The Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District held a New Year's prayer service at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty (+VIDEO)

December 31, 2024. Almaty. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan led a prayer service before the start of the New Year at the Ascension Cathedral.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was assisted by: vicars of the Astana diocese - Administrator of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Bishop Claudian of Taldykorgan and Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; dean of the parishes of Almaty, rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in the city of Alma-Ata Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, confessor of the Alma-Ata Diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), acting rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, head of the information and publishing department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; heads of departments of the district and diocesan commissions; rectors and clergy of Alma-Ata churches, cathedral clergy.

According to established tradition, in the Ascension Cathedral, parishioners of the churches of the Southern capital gathered to give thanks to God for the outgoing year and ask for gracious help from the Lord for the coming year.

Before the start of the prayer service, Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov read out the address of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan before the New Year 2025.

At the initial exclamation, the parishioners together with the clergy sang the prayer to the Holy Spirit "Heavenly King".

The chants were performed by: the choir of the Metropolitan District under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia, member of the Patriarchal Church and Public Council for the Development of Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov.

At the end of the prayer service, the Metropolitan choir sang the ancient majestic hymn "We Praise You, O God", the author of which is Saint Ambrose of Milan.

The video recording of the service was carried out by the television studio of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan "Semirechye" (director - honored cultural worker Victoria Posadneva, cameraman A. Schmidt; photo recording - employee of the information department A. Shcheglov.

Metropolitan Alexander addressed the believers with words of congratulations on the New Year and a sermon, after which he sprinkled the worshipers with holy water.

"The time of our life is a divine gift. This gift was the outgoing year, this great and mysterious gift is the coming year. We must use this gift and having multiplied it, return it to God filled with good deeds and good accomplishments. The New Year is a new book, with clean sheets. We will fill all three hundred and sixty-five sheets of this book with actions, thoughts, words. It is important to remember that time is given by God for spiritual growth and development. Earthly life is the beginning of eternity. Therefore, we must cherish every hour of it. One day Saint Confessor Sebastian of Karaganda asked his spiritual children: “What is the most precious thing in the world?” And he himself answered this question: “Time is the most precious thing! And what do we lose without regret and uselessly? Time! What do we not value and neglect the most? Time! If we lose time, we lose ourselves! We lose everything!” Let us remember, brothers and sisters, that all the opportunities for a holy, pious life, labors for salvation here on earth, will bear abundant fruit in eternal life.

Peace, health and happiness to you in the New Year! May the blessing of the Lord, the mercy of the Most Pure Lady Theotokos and the intercession of the new martyrs and confessors be with us all!” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.