Appeal Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan Alexander celebration on the occasion of remembrance day of Sevastian Karaganda

Your Eminences, honorable fathers, dear brothers and sisters!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

On the land of Kazakhstan, the world-saving Easter days, full of rejoicing in the Risen Christ, are illuminated by the light of pure spiritual joy - we are celebrating in honor of the heavenly patron of the city of Karaganda and our entire country - the reverend and God-bearing father, confessor of the faith and spirit-bearing elder Sevastian of Karaganda.

God is wonderful in His saints (Ps. 67:36), glorified His saint and a quarter of a century ago revealed his honest relics from under the earthly vault, which became an inexhaustible source of healing and miracles for the believing people.

At the relics of St. Sebastian the “Holy Servant of the Trinity,” the last elder of the Optina Hermitage and a courageous confessor of the faith of the twentieth century, the words of the ascetic of piety, Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), are recalled: “He endured everything with humility, praying to God for salvation and enlightenment for everyone.”

As in the days of earthly life, so now, standing before the throne of God in heavenly abodes, the humble Karaganda elder prays for everyone who calls for his intercession, who worships his holy relics with hope, who asks with faith for help and consolation. The miracles revealed by the holy Karaganda elder are numerous: many mental and physical ailments have been healed and continue to be healed, sorrows subside and life's circumstances change for the good, answers to the most difficult questions are found.

The Monk Sebastian can be called our contemporary. His life, preserved in detail by spiritual children, has become a new word about Christ's love, addressed to people living in a world overwhelmed by passions, unbelief and malice.

The holy elder especially fell in love with the Kazakhstan land. After his release from imprisonment in Karlag, he had the opportunity to return to Russia, but he refused and told his spiritual children: “We will live here. Here the whole life is different and the people are different. People here are sincere, conscious, sipped grief. We will bring more benefits here, our second Motherland is here. I stay!" In these words, we hear the testament of St. Sebastian to all of us, living on the God-saving Kazakhstan land, the place of the exploits of many new martyrs and confessors, about the need to fulfill the obedience entrusted to us by God Himself - to be the guardians of the Orthodox shrines of Kazakhstan and to continue the work of the righteous and saints of God who lived here before us.

In the mining capital of Kazakhstan, near the place of prayer labors of St. Sebastian, a majestic cathedral dedicated to the Life-Giving Trinity was created. This beautiful temple, with its crosses and domes pointing to the sky, will testify to everyone who will live after us on the blessed land of Kazakhstan, about the labors of the Karaganda elder and about the suffering feat of hundreds of thousands of believers - archpastors, pastors, monastics and laity. It was them the New Martyrs and Confessors, who laid here, in Kazakhstan, the foundation on which today we have the opportunity to build our spiritual life, their prayerful intercession has preserved and will preserve Orthodoxy in the expanses of the Great Steppe until the end of time. According to the already established tradition, on the day of the memory of St. Sebastian, with Easter hymns, we will make a procession from the Mother of God-Nativity Monastery, where the holy elder labored, to the new cathedral.

It would be right, on the feast dedicated to the saint to remember the last words of the elder, spoken by him before moving to eternity: “I ask you all about one thing: live in peace. Peace and love is the most important thing. If you have this among yourselves, you will always have joy in your soul.”

The memory of St. Sebastian of Karaganda moves us to a special prayer feat for the peace and prosperity of Kazakhstan and for the welfare of all countries and people. Kneeling before the relics and icon-painting images of the venerable elder, we ask him to be with us and raise our prayers to the Throne of the Lord for the conversion of people to the greatest value - to acquire the gifts of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, the acquisition of shameless faith, strong hope and unfeigned love.

May God grant that the experience of active piety, preserved in the life of the Karaganda ascetic in the people's memory of his life and monastic labors, will encourage us all to purify our souls and hearts, to follow the good example of Orthodox saints, who have fulfilled the commandment of love for God and neighbor.

Through the prayers of St. Sebastian, may the Lord preserve the Orthodox Church and our land of Kazakhstan, and multiply in us, according to the apostolic word, the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22) .

I cordially congratulate everyone on the triumph of the Resurrection of Christ and the feast of St. Sebastian, and I proclaim the joyful anthem of the victory of life over death:

CHRIST IS RISEN! - TRULY IS RISEN!

With Easter joy, invoking God's blessing,

HEAD OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KAZAKHSTAN

METROPOLITAN OF ASTANAI AND KAZAKHSTAN