I gained an enormous amount from the trip to Minsk. The most obvious thing is the interaction with youth in an orthodox country. Our zarubezhie is separated from the place we call our motherland, and amongst our youth the Russian language and Russian culture are slowly dying. It is vital for us to keep up […]

I was presented with such a unique opportunity to travel to Minsk accompanying the relics of St. Elizabeth and St. Barbara. Seeing the people of Minsk greet the relics with such reverence and prayer was inspiring. I go to church in synod and often pray standing right beside the relics. I have taken this for […]

This year I had the opportunity to visit Minsk with 9 other students my age. As we got off the plane I was very surprised by the amount of reception the relics of St. Elizabeth. It was very weird seeing how important it was to the public there because we live so close to those […]

Minsk Trip Thoughts Almost all aspects of the trip where delightful and enjoyable. The monastery accepted us with great hospitality. Personally, I felt very welcomed by the nuns, novices, Belarusian youth and churchgoers. I have not been to Russia in a long time and this trip in a way gave me a chance to revisit […]

I can say without a doubt that Minsk was the most fulfilling trip I’ve taken and one of the best life experiences I’ve had in general. Because of it, my awareness and understanding of the world has expanded exponentially.  It’s one thing to know that a world outside the U.S. exists, but actually spending time […]

This May a group of orthodox youth from the East coast traveled to Minsk, Belarus with the Relics of Saint Elizabeth. I was fortunate to be a part of this pilgrimage. We stayed at the Saint Elizabeth and Saint Barbara Women’s monastery. There we got to see how much the relics meant to the nuns […]