On the day of remembrance of the Great Martyr Catherine, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Almaty

December 7, 2023 is the after-feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos and the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan performed the Divine Liturgy at the church in honor of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the Karasu micro district.

Before the start of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District performed a minor consecration of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross after full-scale repair and restoration work was carried out in it.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Vicar of the Astana diocese, Bishop of Talgar Veniamin, Bishop of the Ural and Atyrau Vianor; dean of the parishes of Alma-Ata, mitered archpriest Valery Zakharov, clergyman of the Cathedral in the name of the Archangel Michael in the city of Uralsk, Archimandrite Feodosius (Kuryanov), rector of the Almaty church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”, Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, secretary of the Kostanay Diocese, Hieromonk Gennady ( Burdyuzha), head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), Priest Vasily Kroitor, head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov, clergyman of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Priest Roman Burdukov, cleric of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Hieromonk Vladimir (Mishchenko), rector of the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in the village of Zato bolsk Priest Andrey Krutin, Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon John Churkin, Deacon Alexy Kanushin, Deacon Sergiy Slesarchuk.

At the beginning of the service, an ark containing a particle of the holy relics of the Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria was delivered for prayerful worship and spiritual strengthening of believers.

The chants of the Liturgy were performed by the choir of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in the Southern capital under the direction of N. Burdukova.

His Eminence offered prayers for the increase of love and the eradication of all hatred and malice.

At the funeral litany, the bishop offered special prayers for the repose of the ever-memorable rector of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Hieromonk Meliton (Porotikov).

The sermon after the communion verse was delivered by Archpriest Valery Zakharov.

At the end of the Liturgy, glorification took place on the feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Mother of God and the Holy Great Martyr Catherine.

Metropolitan Alexander addressed those gathered with a word about the meaning of martyrdom, after which he congratulated the birthday girls on Angel's Day and gave the parishioners an archpastoral blessing.

At the end of the service, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan congratulated the rector of the temple - Bishop Veniamin, Bishop Vianor, the clergy and parishioners on a significant event in the spiritual life of the parish, after which he addressed words of gratitude to everyone who, through prayer, sacrifice or personal participation, helped restore the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. “During the blessed days of the Nativity Fast, preparing us for the celebration of the holiday of peace and God’s love - the Nativity of Christ, we became participants in a significant event - the consecration after large-scale restoration work of one of the most beautiful churches in the southern capital - the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the Karasu micro district. The joy of this sacred event is aggravated by the memory of a historically significant date - the upcoming celebration in honor of the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Astana and Alma-Ata diocese. For a Christian, a temple is the most dear and beloved place on earth, it is here spiritual transformation and purification of human nature takes place. Here, in the baptismal font, our church path begins, here a person’s earthly existence ends with the prayerful parting words of the Mother Church. Through Confession, sins are forgiven and spiritual infirmities are healed by Divine grace, by partaking of the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the believer partakes of the true Body and Blood of the Savior “for the remission of sins and eternal life.” Every moment of human existence is sanctified in the temple through sacraments and sacred rites. The Holy Fathers and teachers unanimously testify: “The Temple is the earthly heaven.” The Church of the Exaltation of the Cross has been restored and updated, but there is still a lot of work ahead to develop a diverse parish life here, spiritual education, charity, work with children and youth,” Metropolitan Alexander noted, in particular, addressing those present at the service.

His Eminence remembered with gratitude the works of the ever-memorable hieromonk Meliton (Porotikov).

On October 5, 2021, a fire broke out in the church in honor of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, which caused enormous damage to the church building and destroyed the interior. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan and with the support of the Apostle Foundation, after the tragedy, work began on restoring the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. The restoration of one of the most beautiful churches in the southern capital was carried out at a high professional level with the involvement of qualified specialists and the use of modern technologies. As a result of the repair work, a new iconostasis was installed, the central dome was restored and the interiors of the temple were painted.

