More than 5,000 pilgrims are expected in Polotsk on the day of the Dormition of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk

June 4, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. More than 5,000 pilgrims will arrive in Polotsk on June 5 for the day of the repose of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the Polotsk-Glubokoye Diocese informed a BELTA correspondent. According to tradition, the celebrations will begin with the Divine Liturgy in St. Sophia Cathedral, followed by a religious procession from the cathedral to the Spaso-Yefrosinievsky Monastery, where the relics of the Belarusian saint are kept. Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, is expected to participate in the celebrations. Euphrosyne of Polotsk was the first woman in Belarus to be recognized as a saint. Despite the fact that her ascetic activity took place during the era of the Christian schism (mid-12th century), she is equally revered in both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. For the Orthodox Christians of Belarus, Euphrosyne of Polotsk is one of the most revered saints and is considered the patroness of female monasticism. -0-