From September 2 to 6, 2025, His Eminence Theofan, Archbishop of Korea, made a pilgrimage to the holy places of the Novgorod and St. Petersburg Dioceses. The archpastor was accompanied by pilgrims from the Korean Diocese, who had the opportunity to celebrate divine services at the sites they visited and venerate the holy relics of ancient Rus’.

The pilgrimage began on September 2 with a visit to the Iveron Valdai Monastery of the Mother of God of Svyatoozersk, where the pilgrims prayed before the miraculous icon of the Iveron Mother of God.

On September 3, Archbishop Theofan arrived in Veliky Novgorod. That day, he visited the Cathedral of St. Nikita of Novgorod and the Faceted Chamber, and served the Divine Liturgy in the Savior Cathedral of St. Yuryev Monastery, co-served by the monastery brethren and clergy of the Korean Diocese. Following the Liturgy, he met with Metropolitan Leo of Novgorod and Staraya Russa. His Eminence also visited the site of the Novgorodians’ baptism on the banks of the Volkhov River, where an ancient 12th-century church stands, erected on the site of a former pagan temple, and the Varlaam-Khutynsky Convent.

The following day, September 4, Archbishop Theofan served the Divine Liturgy in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery. At the conclusion of the service, the monastery’s abbot, Hegumen Anthony (Gutnik), thanked Archbishop Theophan for the joy of prayerful fellowship and presented the archpastor with an icon of the appearance of the Holy Trinity to St. Alexander of Svir in memory of his visit to the monastery.

On September 5, the archpastor served the Divine Liturgy in the main Dormition Cathedral of the Tikhvin Monastery of the Mother of God, which houses the greatest relic of the Russian Church — the miraculous Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Numerous parishioners and pilgrims prayed during the service.

On the evening of September 6, Archbishop Theofan prayerfully participated in the service at the Nikolo-Malitsky Monastery in Tver, and then arrived at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. The pilgrims venerated the relics of the ancient monastery. Here, at the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the spiritual journey of the archpastor and the pilgrims accompanying him came to an end.

Press Service of the Korean Diocese