'''Velikoretsky crucession''' ({{lang-ru|Великорецкий крестный ход}}) is procession, which takes place every year in Vyatka [[diocese ]] of the [[Church of Russia]] from the city of Kirov to Velikoretskoye settlement and back.

In 1383 on the bank of the Velikaya river a peasant named Semyon Agalakov discovered an [[icon ]] of Saint [[Nicholas of Myra|Nicholas]]. When numerous many people were cured from illnesses by praying to before the sacred image, the glory of the wonder-making icon spread all over the Vyatka land and beyond its borders. Even before the time when the icon was first taken to Moscow - on the order of [[Ivan IV of Russia |Ivan the Terrible ]] in 1555 - the wonder-making image of Saint Nikolai St. Nicholas was well-known and honored in Russia.

Due to the glory of the wonder-making icon in the XV century a fifteenth the settlement Velikoretskoye was founded. The architectural ensemble of the settlement is a unique sightseeing attraction of the Vyatka land.

The town-dwellers of Khlynov (old name of Kirov) - the capital city of the Vyatka country - took the sacred image of St. Nicholas to the town [[church ]] having made a promise to bring the icon back to the banks of the Velikaya every year. Since those times , for more than 600 years from [[June 3 ]] to [[June 8 ]], the crucession (the religious procession) to Velikoretskoye settlement has taken place in Vyatka. Nowadays on the day of celebrating the anniiversary anniversary of the icon thousands of [[Pilgrimage|pilgrims ]] not only from Russia but also from abroad gather in Velikoretskoye to pray to the wonder-making image at the holy place where the icon first apppearedappeared, to drink water from the holy spring, to bathe in the waters of the Velikaya river.  == Links External link ==