On the eve of the feast of the Worldwide Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, on September 26, 2026, Archbishop Varlaam of Makhachkala and Derbent celebrated an all-night vigil at the Holy Cross Convent in Kizlyar (Republic of Dagestan). 
His Eminence was assisted by the secretary of the Makhachkala Diocese, the dean of the Kizlyar church district, Priest Pavel Kalikin, and the clergy of the diocese. The Sixth Psalm and Kathisms were read at matins by the abbess of the monastery, Nun Antonina (Pavlova). After the great doxology, Archbishop Varlaam performed the rite of Exaltation of the Cross.
On September 27, the feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, Archbishop Varlaam celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kizlyar Holy Cross Monastery, in the concelebration of the cathedral of the clergy of the diocese. The sermon on the communion verse was delivered by the dean of the Tarumovsky district, Priest Dionysius Stepanishchev. After the dismissal of the Liturgy, Archbishop Varlaam addressed the audience with an archpastoral address.
Then the participants of the divine service, Orthodox residents of Kizlyar, Kizlyar and Tarumovsky districts and numerous pilgrims marched in a procession from the Holy Cross Monastery to St. George's Cathedral. On the site of the historic Kazan city Cathedral, destroyed during the years of persecution, the faithful offered a prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos. A prayer for the repose of the victims of terrorism was held at the site of the terrorist attack on March 31, 2010.
Near the historical territory of the Holy Cross Monastery, the oldest monastery in the North Caucasus, founded simultaneously with the city in 1735, Archbishop Varlaam offered a prayer for Holy Russia, read in the Russian Orthodox Church with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
At the walls of St. George's Cathedral, the procession was greeted by the ringing of an ensemble of bells installed on the new belfry of the main temple of the city. A funeral prayer was offered at the burial site of five parishioners killed by a terrorist on Forgiveness Sunday, February 18, 2018. At the end of the procession, Archbishop Varlaam offered a prayer to the Great Martyr and Victorious George, and then addressed the audience with words of congratulations.