« Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh took part in a regular session of the Holy Synod »
07-03-2010 
On Friday 5 March, Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh took part in a regular session of the Holy Synod, held under the presidency of the His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the historical building of the Holy Sinod in Saint Petersburg.
During the last session of the Holy Synod Vladyka Elisey was elected as a temporary member of the Synod for the spring/ summer period.
On Saturday 6 March, the members of the Synod undertook a pilgrimage to the holy places of Saint Petersburg.
During the visit to the Holy Trinity-St Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church prayed and venerated the holy relics of the Right-believing Grand Prince St Alexander Nevsky and the icon of the Mother of God “Skoroposlushnitsa”. At the Nikolskoe Cemetery, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill served a memorial litia at the tomb of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), his teacher of blessed memory.
Having left the Holy Trinity-St Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the hierarchs went to the church of St Nicholas on the Large Okhta, where in the 1980s the future Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh used to take part in services as a subdeacon of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, at that time rector of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy. 
The next place to visit was the Smolenskoe Cemetery, where Patriarch Kirill served a moleben in the chapel of Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg.
In the evening of 6 March, on the eve of Holy Cross Sunday, Archbishop Elisey took part in the Polyeleic Matins with the Rite of the Veneration of the Holy Cross, served by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill in the Cathedral of St Nicholas in Saint Petersburg, where Archbishop Elisey had been ordained priest in 1986.
On Sunday of the Holy Cross, Archbishop Elisey and other members of the Holy Synod concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Cathedral of the Kazan Mother of God.
During their stay in Saint Petersburg, the members of the Holy Synod were housed in the restored Novodevichiy Monastery.
Archbishop Elisey was accompanied by Protodeacon Dimitry Nedostupenko during his visit to Saint Petersburg.