On the day of remembrance of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy in the Ascension Cathedral of the Southern capital (+VIDEO

September 22, 2024 - the 13th week after Pentecost, the afterfeast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos; the day of remembrance of the new martyrs and confessors who shone on the land of Kazakhstan.

The holy new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan are prayerfully remembered on the first Sunday following the day of remembrance of the holy martyr Pimen, Bishop of Vernoye and Semirechye.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Almaty.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was assisted by: Administrator of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Vicar of the Astana Diocese Bishop Claudian of Taldykorgan, Bishop Chrysanthus of Chimkent and Turkestan, Vicar of the Astana Diocese Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; Dean of the parishes of Almaty, Rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral Mitred Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Rector of the Church in Honor of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Archpriest Yevgeny Vorobyov, Spiritual Father of the Almaty Diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), Key Bearer of the Cathedral, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; Key Bearer of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, Acting Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; Rector of the Epiphany Church Archpriest Valery Shavrin; Dean of the Ili Church District Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov, Archpriest Alexander Sokolov, Head of the Personal Secretariat of the Metropolitan Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Correspondence Department of the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary Priest Daniil Bobylev, Sacristan of the Adriano-Natalievskiy Church Priest Ioann Konoplev, Sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral in Alma-Ata Priest Georgy Rublinsky; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan's protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin, Deacon John Churkin, Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon John Zhuchkov, Deacon Ilya Vorobyov.

At the service in the main church of the Southern capital, a reliquary with particles of the relics of the new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan was kept for prayerful worship and spiritual strengthening of the believers.

The chants were performed by the choir of the Metropolitan District (choirmaster - Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov, choirmaster - V. Dudareva) and the choir of the Ascension Cathedral (choirmaster - N. Zubrevich).

Prayers were offered for the repose of the hierarchs, clergy, monastics and all Orthodox Christians "in the time of fierce persecution from the atheists, tortured and killed, from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses and backbreaking labor in camps, in dungeons and in chains who died."

The sermon on the communion verse was delivered by Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov.

At the end of the Liturgy, the glorification of the Most Holy Theotokos and the new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan took place before the ark with their honorable relics, after which many years were proclaimed for the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'; the Head, Most Reverend Archpastors, clergy, monastics and God-saved flock of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; To the President, authorities, army and all the people of Kazakhstan.

Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the clergy and laity on Sunday and the celebration in honor of all the saints of Kazakhstan and addressed the assembled with a word of instruction.

His Eminence sprinkled the believers with holy water.

"Kazakhstan was destined to take a special place in the modern history of the Russian Orthodox Church. This entire ancient land in the hour of fiery temptation (1 Peter 4:12) became a place of exploits, confession, courageous suffering and martyrdom of such a huge number of believers of different ranks and ages that now it is rightly called "Antiminia, spread out under the open sky." These sublime words were first used to describe Kazakhstan by the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. In the endless expanses of Sary-Arka, in Semirechye, in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau, in Turkestan, they carried their heavy cross, were exhausted by hunger and disease, suffered from cold and heat, languished from backbreaking work, died in great agony for their faith in God. Even after many decades, the names of places of mass repressions and deaths of innocent people still cause pain in the heart: KarLag, ALZHIR, Steplag, Lisya Balka. The Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan united the faithful sons and daughters of our Church from various provinces of the former Russian Empire - from the Baltic and the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The martyrology of the Great Steppe contains the names of such famous hierarchs as Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov) of Kazan - an unbending, uncompromising fighter for the sanctity and purity of Orthodoxy; Archbishop Luka (Voino-Yasenetsky) of Simferopol - a world-famous surgeon, professor of medicine, laureate of the state prize, author of many unique scientific works; Archbishop of Kostroma Nikodim (Krotkov), Archbishop of Omsk Alexy (Orlov), Archbishop of Voronezh Zachariah (Lobov), Bishop of Lipetsk Uar (Shmarin), Bishop of Ivanovo Boris (Voskoboinikov), Bishop of Dmitrov Seraphim (Zvezdinsky), Archbishop of Kherson Prokopy (Titov), Bishop of Podolsk Ambrose (Polyansky) and many others. Wherever an Orthodox Christian lives today - in Central Russia, the Far East or Siberia, Ukraine, the Baltics, Belarus - his diocese, parish, native church will always be especially connected with Kazakhstan by the name of one or another sufferer of Christ, who shed his blood on this land, or served prison terms here in exile and camps. It is our duty to remember each of those who suffered for the name of Christ, to recreate their bright image, to immortalize their names in the memory of the people, and to ensure that new generations of Christians are raised on these examples. Thank God that in recent years, the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District has done much to ensure that the suffering feat of the confessors of the faith who shone forth in the Central Asian region has become as well known and studied as possible, both in our country and beyond. The sacrificial feat of a host of hierarchs, pastors, monastics and laity has become an obvious confirmation of the truth and immutability of the words of Christ the Savior, who said to His disciples: “I will build My Church, and the gates of hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Those who shed their blood for the gospel truth, who served God with faith and truth in the hour of fiery trial, who went through exile and camps, who courageously endured persecution, oppression and humiliation, laid the foundation on which today we can build and develop a full-fledged church life. Today, after decades have passed since the terrible persecution of holy Orthodoxy, we see that the All-good Providence of God has turned all the suffering, sorrow and difficulties that fell to their lot for the good - for the glory and honor of the faithful servants of Christ. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire" (1 Peter 1:7-9), the chief apostle Peter addressed those who suffered for the name of Christ. Today's celebration in honor of all the saints of Kazakhstan encourages us to check and test ourselves for fidelity to the commandments of the Gospel, to strengthen our souls with examples of the life feat of martyrs, to work tirelessly for the salvation of the soul, to preach the Word of Christ's Truth to those near and far." From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.