On Sunday, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy at the Representative Office of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District in Moscow

November 17, 2024 – the 21st week after Pentecost, the day of remembrance of St. Ioanniky the Great and the holy martyr priest Ismail (Bazilevsky), who suffered in Karaganda in 1941.

The third Sunday of November is the annual World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which is part of the UN system of international and world days.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia at the Patriarchal Metochion of the City of Moscow – Representative Office of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.

His Eminence was assisted by: Vice-Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua); Assistant to the Head of the Metropolitan District Hieromonk Anthony (Drobiazko) and clergy of the metochion.

The Representative Office staff and parishioners of the church prayed during the service.

The liturgical chants were performed by the church choir under the direction of Anna Rozhnova.

During the service, prayers were offered for the repose of "all those killed in traffic accidents."

At the end of the Liturgy, the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District congratulated the participants of the service on Sunday - "Little Easter" and addressed the congregation with a word of teachings.

"It is deeply regrettable that some Orthodox Christians have lost their zeal for attending church, especially on the eve of Sundays and great holidays. Many reasons are given to justify this - work, household chores and physical fatigue. But if we are impartial to ourselves and count how much time most of us devote to God and our immortal souls per week, we will get a very small number of hours and minutes. Indeed, the rhythm of life today is very different from the last century or the century before last, the bustle has intensified, the number of worries has grown and time has seemingly decreased, but St. John Chrysostom suggests taking a different look at this problem, to see its true causes: "That is why many things in both public and private affairs do not go according to our wishes, because we do not care about the spiritual in advance, but about the mundane." The Lord Himself commanded us: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," and at the same time promised that everything connected with the earthly aspect of our existence would be added to us. Blessed Augustine interpreted this Gospel verse as follows: "If God be in the first place, then everything else will be in its place." We all need to truly realize that our life with its joys and experiences, its spiritual and material components are exclusively in God's hands, because He is the Almighty, the Creator of the visible and invisible. One of the main tasks of the feats of fasting is to return to our minds and hearts the awareness of these great and sublime truths." From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.