God in Russia: Religious service in The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the most important Russian monastery and spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in the town of Zagorsk, which was renamed in 1991 as Sergiyev Posad.

God in Russia: Worshippers during a religious service in The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the most important Russian monastery and spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church, located in the town of Zagorsk, which was renamed in 1991 as Sergiyev Posad.

God in Russia: Patriarch Pimen I of Moscow in the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery in Zagorsk (currently known as Sergiyev Posad). Pimen I (born as Sergey Mikhailovich Izvekov in 1910) was the 14th Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1971 until his death in 1990. In 1954, he had become head of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius Monastery, and in 1961 he had been appointed Matropolitan Bishop of Leningrad and Ladoga. After the death of Patriarch Alexius I in 1971, Pimen was elected the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.

God in Russia: a child is being baptized in a Russian Orthodox Church.

God in Russia: A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the holy water during the Great Blessing of Water, which is celebrated on the eve of the feast of Theophany (Epiphany) in January.

God in Russia: a Russian Orthodox family is celebrating Easter by laying Easter bread and Easter eggs on the grave of a relative.

God in Russia: A Russian Orthodox priest and two women from a kolkhoz, a type of collective farm in the Soviet Union.

God in Russia: Russian Orthodox women wait to have their Easter bread blessed by the priest.

God in Russia: Russian Orthodox priests at the monument for heroes of the Red Army in Volokolamsk.

General News - 2nd prize