Metropolitan Alexander prayed for Kazakhstan at the St. Elizabeth Convent in Minsk

August 7, 2024. Minsk. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, together with the delegation of Kazakhstani pilgrims accompanying him, visited a significant spiritual center of the Minsk diocese - the St. Elizabeth Convent in the Novinki microdistrict.

The Martha and Mary Convent of the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and the St. John the Baptist Monastery of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) in Essex (Great Britain) served as an example for the organization of the external and internal life of the monastery. Currently, more than 100 nuns carry out their obedience in the monastery.

The head of the Metropolitan District was met by Abbess Euphrosyne (Laptyk). Mother Superior told the guests about the development and modern life of the monastery, various projects carried out in the monastery, and conducted a tour of the temple complex and workshops.

In the monastery, Metropolitan Alexander visited the church in honor of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, skillfully decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine style.

After venerating the shrines of the monastery, among which are particles of the relics of the Baptist and Forerunner John, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, Saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, Ambrose of Milan, the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki, the Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and many other holy martyrs, hierarchs, saints and righteous people, the bishop got acquainted with the work of the workshop for the production of mosaic iconographic panels for decorating churches.

The head of the Metropolitan District presented the Mother Superior with an icon of the new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan as a blessing. For her many years of work, the hierarch awarded the Abbess of the monastery an award from the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan – the medal of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia.

Metropolitan Alexander donated books to the monastery library telling about the life of Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan, and musical albums of the Metropolitan Choir under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov.