Pilgrimage to Saints SPIRIDON and NICOLAE (Greece and Italy)

Pilgrimage Programme

In the program: Or. Thessaloniki (St. Dmitrius, the Source of Myrrh, St. Paisie, St. Anisia, Cuv. David, Cuv. Theodora, St. Gregory Palamas, etc.) - Meteora - Bari (St. Nicholas) - Corfu Island (St. Spiridon, etc.) - Mount Olympus (St. Ephrem Sir)

Pilgrimage programme

Departure from Chisinau, Monday, 31/10/2022, 12:00.

Day 1, Tuesday: 01/11/2022. Arrival in city. Thessaloniki, Greece.

Thessaloniki (Greek: Thessaloniki) is the second largest city in Greece, also in terms of size. It is located in the northern part of the country, on the shore of the Aegean Sea (Thermaic Gulf).

The Church of St. Demetrios the Great of Thessaloniki, the heavenly patron saint of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki. In the church is the casket with the relics of St. Grand Mgr. Anisia and St. George Callidis, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki. Under the altar there is a crypt where St. Dimitrios was imprisoned and martyred.

• Church of the Theological Seminary (worship of the relics of St. Theodora of Thessaloniki and St. David)
• The Metropolitan Cathedral of Thessaloniki (worship of the relics of St. Gregory Palamas)
• Suroti Monastery (worship at the tomb of St. Paisius the Aghiorite and the monastery's relics). Rest.

Day 2, Wednesday: 02/11/2022

Breakfast. Departure from the hotel. We visit the monastery of monks dedicated to Saint Dionysius on Mount Olympus. In the part accessible to all pilgrims (including women) and in the church in honour of St. Dionysius of Olympus with two paracleses (consecrated in honour of St. John the Russian and St. Great Martyr Dimitrios of Thessaloniki) Holy Mass is celebrated every Sunday.In the part where only men are allowed to enter, there are workshops, a trapeze, monks' huts and a katholikon dedicated to the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It houses the honoured icons of the Virgin Mary Odighitria (1600-1601) and St. Dionysius of Olympus, where daily services are held.Among the new buildings on the common grounds of the former residence is a museum, the so-called "Skevofilakio", consecrated in 1999 by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The upper floor contains a reading room and a library with many wonderful and rare publications. And on the first floor is the monastery's treasury (thanks to the efforts of the monks and locals). Among the monastery's prized relics, pride of place, of course, goes to the Holy Relics which were collected by the monastery's abbots over its 500-year history, and are displayed today in a separate room. "Meteora" - heavenly monasteries. In central Greece, in the north-western Thessalian Plain, lies Meteora - one of Greece's stunningly beautiful places. Huge monolithic rocks over 600m high. It soars high into the sky. Heavenly monasteries were built on the tops of these rocks - the creation of God and man's hands. We will visit two functioning monasteries as well as the icon painting workshop.Departure to Igoumenitsa Port. We will cross by ferry to Bari, Italy.

Day 3, Thursday: 03/11/2022

• Holy Mass at the relics of St. Hierarch Nicholas. Homage to the saint.
• Accommodation in hotel.

Day 4, Friday: 04/11/2022. Italy

• Breakfast.
• We will visit the historic town of Alberobello.
• We will visit the Russian Orthodox Church in the or. Bari. The Saint's homage.
• We will travel by ferry to the island of Corfu.

Day 5, Saturday: 05/11/2022. Corfu Island

Hotel accommodation. Attend Mass in the church of St. Spiridon of Trimitunda, the Wonderworker.
Next visits:

• Monastery of St. Paraskeva.
• One of the most beautiful monasteries and most important pilgrimage sites on Corfu is the small and simple monastery of the Mother of God in Kassopitras (Panagia tis Kassopitras). This monastery is almost 500 years old. The abbot of the monastery is Father Polycarp, a disciple of St. Paisius Aghiorite.

Day 6, Sunday: 06/11/2022. Corfu Island

• Attend Mass in the church of St. Hierarch Spyridon (your choice of night or morning at 7.00 am).
• Participation in the Great Procession with the relics of St. Hierarch Spiridon of Trimitunda, the Miracle-Maker. The Great Litany.
• Monastery of St. Anastasia: the relics and the place where the Abbess Anastasia of Corfu was buried.
• The Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Spiliotissa, founded in 1577, where the relics of Empress Theodora, who liberated the church in 842 from the heresy of iconoclasm, are buried. Here are her holy relics. There is also a copy of the Icon of Our Lady "Truly Come to Life" from Mount Athos.

Day 7, Monday: 07/11/2022. Corfu Island

Attend Mass in the church of St. Spiridon of Trimitunda, the Miracle-Maker.

• Return to port by ferry Corfu-Igoumenitsa.
• Mount Olympus:
  
  • Visit to the monastery of nuns of St. Ephrem Sir.

The monastery was founded by its current abbess Catherine in 1983, initially as a private monastery, and then in 1985 it was brought under the jurisdiction of the Kitros, Katerini and Platamonas Metropolitanate. The central cathedral of the monastery, designed in the Athonite style, was consecrated in 2000 in honour of the patron saint of the monastery, St Ephrem Sir and the icon of the Virgin Mary, the Giver of Life. A small part of his holy relics is kept in the monastery.

Day 8, Tuesday: 08/11/2022

Arrival in Chisinau.