On Lazarus Saturday, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of the southern capital

April 27, 2024 - Lazarus Saturday - the feast of the Resurrection by the Lord Jesus Christ of the righteous Lazarus of the Four Days.

The service performed on Lazarus Saturday has some statutory features: hymns are sung, which are an indispensable part of the Sunday all-night vigil: the troparia “Astonished at the Council of Angels”, “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”, “Holy is the Lord our God” are sung. Instead of the Trisagion, the baptismal hymn is sung at the Liturgy: “The Elites were baptized into Christ...”, in remembrance of the ancient tradition of baptism of catechumens on this day. Lazarus Saturday is the day when “before the passion” of Christ, and even before His uprising, the mystery of the Resurrection of Christ is revealed to believers in the resurrection of Lazarus.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral in the name of the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky in the city of Almaty.

The head of the Metropolitan District was concelebrated by: dean of Alma-Ata churches, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, mitered archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the Alma-Ata Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, rector of the Paraskevi Church and Alexander Nevsky Church Archpriest Ioann Lopatin, dean of the Ili church district Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov, keymaster of the Peter and Paul Church Archpriest Kirill Shklyar, deputy keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral Priest Andrey Shklyar, head of the Metropolitan's personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov, Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan's protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Sergiy Slesarchuk.

The choir of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral sang under the direction of regent A. Kulmetov.

The archpastor offered prayers for the increase of love and the eradication of all hatred and malice.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the end of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those gathered with an archpastoral sermon.

The hierarch sprinkled the believers with holy water.

“Today there is a special Saturday in the church calendar - the Saturday before Palm Sunday, called Lazarus. On this day, we, “those who celebrated the soul-fulfilling Pentecost,” are called by the Church to remember the miracle of Christ’s resurrection of our friend, the righteous Lazarus. The Holy Church glorifies this event as proof of the Divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the same time, assurance of His human nature. Listening carefully to today's Gospel narrative, we see in Christ His God-manhood: two natures, two actions, two desires. As an omniscient God, He announced to His disciples about the death of Lazarus, without being notified of it. As a true man, Jesus Christ came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived and died, and seeing the sister of his dead friend weeping and those who came with her weeping, He Himself shed tears and like an ignorant one asked: “Where will you lay him?” As the true God, the Savior, after a short prayer to the Heavenly Father, with His omnipotent word, resurrects Lazarus on the fourth day after his death, delivering him from the darkness of death and corruption. “Assuring the general resurrection before Thy passion, raised Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God...” For Christians, the resurrection of Lazarus became a guarantee that God is able to resurrect all other dead people, this is confirmation, assurance of the general resurrection. Celebrating Lazarus Saturday, you and I profess with all our hearts faith in the life of the future century that awaits each of us. We celebrate the beginning of victory over death, nothingness and destruction. Christ's victory over death is not only a spiritual, but also a physical reality. The Lord Jesus truly rose again in body for the salvation of all people. With His resurrection, death lost its irreversible character, and for those who believed in Christ it became birth into eternal life, a door that opens the path to Heaven, to the Kingdom of God. Strengthened by the awareness of this truth, the martyrs for Christ boldly and courageously faced any trials and tribulations. A striking example of faith in the Lord and hope in the life of the future century was shown to us by the children of the Church, who fearlessly accepted the crowns of suffering during the years of persecution of holy Orthodoxy in the last century.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.