Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Nikolsky Church in the city of Kostanay

April 3, 2025 - Thursday of the 5th week of Great Lent, the day of remembrance of St. Seraphim of Vyritsa and St. Pakhomiy of Nerekhta.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of St. Gregory the Dialogist in the Nikolsky Church in the city of Kostanay.

The head of the Metropolitan District was assisted by: Secretary of the Kostanay Diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burduzha); Key-keeper of the Constantine and Helen Cathedral, Archpriest Vasily Korolev; Cleric of the main church of the diocese, Hegumen Innocent (Pomogalov); Key-keeper of the Dormition Cathedral in Astana, Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); Cleric of the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the capital of Kazakhstan, Hieromonk Silouan (Sinegubov); Dean of the Lisakovsk church district, rector of the Church of St. Righteous John of Kronstadt in the city of Lisakovsk, Archpriest Oleg Kalmykov; Dean of the Sarykol church district, cleric of the Church of St. Constantine and Helen, Archpriest Vitaly Kleba; Rector of the Church of St. Nicholas in the city of Kostanay, Archpriest Vitaly Gutsan; Rector of the Parish of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Fedorovka, Kostanay Region, Archpriest Alexei Mostovshchikov; Dean of the Kostanay church district, rector of the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the city of Tobyl, Priest Andrei Krutin; clergy of the churches of the Kostanay diocese; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Eleazar Aitbakin, Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

The choir of the Constantine and Helen Cathedral of the city of Kostanay sang under the direction of T. Zhebrak.

The sermon after the communion verse was delivered by Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek).

The Liturgy ended with the glorification of the Venerable Seraphim of Vyritsa and Pakhomiy of Nerekhta, after which the Head of the Metropolitan District addressed the worshipers with a word of instruction.

At the end of the service, Metropolitan Alexander congratulated Priest Andrei Krutin on his birthday and presented the pastor with an icon of the Great Martyr George the Victorious.

“In the history of the Russian Orthodox Church of the 20th century, a special place is occupied by the life of Saint Seraphim of Vyritsa, filled with exploits. Being a famous St. Petersburg merchant, Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov, as the Reverend Seraphim of Vyritsa was called in the world, committed an act inexplicable to the ordinary human mind. Responding with all his soul to the Gospel call of the Savior: “f you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21), he gives away his property to monasteries and the needy, and takes monastic vows with the name Seraphim, in honor of the Reverend Seraphim of Sarov. This act required the highest courage and unwavering faith from him, since the October Revolution of 1917 had already taken place and the terrible years of persecution of Holy Orthodoxy were approaching. Having taken monastic vows in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Hieroschemamonk Seraphim became its spiritual father. From 1930, with the onset of a serious illness, until his death in 1949, he lived in Vyritsa, near Leningrad. The time of the elder's service of the Vyritsa ascetic fell on the period of bloody atheism, the Great Patriotic War and post-war devastation. All these years, Elder Seraphim testified to Christ with his life, leading a huge number of souls to salvation. For his courage and patience, for his love for God and people, the Lord granted Father Seraphim great spiritual wisdom, the power to heal spiritual and physical ailments, and the word of true prophecy. Both during his life and after his departure to the Heavenly abodes, Venerable Seraphim helped and continues to help all who turn to him. After the sorrowful years of persecution of the faith and the Church of Christ, we have the opportunity to partake of the spiritual wealth of his holiness – this truly inexhaustible source of living “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). May the experience of active piety, preserved in the life of the Vyritsa elder, in the people’s memory of his ascetic life and monastic labors, encourage us to purify our souls and hearts, to follow the good example of Orthodox saints who fulfilled the commandment of love for God and neighbor in their deeds.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.

Life of Saint Pachomius of Nerekhta

Saint Pachomius of Nerekhta was born in Vladimir at the beginning of the 14th century into a priest's family.
He took monastic vows in the Vladimir Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, then he was appointed as an abbot of the Constantine-Eleninsky Monastery founded by the Moscow saint near Vladimir by Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow.
Having established monastic life in the new monastery, Saint Pachomius left it. In an effort to live in the wilderness, he settled on the bank of the Solonitsa River at the confluence of the Gridevka River, near the village of Nerekhta, in a place that had been called Sypanovo since ancient times. With the help of the people of Nerekhta, the saint built a wooden church here in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity; For the companions who gathered to see the saint of God, fraternal cells were built, and for the pilgrims, a hotel was set up, where Abbot Pakhomiy himself diligently served the pilgrims. For the new church, the saint painted an icon of the Holy Trinity. Under the hill on which the monastery was located, a holy spring appeared through the prayers of the Sypanovsky elder.
On March 21, 1384, Saint Pakhomiy peacefully departed to the Lord and was buried in the Trinity Church he had built.
Three centuries later, in 1675, the Russian Orthodox Church glorified the Nerekhta elder as a saint. Today, the holy relics of Saint Pakhomiy rest under a crypt in the Trinity-Sypanov Pakhomiy-Nerekhta Convent, which was revived in 1993 through the efforts of Metropolitan Alexander, who was Archbishop of Kostroma and Galich.