In 2015, during a technical inspection of the Saint-Vivien church in the French town of Pons, specialists unexpectedly discovered mysterious letters. After studying them, it turned out to be a phrase in Old Russian: "Ivan wrote [to] Zavidovich, going to Saint James." The inscription, dated to the 12th century, is located on the northern side of the Romanesque facade of the church, in the fourth row of the buttress masonry from the bottom, at a height of 83 cm from the modern floor. This indicates that Ivan Zavidovich wrote it either while bending down significantly or while kneeling.

Historians have tried to determine who Ivan Zavidovich might have been. Although it was not possible to establish his exact identity, studies of birch bark letters and chronicles showed that the name Zavid was popular among the Novgorod nobility. How did Ivan end up in this place in the 12th century? The church is located on the route of a well-known pilgrimage path to the Cathedral of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. James is revered by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians. It is possible that a resident of Novgorod stopped here to spend the night or have a meal and decided to leave his inscription. Essentially, this can be compared to the phrase "Vasya was here."

It is likely that Ivan Zavidovich was not the only Russian pilgrim in Western Europe at that time. There were probably many. However, due to his "vandalism," only his name has remained in history. The question arises: why was the inscription discovered only 800 years later? During this time, the church underwent numerous repairs, and layers of whitewash and ochre concealed the inscription from view.