14 September 2010
Interfax
Two residents of Irkutsk, who are carrying out a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot, arrived in Petropavlovsk in northern Kazakhstan, an Interfax correspondent reported.
Irkutsk Cossacks captain Vladimir Bragintsev, a former policeman now pensioner, started for a long journey on May 8 in Siberia; novice of St. Michael the Archangel Monastery Alexander Serebrennikov joined him a little bit later. For more than four months the pilgrims walked about 3,000 kilometers, visited Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and other Russian cities and towns.
The pilgrims are going to walk to Jerusalem and worship at Orthodox Christian shrines.
The pilgrims have an ordinary tourist set in their rucksacks – a tent, sleeping bags, a pot, matches, food supplies and a medicine box. They buy food on the way taking money from their banking card.
The pilgrims often sleep in the woods in their tent, but sometimes strangers give them a warm reception.
Bragintsev believes his trip to Jerusalem will take him not less that four years, but on his way he dreams of visiting Solovki and Valaam to pray for his relatives killed in World War II.
See also the article from June 25, 2010: A Siberian Pilgrim Goes on Foot to Jerusalem