On August 25-27, 2026, the ark with the right hand of St. Spyridon of Trimifunt was located in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese.
The shrine is accompanied by a delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church. Russians Russian Orthodox Church organized the offering of the relics of St. Spyridon by the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church for the Development of Pilgrimage and the offering of Shrines thanks to the support of JSC "GTLK", LLC "Regional Energy Company", the World Russian People's Cathedral, the Innokenty Sibiryakov Foundation and with the information partnership of the magazine "Thomas".
On August 27, the funeral of the ark with the relics of the saint took place in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod. The prayer service to St. Spyridon, Bishop of Trimifunt, was led by Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas. He was assisted by the head of the administrative secretariat of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese and the sacristan of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Priest Artyom Muzichenkov, and other clergy of the diocese.
The vicars of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, Bishop Ilia of Balakhna and Bishop Innokenty of Sormovo, as well as numerous parishioners and pilgrims, prayed at the service. Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, attended the prayer service.
At the end of the service, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese addressed the faithful: "The past three days have been marked by great spiritual joy for the Nizhny Novgorod people — the relics of St. Spyridon of Trimifunt were in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese. It is a special grace of God that we were able to touch such a shrine. We will pray to Saint Spyridon for strengthening in faith, healing, consolation and peace for the Russian land. Holy Father Spyridon, pray to God for us!"
Then the ark with the right hand of St. Spyridon of Trimifunt was solemnly escorted to St. Petersburg, where he will stay on August 28-31.
In two days, 70,600 people venerated the relics in Nizhny Novgorod. In just three days, 95,600 people from Moscow, Primorsky Krai, Nizhny Novgorod Region and neighboring regions venerated the shrine in the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, including the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Convent.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the shrine stayed in Nizhny Novgorod for three days. On August 25, the ark with the right hand of St. Spyridon arrived at the Serafimo-Diveevsky Convent. On August 26, the shrine was met in Nizhny Novgorod at the intersection of Strelka and Samarqandskaya Streets and taken to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in a crowded procession led by Metropolitan George.
The shrine will remain in Russia until September 20: September 1-2 in Pskov, September 3-4 in Smolensk, September 5-6 in Irkutsk, September 7-9 in Khabarovsk, September 10-11 in Chelyabinsk, September 12-13 in Yekaterinburg, September 13-14 in Vladimir, and September 15-20 in Moscow.