St. Peter's Day, or the Day of Remembrance of St. Peter the First Metropolitan and Patron of Moscow, is celebrated annually on September 6. This patronal feast has been present in the church calendar since 1480.
Saint Peter – is the first saint of the city of Moscow, was Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' in the 14th century. It was Metropolitan Peter who decided to move the see of the Kyiv Metropolitan to Moscow, which greatly contributed to the formation of Moscow as the capital of Rus. For these reasons, he is called the first Metropolitan of Moscow, one of the fathers of the founders of the Mother See and patron of the capital.
Metropolitan Peter first came to Moscow in 1315, and on one of the hills above the Neglinka River he founded a monastery in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul. After the canonization of St. Peter, the monastery was renamed in his honor – by Vysoko-Petrovsky.
In 2015, September 6 marked not only the patronal day of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, but also the 700th anniversary of its founding by Metropolitan Peter. In honor of this event, in addition to the annual celebration, a Patriarchal religious procession was held on the territory of the monastery from the Moscow Kremlin to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, in which representatives of state power, the Moscow government, public figures, bishops, clergy and laity of Moscow and the Moscow region took part.
Every year, the celebration of St. Peter's Day traditionally begins in the morning with a service in the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery in Moscow and a procession around the monastery with the main monastery shrine – and the icon of St. Peter. During the day, Orthodox festive events are held on the territory of the monastery: guests are treated to aromatic tea from real Russian wood samovars, and their favorite ancient treats – gingerbread, bagels, lump sugar and more are served with tea.
On this day, Petrovka Street, named after St. Peter, is transformed for the Great Church Holiday. Here and on Petrovsky Boulevard there are exhibitions, historical reconstructions and interesting quests related to the history of Moscow and the foundations of Orthodoxy are organized. The holiday ends with an open-air evening concert and a beautiful ringing of bells.