Week after the Epiphany. The head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia on Miusy

January 26, 2025 – the 31st week after Pentecost, after the Epiphany; the day of remembrance of the Venerable Irinarch the Recluse of Rostov.

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 – the Representative Office of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

His Eminence was assisted by: Acting Rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Clement of Rome in Zamoskvorechye, Head of the Doctoral Studies Department of the General Church Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies named after Saints Cyril and Methodius, Archpriest Alexei Marchenko; Acting Rector of the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary, Head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; Vice-Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua); Key Keeper of the Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their Mother Sophia, Hieromonk Anthony (Drobiazko); Clergy of the Metochion.

The church choir sang under the direction of Anna Rozhnova.

The following prayed at the service: Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation N.V. Parshikova, parishioners and employees of the Representative Office.

The funeral litany commemorated the newly departed Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, who departed to the Lord on January 25.

The liturgy ended with the glorification of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, after which the hierarch addressed the parishioners with the words of a sermon.

After the service, Metropolitan Alexander, in recognition of his contribution to the strengthening and development of Orthodox education and science, and in connection with his 55th birthday, awarded Archpriest Alexei Marchenko the Order of St. Sophonia (Sokolsky), Archbishop of Tashkent and Turkestan, Enlightener of Semirechye. The head of the Metropolitan District wished the pastor health, longevity and God's help in his further work for the good of the Holy Church.