A meeting took place between Metropolitan Alexander and the akim of the city of Rudny V.N. Ionenko

March 30, 2024. Rudny. At the end of the Divine Liturgy in the St. John the Theological Cathedral, a meeting took place between Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan with the mayor of the city V.N. Ionenko.

The meeting was attended by the secretary of the Kostanay diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burdyuzha), and the head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky).

Viktor Nikolaevich warmly welcomed the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, thanking him for the visit and attention to the issues of the spiritual life of the region.

During the conversation, the akim introduced Metropolitan Alexander to the most striking pages of the history of the city of Rudny, which was founded in 1957, when the active development of the previously discovered iron ore deposit and the construction of the Sokolovsko-Sarbaisky mining and processing plant began. According to V.N. Ionenko, the largest city-forming enterprise in Kazakhstan today, like previous decades, is the main place of work for the residents of Rudny and an active participant in the development of the settlement.

Metropolitan Alexander told Viktor Nikolaevich about the main events in the church life of Kazakhstan, noting that this year marks a significant date for the Metropolitan District - the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Astana and Alma-Ata diocese on the territory of the Republic. The hierarch shared plans to bring to Alma-Ata a famous shrine - the miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven "Healer" - to Alma-Ata for the celebration of the memorable date and to the city of Astana - an ark with the relics of the blessed old lady Matrona of Moscow.

It was noted that the political and socio-economic development of both the whole of Kazakhstan and individual regions of the country, and the successful solution of tasks to improve various aspects of the life of Kazakh society directly depends on the preservation of peace, good neighborliness and interfaith and interethnic harmony.

A separate topic of the meeting was issues related to the interaction of the city administration with the Kostanay Diocese of the Metropolitan District in the framework of joint cultural and educational projects.

The mayor presented the bishop with a book of his authorship, “Laying the Path to the Ancestors.”

At the end of the conversation, which took place in a friendly atmosphere, Metropolitan Alexander and V.I. Ionenko wished each other health and success in their work.