A reading competition dedicated to the 225th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin was held in the southern capital

On May 26, 2024, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, a reading competition “The Soul in the Treasured Lyre” was held in the church meeting hall at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty, dedicated to the 225th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin.

The event is dedicated to the holiday of Easter.

The jury, led by the manager of the affairs of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, included: Honored Worker of Culture of Russia, Head of the Culture Department of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District L.E. Goricheva; Director of the Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty G.V. Cherepanova; teacher of the Central Sunday School L.M. Gizatullina.

The organizers of the creative competition are the Department of Culture of the Metropolitan District and the Central Sunday School of the Southern Capital.

60 pupils from 12 Sunday schools of the Alma-Ata diocese took part in the competition, performing in 5 age groups: 5-6 years old, 7-9 years old, 10-11 years old, 12-14 years old, 15 years old and older.

After listening, Bishop Gennady addressed the participants in the poetry competition with words of edification. His Eminence gave practical advice for working on poetry and thanked the organizing committee for the excellent organization.

Words of gratitude and appreciation were spoken by the director of the Central Sunday School G.V. Cherepanova to Bishop Gennady, teachers and parents.

At the end of the event, a mini-play “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish” was presented, prepared by teachers and students of the Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty.

As a result of the competition, the winners were:

Age group 5-6 years

I place – Anna Mamontova, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

2nd place – Alisa Reshetina, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Almaty;

III place – Maria Pikalova, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

Prize of Hope - Asimov Rafael, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday in Almaty.

Age group 7-9 years

I place – Vnukova Sofia, Sunday school of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Irgeli;

II place – Alexander Makarov and Sofia Mamontova, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

III place – Anastasia Matlashova, Vasilisa Naumova, Sunday school of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Alma-Ata and Anfisa Khlopotenko, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian of the Southern capital;

Prize of Hope - Vnukov Tikhon, Sunday school of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Irgeli;

Audience Award – Kukhol Nikolay, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian of the Southern capital;

Encouragement prize - Mikheev Platon, Sunday school of the Church of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in the village of Baganashil and Sayfutdinova Maria, Sunday school of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Almaty.

Age group 10-11 years

I place – Elisey Naumov, Sunday school of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Alma-Ata;

II place – Kononova Matrona, Sunday school of the Kazan Cathedral of Almaty and Purtova Sofia, Sunday school “Spikelet” of the Church in the name of the Archangel Michael in the city of Kaskelen;

III place – Victoria Dyudina, Margarita Stafeeva and Egor Terentyev, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty.

Age group 12-14 years

I place – Daria Rusinova, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

II place – Moiseikina Arina, Sunday school of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Alma-Ata and Popoyanidi Alexander, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian of the Southern capital;

III place – Naumova Miloslava, Sunday school of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Alma-Ata, Sobolev Alexey, Central Sunday school of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the city of Alma-Ata and Shakhvorostov Mark, Sunday school “Spikelet” of the Church in the name of the Archangel Michael in the city of Kaskelen;

Prize of Hope - Varvara Vysotskaya, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral of Almaty and Alina Vinnikova, Sunday School of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Friday of Alma-Ata;

Audience Award – Bykova Sofia, Sunday school of the Ascension Cathedral of the southern capital and Budaev Ilya, Central Sunday school of the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Almaty;

Encouragement prize - Stikhina Margarita, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in Alma-Ata.

Age group 15 years and older

I place – Kira Vasilenko, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

II place – Kravchenko Konstantin, Sunday school of the Church of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, village of Baganashil and Layurova Daria, Central Sunday school;

III place – Ivan Korzhov, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

Prize of hope - Daria Garazhanova, Sunday school of the Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian of Alma-Ata and Dmitry Tsukanov, Sunday school of the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia in the Southern capital.

As part of the event, the results were summed up and the winners of the Easter exhibition of drawings and crafts, as well as the International Arts and Crafts Competition “Easter Egg”, were awarded, in which pupils of Almaty Sunday schools took part.

Nomination "Crafts"

I place – Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

II place – Sunday school of the Iversko-Seraphim convent and Sunday school of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in the southern capital;

III place – Sunday school of the Ascension Cathedral and Sunday school of the Paraskevi Church in Almaty.

Nomination "Drawing"

I place – Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty;

II place – Sunday school of the Iversko-Seraphim Convent and Sunday school of the Kazan Cathedral of Almaty;

III place – Sunday school of the Holy Cross Church of the Southern Capital.

Winners of the Easter Egg competition

III place – Daria Layurova, Central Sunday School of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty and Elena Zhiltsova, Sunday School of the Church of Saints Adrian and Natalia Almaty.