The Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media, together with the Elista Diocese and the Kalmykian authorities, organized an information tour to promote a new pilgrimage route, the launch of which is timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Appearance of Christ the Savior in Elista.
The information tour was attended by members of the Council of Clergy Bloggers operating under the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations and the Media: Archimandrite Savva (Mazhuko), Priest Vladislav Beregovoy, Priest Alvian Tkhelidze, Priest Ilia Savastyanov. Olga Bogdanova, an employee of the Foma magazine, also participated in the infotour.
The tour participants talked with relatives of eyewitnesses of the Appearance of Christ the Savior in the Holy Cross Church of Elista, and also visited the Kazan Cathedral.
During a sightseeing tour of Elista, the guests visited the cathedral under construction in honor of Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius. The tour participants also visited the chapel of the Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, located in the steppe on the route on the way to the capital of Kalmykia.
The cultural program of the tour includes immersion in Kalmyk culture. The program included a performance by dzhangarchi (a folk storyteller and performer of the Kalmyk epic "Dzhangar"), a master class in Old Mongolian writing "Todo-bichig", a visit to ethno-khoton with a tea ceremony (ethno-khoton is an open-air ethnographic complex recreating a traditional nomad settlement), camel and horse rides. The tour ended with an ecological walk on Lake Manych-Gudilo in the Chernye Zemly Nature Reserve.
On June 24, 2026, Archbishop Justinian of Elista and Kalmykia and Batu Khasikov, Head of the Republic of Kalmykia, met with participants of the information tour at the N.N. Palmov National Museum.
"The miracle of the Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the old Holy Cross Church in the city of Elista became a great consolation for those who gathered in that hungry post—war year 1946 in the church for divine services in memory of the Beheading of the head of John the Baptist," said the ruling bishop of the Elista diocese. — It is clear that at that time it was not possible to spread the news about this event widely — knowledge about the appearance of Christ the Savior in Elista was passed from mouth to mouth, from parents to children, and then to grandchildren. Year after year, the descendants of the witnesses of the Phenomenon try to come to their small homeland by September 11 to pray at the image painted from the words of an eyewitness to the miracle.
"It seems to me that it would be a crime against God's Providence to continue to keep this message only in a small circle of Orthodox believers of the Elista diocese, and therefore we decided to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the appearance of Christ the Savior in Elista and its maximum possible coverage in the media and the Internet. After all, this miracle tells us that Christ is truly in our midst, He is near and helps us to pass the trials that happen over and over again in the life of every person, our entire homeland, and the whole world," added Archbishop Justinian. 
The Head of the Republic of Kalmykia, Batu Hasikov, noted: "Kalmykia is a unique region where representatives of different religions, peoples and cultures have lived in peace and harmony, in mutual friendship and support for many centuries."
According to the head of the region, Kalmykia has not only outstanding Buddhist shrines known far beyond the borders of the country, but also "many Orthodox sites that attract pilgrims from all over Russia."
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On September 11, 1946, during a service in the Holy Cross Church of Elista, the priest and parishioners witnessed the Appearance of the Savior. At the request of an eyewitness to the event, Semyon Bondarenko, an icon dedicated to the phenomenon was painted in Stavropol, and in 1947 the image was delivered to Elista. Soon it began to be considered miraculous: the arrival of the icon is associated with the appearance of bread in the city after a long famine. Holy Cross Church has never been closed.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia blessed the celebration of the Appearance of Christ the Savior in Elista on September 10. On this day, the Divine Liturgy and the Way of Light procession will take place, as well as a round table attended by experts on interfaith interaction and a conference of pilgrimage tourism operators. The organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the celebration was headed by Batu Hasikov.