The stay of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Healer” in the southern capital has ended. Over 30 thousand people worshiped the shrine

May 21, 2024. Alma-Ata. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, the manager of the affairs of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, led a prayer service before the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Healer” in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery, completing the stay of the great shrine of Orthodoxy in the southern capital..

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Kazakhstan Archpriest Anatoly Izmerov, cleric of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery Archpriest Alexander Sokolov and Archpriest Viktor Nelin, head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov.

The choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Almaty sang under the direction of E. Skorova.

Numerous believers gathered to pray at the icon of the Queen of Heaven.

Before the start of the service, Bishop Gennady congratulated those present on the joy of common prayer at the venerated image of the Most Holy Theotokos and delivered a sermon on the veneration of the icons of the Mother of God.

At the end of the prayer singing, the clergy, choir and believers performed glorification in front of the miraculous image, after which the hierarch overshadowed the clergy and believers with the shrine, calling on God’s blessing to the land of Kazakhstan.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the great shrine of Orthodoxy, kept in the Alekseevsky Stavropegial Convent in Moscow, has been in the Alma-Ata diocese since May 17 of this year. The bringing of the miraculous image is a gift from the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to the residents of the Republic in the year of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Astana and Alma-Ata diocese.

On the pilgrimage to Kazakhstan, the shrine was accompanied by: the abbess of the Alekseevskaya female stauropegial monastery of Moscow, the head of the Legal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Ksenia (Chernega), the confessor of the Alekseevsky monastery, Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov and the sisters of the monastery.

The miraculous image of the Queen of Heaven for prayerful worship was located in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery of the southern capital and St. Nicholas Cathedral in Alma-Ata. Every day, from early morning until late evening, and at night, pilgrims walked in an endless stream with prayers to the shrine, wanting to receive spiritual consolation and strengthening. Over 30,000 people worshiped the miraculous icon.

Security and order in the Iversko-Seraphim monastery and in the adjacent territory were ensured by the Cossacks of the Semirechye Cossack Union, led by Ataman V.S. Shikhotov.

At the end of the prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the southern capital, the miraculous image of the Most Holy Theotokos departed for its permanent place of residence - the Alekseevsky Stavropegic Convent in Moscow.