On the day of remembrance of St. Sebastian of Karaganda, the heavenly patron of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy in the St. Sophia Cathedral of Alma-Ata

April 19, 2024 – Friday of the 5th week of Lent; Memorial Day of St. Sebastian of Karaganda - the heavenly patron of Kazakhstan.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron-Seraphim Convent in Almaty.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: vicars of the Astana diocese - Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Bishop of Taldykorgan Claudian and Bishop of Talgar Benjamin; dean of the churches of the southern capital, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”, Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov; head of the public relations department of the Metropolitan District, keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; and about. Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, head of the information department of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; Dean of the Ili Church District, Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov; clergyman of the Constantine-Elenin Cathedral in Astana, Archpriest Sergius Kaliev; sacristan of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya; rectors and clergy of churches of the Alma-Ata diocese; representatives of the administration and teachers of the theological seminary in holy orders, clergy - employees of the Alma-Ata diocesan administration. The diaconal rank was headed by Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich.

During the service in the cathedral, for prayerful worship and spiritual strengthening of believers, there was an ark with a particle of the relics of St. Sebastian of Karaganda.

Liturgical chants were performed by the choir of the St. Sophia Cathedral monastery under the direction of O. Usoltseva.

The following people prayed in the church: Secretary of the Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, member of the Church and Public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for the development of Russian church singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) of the Iversko-Seraphim Convent with the sisters of the monastery; employees of the Alma-Ata diocese, students of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, parishioners of city churches, benefactors and pilgrims of the monastery.

At the funeral litany, intense prayers were offered for the ever-memorable parents of St. Sebastian of Karaganda - the servants of God Vasily and Martha, his brothers - schemamonk Raphael and monk Hilarion; about the elder’s spiritual daughter, schema-abbess Sebastian (Zhukova); about Orthodox Christians “in a time of fierce persecution from the atheists, tortured and killed, from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses and overwork.”

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov.

The Liturgy ended with the glorification of the Venerable Confessor Sebastian of Karaganda in front of the ark with his venerable relics.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan warmly welcomed the archpastors, clergy, monastics and laity who had gathered to honor the memory of the great Kazakh saint, the Venerable Elder Sebastian and delivered a sermon.

The worshipers were sprinkled with holy water.

For the upcoming holiday of Holy Easter, Metropolitan Alexander awarded the clergy of the Alma-Ata diocese with liturgical and hierarchical awards:

• rector of the church in the name of Righteous John of Kronstadt, Zhetygen village, Alma-Ata region, Archpriest Vadim Alekseev - the right to serve the Liturgy with the royal doors open until the chant “Like the Cherubim”;
• cleric of the Adriano-Natalievsky Church in the village of Otegen Batyr Priest Evgeniy Bessonov - the right to wear a pectoral cross with decorations;
• the dean of the Zharkent church district, the rector of the Prophet Elias Church of the city of Zharkent, Alma-Ata region, Priest Dimitry Kaplin - the right to wear a gold-colored pectoral cross;
• the rector of the Dimitrievsky Church in the village of Bayserke, Alma-Ata region, Priest Vladimir Shishlov - the right to wear a kamilavka;
• clergy of the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery of Alma-Ata, Hierodeacon Mitrofan (Ognev) and Deacon Bogdan Boyko - the right to wear a double orarion.

The head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the abbess of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery, Abbess Lyubov, on the anniversary of her monastic tonsure.

The archpastor said words of well-wishes to the keymaster of the Nativity Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, who was celebrating his birthday.

“Today we celebrate the memory of an outstanding ascetic of piety, confessor of the faith of the twentieth century and one of the last elders of the Optina Hermitage - St. Sebastian of Karaganda. Three great gifts were left to us by a zealous prayer book - an example of his virtuous life, described in detail by spiritual children and contemporaries, his spiritual instructions, sermons and teachings and tomb with his honest relics, exuding help and healing to all who turn with faith in prayer to God. On the day of remembrance of the holy elder, let us turn our spiritual gaze to the will of the monk. These words were spoken by him shortly before moving into eternal life: “I ask you all about one thing: live in peace. Peace and love are the most important thing. If you have this among yourself, you will always have joy in your soul.” Kneeling before the relics and iconographic images of the reverend elder, we ask him to be with us, we ask him to offer his holy prayers to the Throne of the Lord for the sending down to us of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, for the granting of unshameful faith, strong hope and unfeigned love. We turn to St. Sebastian with a prayer to bless our native Kazakhstan land and ask the Creator and Giver of all blessings God to grant peace to the whole world and salvation to our souls.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.