The middle of August in Poland is the time of walking pilgrimages to the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord to the monastery on the holy Mountain Grabarka. Young people, adults, elderly people, often whole families make pilgrimages. Most of them are with crosses in their hands, with prayers, with different requests and intentions.

The oldest pilgrimage left Bialystok for the thirty-eighth time. Pilgrims also follow from Warsaw, Bielska Podlaski, Hajnówka, Sokulka, from Jableczny (pilgrimage of the Diocese of Lublin-Chelm). Participants of a bicycle pilgrimage from Warsaw are on their way. In the coming days, pilgrims will depart from Mileicice, Naroika, Rogavka, Verstock, as well as the surrounding villages. A group of pilgrims will leave Semyatychy, as well as pilgrims from the Polish Orthodox Parish in Brussels. Under the leadership of Archbishop Jerzy, a pilgrimage of law enforcement agencies will go. The monastery on St. Grabarka Mountain will be visited by bus pilgrimages, as well as an endless sea of believers who want to participate in the celebration.

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In 1947, the Orthodox Marfa-Mariinsky Convent was founded on Mount Grabarka. From that moment on, the official name appears — the Holy Mountain Grabarka, and sometimes the Museum of Prayer, but the people still use just Grabarka.

The main Orthodox shrine of Poland for centuries remains the holy mountain Grabarka. Every year, from August 14 to August 19, thousands of young Orthodox Poles, Slovaks, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Russians, Czechs, Balts, representatives of other peoples and countries go on a walking pilgrimage from the city of Bialystok to the main Orthodox shrine of Poland - the Martha and Mary Monastery on the Holy Grabarka Mountain to celebrate one of the greatest Orthodox holidays here — The Transfiguration of the Lord.

This mountain is the most famous place of Orthodox pilgrimage in Poland. It is located in Melnitskaya Pushcha in the southeastern part of the Bialystok land, near Semyatich. The pilgrimage to Grabarka continues throughout the year, but most organized groups come here on August 18-19. On the way, believers from local Orthodox parishes join the procession. The tradition of pilgrims is to bring wooden crosses with them, which personify a request for help or gratitude for a prayer heard. Therefore, Grabarka is also called the "Mountain of Crosses". For several years now, a copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, donated by Greek monks, has been in the church on Grabarka.

In total, several tens of thousands of believers take part in the celebrations. Prayer services are served in every church on the way to Grabarka. The day begins with the liturgy, ends with the evening service. They spend the night in the homes of local residents. Four liturgies are served on the Transfiguration at Grabarka: at two in the morning, at four, at seven and at ten in the morning. They receive communion from twelve bowls. The priests are confessing all night to those who wish.

A conference is being held near the walls of the monastery, reports are being read, thematic sections are working. The head of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland, participates in the service and also communicates with young pilgrims.

The tradition of pilgrimage to Grabarka, dating back two centuries, was revived after several decades of oblivion, in 1980. Prayer, confession, communion, installation and consecration of the cross in memory of each meeting, conversations with priests, singing spiritual songs, bonfire — all this fills the program of the three-day meeting. The pilgrimage ends with a triple kneeling walk around the Transfiguration Church on the Holy Mountain.

The pilgrimage is organized by the Brotherhood of Orthodox Youth. The idea of creating an all-Polish organization involving young people in church life originated in 1980, during the first meeting of young people on the Holy Grabarka Mountain. Now Orthodox Christians take part in the pilgrimage not only from Poland, but also from many other countries.

The first mention of this place, located near the town of Siemiatycze in eastern Poland, dates back to the very beginning of the XVIII century. According to legend, during the general epidemic of the plague, one local peasant was shown to take the cross and go to the Grabarka with those who can still go. People with crosses climbed the mountain. And... escaped. Then the pilgrimage tradition was born to bring a cross to the holy mountain with a prayer for healing and well-being.