The pilgrimage service of the parish of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine was created in September 2008 with the blessing of the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, His Eminence Kirill, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, now His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.

The purpose of the Pilgrimage Service is to facilitate the organization of pilgrimage of Orthodox Christians from Russia, the CIS countries, as well as from Europe and America to Rome, a city whose importance for the Christian world is comparable to cities such as Jerusalem and Constantinople.

In April 2009, a presentation of the Pilgrimage Service of the Parish of St. Great Martyr Catherine in Rome took place in Rome. The presentation was headed by Archbishop Innocent of Korsun, administrator of the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Italy. Opening the presentation, Bishop Innocent noted that the created Pilgrimage Service is intended to become a coordination center for the already existing pilgrimage services of Italian parishes.

The service's main task is to assist in organizing pilgrimages to the pan-Christian shrines of Italy. The travel program is designed in such a way that pilgrims can not only visit the holy places of the Italian land, but also take part in divine services, confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

The heyday of Orthodox pilgrimage to Rome and Italy in general occurred in the 18th - 19th centuries. The flow of pilgrims was quite large for that time. New books were published devoted to the description of shrines, guides and companions for the Orthodox pilgrim, essays and reprints of already published publications. In Rome at the end of the nineteenth century. The House of the Orthodox Pilgrim was opened. Sadly, all this and much more was lost in the post-revolutionary period.
Thus, the purpose of the Pilgrimage Service of the Catherine Church is also to revive the long tradition of Orthodox pilgrimage, or, more precisely, “worship” to the common Christian holy places of the Eternal City and Italy.

The service organizes pilgrimages to the main cities of Christian Italy - Rome, Bari, Venice, Milan, Florence, Naples and Amalfi, Loreto, etc. The pilgrimage route can be adjusted and changed according to individual requests of groups. An experienced Orthodox escort works with a group of pilgrims along the entire travel route, while professional Orthodox guides meet pilgrims in each city and introduce guests to its shrines. The pilgrimage service works with both organized groups and individual pilgrims.

Contacts of the Pilgrimage Service:
Tel/fax:+39  0639375477
Mobile (Monday to Friday from 10 to 17 hours): +39 349 3802676 (Natalia Viktorovna)
E-mail: palomnik.stcaterina@mail.ru