The Day of Remembrance of the Supreme Apostles Peter and Paul is the patronal holiday of the Peter and Paul Church in the southern capital

July 12, 2024 is the feast of the glorious and all-praised supreme apostles Peter and Paul.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan performed the Divine Liturgy in the church in the name of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul in the city of Alma-Ata. The Peter and Paul Church contains great Orthodox shrines - particles of the relics of the apostles Peter and Paul, and parts of the tombs of the parish's heavenly patrons - the two supreme apostles, donated to the parish by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Archbishop of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk Amfilokhiy, vicar of the Astana diocese, Bishop of Talgar Benjamin; dean of Almaty churches, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the Almaty Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, rector of the Peter and Paul Church Archpriest Vladimir Shklyar, rector of the Paraskevi Church and Alexander Nevsky Church Archpriest Ioann Lopatin, keymaster of the Nativity Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, rector of the Epiphany Church Archpriest Valer th Shavrin, head of the department of the Metropolitan District for public relations, keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral of the southern capital, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, keymaster of the Peter and Paul Church, Archpriest Kirill Shklyar, deputy keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral, Priest Andrei Shklyar, Archpriest Dimitry Sidorov, head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), Vice-Rector for Educational Work of the Seminary, Priest John Livinsky; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, Protodeacon Sergiy Kulikov, Secretary of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Diocese Deacon Ilya Kvan, Deacon John Churkin, Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon Konstantin Chupachenko.

Praying during the service were: Honored Artist of Russia, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; employees of the Alma-Ata diocesan administration, parishioners of churches in the southern capital.

The hymns of the Liturgy were performed by the choir of the Peter and Paul Church under the direction of I.N. Korovina.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Priest John Livinsky.

The liturgy ended with the glorification of the apostles Peter and Paul - the clergy and choir performed the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the first supreme disciples of Christ, the Metropolitan read a prayer to the saints.

In accordance with tradition, the rite of blessing the fruits of the new harvest was performed. The consecration of newly ripened fruits on the day of the apostles Peter and Paul in the southern regions of Kazakhstan and the countries of Central Asia was blessed by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) of blessed memory at the request of the archpastors of the southern dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Alexander addressed the participants of the service with an archpastoral word.

“Today the Church of Christ glorifies two great disciples of the Savior, called the supreme apostles - Peter, burning with faith, and Paul, glorious in wisdom. The Lord commanded all His apostles to go to the nations, teach them, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Savior's disciples holyly fulfilled this commandment, visiting different countries and addressing different peoples with the preaching of the Gospel. But most of all they became famous for their evangelism; the apostles Peter and Paul worked hardest of all. Into a world darkened by pagan errors, filled with lies, selfishness and malice, they brought heavenly truth and the light of Christ, opened the Kingdom of God to people, granted spiritual freedom, and proclaimed “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). They led thousands and thousands of people to the knowledge of the Son of God, Crucified and Risen, founded Christian communities across the face of the earth, establishing for centuries in the universe the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, “which He purchased for Himself with His Blood” (Acts 20:28). Preaching the Gospel gospel, caring for every community of those who believed in the Savior, and building the Church in the pagan world was not an easy task. Today at the Divine Liturgy we heard a reading from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, in which he talks about his sufferings, disasters and sorrows. He had to undertake dangerous journeys, escape from robbers and shipwrecks, languish in the heat and suffer from the cold, endure imprisonment, beatings with sticks and stoning, but nothing could stop Saint Paul in his fidelity to the apostolic calling. The Apostle Peter endured similar trials while preaching in Jerusalem, Syria, Asia Minor and Italy. He became the first bishop of Antioch and then of Rome. With their martyrdom, the apostles Peter and Paul sealed their loyalty to the Lord who chose them and the truth of their preaching. Centuries pass, generations of people change, but from the first times of the existence of the Church of Christ to the present day, the inspired writings of the supreme apostles have filled the ears of believers, are heard in churches and read in homes, instructing people on the paths of salvation, revealing the will of God, and explaining Heavenly mysteries. The Apostolic Epistles can be called fatherly letters, addressed to the entirety of the Church and to each of us. They contain the truths of the Orthodox faith and countless lessons of life in Christ; they contain everything we need to correctly understand the meaning of our earthly existence and to strengthen us on the path to the Kingdom of God. The power of the testimony of Christ’s disciples has reached our days, and we are their heirs, successors of their labors. The Orthodox Church is called apostolic precisely because it continues the apostolic ministry, continues their witness to the world. It is wrong to believe that this testimony is the task of archpastors and priests alone. The whole Church, all of us - bishops, clergy, religious and laity - must continue their sacred mission. It is our common duty to work daily in word and deed, through prayer and fulfillment of the commandments so that the faith of Christ, as in the time of the apostles, spreads and strengthens.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.