stavropol monasteries with their monks, rectors and clerics of Moscow parishes, Patriarchal and monastic courtyards, students of theological educational institutions of the Patriarchal Diocese, parishioners of the capital's churches and monasteries, as well as archpastors, clergy, monastics and laity of the dioceses of the Moscow Archdiocese and everyone who wants to share the joy of the Moscow church celebration.
The route of the procession is planned to be the same as in 2025: from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to the Novodevichy Stavropol Convent through the embankments of the Moskva River and Khamovnicheskiy Val. At the same time, it is planned to stop with the singing of a prayer service in front of the shrines at the turn from the embankment to the Khamovnicheskiy Val, after which the procession will continue to the gates of the Novodevichy Monastery, where the shrines will be installed for worship.
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The Moscow-wide procession to the Novodevichy Monastery is one of the oldest and most significant in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. The history of the procession from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Monastery is connected with the transfer of the Smolensk Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The ancient image was moved to Moscow at the end of the 14th century and placed in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin, from where it was later returned to Smolensk at the request of its residents. The icon was solemnly escorted out of the city, and an accurate list of the icon remained in the Kremlin Cathedral.
On May 13/26, 1524, Grand Duke Vasily III, in honor of the capture of Smolensk in 1514, founded the Novodevichy Monastery on the site of parting with the miraculous icon on the banks of the Moskva River.
On July 28 / August 10, 1525, at his behest, the image of the Mother of God "Odigitria Smolenskaya" was solemnly transferred from the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin to the monastery. The procession was led by Basil III himself and Metropolitan Daniel. In memory of this event, an annual holiday was established with a procession from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Monastery.
In 1612, the monastery was almost completely devastated when the troops of the Russian militia besieged the last Polish invaders in it. The monastery was restored by the first Romanovs and became a place of royal pilgrimage. Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich came here from the Kremlin, and since the monastery was located outside the city, they set up tents near its walls and spent the night in them, staying for the morning service, and after it they treated the pilgrims. Hence the custom of folk festivals near the Novodevichy Monastery (later they were moved to Devichye Pole and Presnya).
The tradition of the Smolensk Procession on July 28 / August 10 has not been interrupted for almost four centuries. Until the era of Peter the Great, the procession was invariably led by Russian sovereigns and patriarchs, and then, until 1917, by Moscow metropolitans. This event was of particular importance to Muscovites, who combined religious celebrations with folk festivals on Devichy Pole.
Thanks to the Novodevichy Monastery, Prechistenka Street appeared. The street itself existed before, but the name was given to it by personal royal decree in 1658 — in honor of the icon of the Virgin Mary, to which they marched along this street from the Kremlin to the Novodevichy Monastery.