Saint Catherine was born in the capital of Egypt - the city of Alexandria in the second half of the 3rd century. She came from a noble family and was distinguished by her bright mind, intelligence and beauty. Many rich and noble suitors sought her hand, her mother and relatives persuaded her to agree to marriage. But Catherine was slow to answer and told her loved ones: “If you want me to get married, then find me a young man similar to me in beauty and intelligence.” God arranged it in such a way that Catherine met one hermit elder, a man of great wisdom and righteous life. Discussing with Catherine the merits of her suitors, the elder said: “I know the groom who is superior to you in everything. There is no one like Him." Then he gave her an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and promised that it would help her see the extraordinary groom. The next night, Catherine imagined in a light dream that the Heavenly Queen, surrounded by angels, was standing in front of her and holding in her arms the Child, shining like the sun. In vain did Catherine try to look at His face: He turned away from her. “Do not despise Your creation,” the Mother of God prayed to her Son, “tell her what she must do to see Your bright face.” “Let her return to the elder and find out from him,” answered the Youth. The wonderful dream deeply struck the girl. As soon as morning came, she hurried to the old man, fell at his feet and asked him for advice. The elder explained to her in detail the true faith, told her about the heavenly bliss of the righteous and the death of sinners. The wise virgin understood the superiority of the Christian faith over the pagan faith, believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and accepted holy Baptism. After Baptism, divine light penetrated her soul and filled her with great joy. When Catherine returned home with a renewed soul, she prayed for a long time, thanking God for the mercy shown to her. Having fallen asleep during prayer, she again saw the Mother of God. Now the Divine Youth looked at her graciously. The Most Holy Virgin took the maiden’s right hand, and the Youth put on her a wonderful ring, saying: “Know not the earthly bridegroom.” Catherine realized that from that moment she was betrothed to Christ and woke up with even greater joy in her heart. After that, she completely changed - she became modest, meek and merciful. She began to pray to God often, asking for guidance and help. One goal inspired her: to live for Christ. Soon Maximian, co-ruler of Emperor Diocletian, arrived in Alexandria. He sent messengers to the cities of Egypt to convene the people for a holiday in honor of the pagan gods. Catherine mourned that the tsar, instead of helping to educate the people, was further instilling pagan superstitions. When the holiday arrived, she came to the temple where the priests, nobles and people gathered and fearlessly said to the ruler: “Aren’t you ashamed, king, to pray to vile idols! Know the true God, beginningless and infinite; to them kings reign and the world stands. He came down to earth and became a man for our salvation.”
Maximian was angry with Catherine for disrespecting his royal dignity and ordered her to be imprisoned. Then he ordered learned people to convince Catherine of the truth of the pagan religion. For several days, they presented to the girl various arguments in favor of the pagan religion, but Catherine, with her logic and reasonable arguments, smashed them to dust. She proved to them that there can only be one wise Creator of everything, who with his perfections infinitely rises above the pagan deities. In the end, the pagan sages admitted themselves defeated by Catherine’s all-crushing logic. Having failed on intellectual grounds, Maximian, however, did not give up on his intention to convince Catherine. Having called her, he tried to seduce her with gifts, promises of honors and glory. But Catherine remained incorruptible. Maximian had to leave the city for a short time. His wife, Queen Augusta, who had heard a lot about Catherine's wisdom, wanted to see her. Having met and talked with Catherine, Augusta believed in Christ and accepted the Christian faith. When Maximian returned to Alexandria, he again sent for Catherine. This time he took off the mask of goodwill and began to threaten Catherine with torture and death. Then he ordered wheels with sharp teeth to be brought and ordered her to be put to this terrible execution. But as soon as the torment began, an invisible force crushed the instrument of torment and Saint Catherine remained unharmed. Queen Augusta, having learned about what had happened, appeared before her husband and began to reproach him for how he dared to rebel against God Himself. The king was furious at his wife’s interference and ordered her to be killed immediately. The next day, Maximian called Catherine for the last time and invited her to become his wife, promising her all the blessings of the world. But Saint Catherine did not want to hear about it. Seeing the futility of all his efforts, the king ordered her to be put to death and the warrior cut off her head in 304. Subsequently, the holy remains of the Great Martyr Catherine came to Mount Sinai and since then have been kept here in a monastery named after her. Russian Emperor Peter the Great donated a precious shrine to her relics.

In 2019, part of the relics of the Great Martyr Catherine was donated to the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. In response to the petition of Metropolitan Alexander, with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the relic was delivered to Kazakhstan by the vicar of the Odessa diocese, Bishop Victor of Artsyz.