With the blessing of Metropolitan Rostislav of Tomsk and Asinovsky, a group of foreign students of the Tomsk Theological Seminary made a pilgrimage to several dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church from May 27 to June 11, 2024.
The trip began with a visit to the Penza Metropolis and listening to the participating groups of the III All-Russian Choral Festival for the regency departments of the theological educational institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church named after A.A. Arkhangelsky. Also in Penza, our pilgrims managed to worship the relics of St. Innocent of Penza in the Spassky Cathedral, as well as the relics of the priest John Olenevsky in the church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the village of Solovtsovka. The central event of the visit to the Penza Metropolis was the participation in the Divine Liturgy at the Spassky Cathedral in Penza. 
The seminarians also visited the state Lermontov museum-estate "Tarkhany".
Then the pilgrims visited the city of St. Petersburg. In a few days, the students visited several temples and monasteries. During the pilgrimage, the students worshiped the relics of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, St. John of Kronstadt and prayed at the miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Of All Sorrowful Joy" with pennies. 
In addition to the holy places, the seminarians visited the State Hermitage Museum, the Pushkin Museum-apartment and the Imperial Palace in Peterhof. At the end of the pilgrimage visit to St. Petersburg, our pilgrims took part in the Divine Liturgy and met with the Abbess, Abbess of the St. Petersburg Resurrection Novodevichy Monastery Sofia (Silina).
The pilgrimage coincided with the holidays, namely the 225th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Pushkin. Before arriving at the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, on the first day in Pskov land, the pilgrims visited the state memorial historical, literary and natural landscape museum-reserve of A. S. Pushkin "Mikhailovskoye" (Pushkin Reserve). This will help them better understand the culture of Russia.
In the Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersk Monastery, pilgrims from the Tomsk Theological Seminary, along with other workers, carried out their obediences under the strict guidance of the Pechersk monks. During their stay at the holy monastery, the students participated in the Divine Liturgy several times and received communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. 
During the trip, Penza and Pskov-Pechersk Theological seminaries were visited, as well as the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, meetings were held with seminarians and staff of higher educational institutions of the clergy.
When visiting churches, the children performed the Troparion of the Resurrection of Christ in three languages (Church Slavonic, Swahili and Chichewa), which attracted the attention of many believers who asked students about the Orthodox faith in their homeland. 
The administration and students of the Tomsk Theological Seminary thank the management and staff of the Charitable Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage for their assistance in organizing and conducting a pilgrimage trip.