Solovetsky Monastery:
Russia, 164070, Solovetsky village, Arkhangelskaya oblast, The Solovetsky Stavropegial Monastery of the Transfiguration, Pilgrimage Service;
Tel.: 007 (8183590) 2-98

For more information contact

Solovetsky subsidiary monastery in Moscow:
Russia, 115035, Moscow, Ulitsa Sadovnicheskaya, 6,
the church of the Great Martyr George in Endova. To get there, alight at Novokuznetskaya underground station, then walk for 5-10 minutes along Pyatnitskaya street towards the Kremlin.
Tel.: 007 (495) 951-56-44

Solovetsky subsidiary monastery in Arkhangelsk:
163061, Arkhangelsk, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dviny, 77/1.
All correspondence should be addressed to PO Box 129.
Take bus No 12 from Talagi Airport to Ulitsa Pomorskaya bus stop or bus No 54 or 2 from the railway station to Ulitsa Pomorskaya bus stop.
Tel.: 007 (8182) 20-73-13

Solovetsky subsidiary monastery in Kem:
Russia, 186601, Karelian Republic, Kem, Rabocheostrovsk settlement, Ulitsa Portovaya, 8.
Take a train to Kem station (direction Murmansk), then bus No 1 to the Port bus station (end of route).
Tel.: 007 (8145) 83-53-68.
The Solovki subsidiary monastery in Kem can provide pilgrims with transportation and lodging in case of poor weather conditions.

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A pilgrimage is not a pleasure tour or leisure activity, it is not a way of unwinding or a cultural break. If one embarks on a pilgrimage with a penitential feeling and the intention to share in the sacred things of old, then the entire journey, from the first to the last step, becomes an ascetic exercise which makes the pilgrim a participant in a life set apart (in Russian, the word inochestvo or monasticism originates from the word inoi or set apart, different), the sort of life that Holy Rus lived for a thousand years.

The purpose and the nature of pilgrimage is prayer and proximity to the monastery’s holy relics. It is desirable for pilgrims to fast and participate in the Holy Eucharist while at the monastery.

Ten is the ideal number of pilgrims in a group. Each group delegates a senior pilgrim to head it.

Those who have been given a blessing (permission) to visit Solovki as pilgrims, will have to exercise full obedience to the monastery’s superiors which implies no unauthorised activity – any activity has to be approved by the superiors.

The pilgrim should wear decent, modest clothing suitable for work. Women must wear long skirts and head scarf inside the monastery.

As monastic life is a constant feat of prayer, pilgrims should not disturb monks from this ascetic exercise. This means that pilgrims should conduct themselves quietly and modestly ensuring that it is the monastery which affects the pilgrims and not the other way round.

Pilgrims should not exercise curiousity where and how the monks live or what they eat. They should not wander in the monks’ block without a blessing (permission), or knock at monks’ doors in search of the inhabitants. This could embarrass the monks and disturb their prayer and solitude.

Order and piety are the distinguishing features of monastery divine office. Participation in the divine office is seen as a reward and great spiritual comfort for the pilgrim’s labours and pilgrimage. But if the divine office is neglected by pilgrims without a good reason, their spiritual exercise could lose its meaning and purpose.

The Solovetsky Monastery has always been famous for its diligent hard working monks and pilgrims. Pilgrims can contribute to the revival of the Solovetsky monastery, the ancient sanctuary of Orthodoxy, by taking on and doing whatever tasks they can.

If pilgrims do not conduct themselves appropriately, disturb Church order and monastic rules, the superiors can ask them to leave Solovki in order not to upset the monks and those who have come to this holy soil for the benefit of their souls.

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