Centennial Anniversary
of Pilgrimage to Fort Ross

Fort Ross State Historic Park

Saturday, October 4th, 2025

19005 Coast Highway, Jenner, CA 95450

His Eminence Kyrill, Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America (ROCOR), and His Eminence Benjamin, Archbishop of San Francisco and the West (OCA), invite Orthodox Christians, family, and friends to the Centennial Anniversary of Pilgrimage to Fort Ross on Saturday, October 4, 2025.  Join us on this holy and beautiful day!

The first place of prayer in the United States, outside of Alaska, is the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Chapel on the grounds of Fort Ross State Historic Park.  In 1832, a Father Alexei Sokolov came to perform the church rites at Fort Ross and in 1836 a priest named Father Ioann Veniaminov – who we now venerate as the visionary missionary St. Innocent! – spent five weeks ministering to the flock of Christ in that habitation.

Since 1925, Orthodox clergy and faithful from Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco and other parishes of what is now the Diocese of the West, Orthodox Church in America (OCA), have conducted services annually at the Chapel on the Fourth of July holiday, Independence Day.  A few years later, a tradition of serving at Fort Ross on Memorial Day was initiated by the clergy and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). This makes Fort Ross the longest continuous site of pilgrimage in the lower forty-eight!

100 years of faith is something worth celebrating! In recognition of this centennial anniversary of pilgrimage, the Western American Diocese of ROCOR and the Diocese of the West of the OCA are collaborating and inviting our clergy and faithful to make a special joint pilgrimage on Saturday, October 4.  His Beatitude Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada (OCA), and His Eminence Nicholas, Metropolitan of Eastern America, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad (ROCOR) will lead us in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy that morning. After partaking of the Holy Eucharist together, we will go in procession to the historic cemetery where the names of our ancestors in the faith buried there will be commemorated. The celebration will conclude with a festive luncheon on the ocean bluffs. This grand catered picnic will take place on the bluffs overlooking the ocean.  Pilgrims are encouraged to purchase tickets for this catered luncheon on this website.

Participate in this beautiful, celebratory moment to thank God for the gift of Holy Orthodoxy in our land and to prayerfully invoke the Lord's bounties on the next 100 years, if that is His will for us! The Divine Liturgy will begin at 10 am. For the most up-to-date information about this pilgrimage, the festive meal, or for the "Fort Ross- Then and Now" conference on October 3rd, 2024, please see the complete schedule.