October 25, 2025. Almaty. Word of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, on the 70th anniversary of the repose in the Lord of Hieroconfessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Almaty and Kazakhstan:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today is a great and joyful feast for the city of Almaty and for all our blessed land – we prayerfully commemorate the 70th anniversary of the repose of the holy hierarch and confessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Almaty and Kazakhstan. The life of this eminent hierarch can be briefly described with the words of the Gospel: “He was a burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). When his name is mentioned, the image of an entire era in the history of the Orthodox Church and of our country arises. These were sorrowful times: the collapse of centuries-old foundations rooted in faith in God, the destruction of countless hierarchs, clergy, and laity, and the persecution of innocent people for their confession of the Gospel truth. Vladyka endured the trials of the Great Patriotic War and the hardships of postwar devastation. His ministry was accompanied by many sorrows and sufferings.
Hieroconfessor Nicholas – in the world, Feodosiy Nikiforovich Mogilevsky – was born into the family of a psalm-reader on March 27, 1877, the day of the Bright Resurrection of Christ. The archpastor loved to recall that he “was born on the first day of Bright Pascha, to the joyful ringing of bells and triumphant Paschal singing.” The future hierarch received a strong Christian upbringing and sound theological education. From his pious parents, he inherited fervent love for the Holy Church, zeal for divine services, steadfastness in faith, and constancy in prayer. These qualities he carried through all hardships and trials. The motto of Vladyka’s life became the words of the Prophet and King David: “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 26:1).
When the Almighty Creator appoints someone to high ecclesiastical service, He – through His Providence – leads the person through many paths, the meaning of which becomes clear only later. In the life of Saint Nicholas, we see this mysterious divine force that placed him in different circumstances and helped his spiritual gifts unfold – those very gifts necessary for a priest rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).
The future confessor of the faith was to carry out monastic obediences in the Nilus of Stolobny Monastery, study at the Moscow Theological Academy, and develop theological education in Poltava, Chernigov, and Irkutsk. His episcopal ministry began during the tragic post–revolutionary years for the Church. Vladyka Nicholas courageously struggled with schismatics and renovationists – ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15) – and, sparing not his life, opposed the godless who closed and destroyed churches and monasteries, desecrated shrines, and tormented the faithful. His labors are remembered in the dioceses of Chernigov and Tula, in Orel and Moscow. Once, addressing the Apostle Paul in prayer, Saint John of Damascus asked: “What prison did not have you as a prisoner?” These words may be said of Hieroconfessor Nicholas. He suffered for Christ in the infamous Butyrka prison, in the Voronezh pre–trial detention center, and under unbearable labor in the camps of Mordovia, Chuvashia, and Sarov. The saint joyfully accepted the cup of suffering, thanking God and fearing not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matt. 10:28).
Declared a “socially dangerous element,” Vladyka Nicholas was exiled to the Kazakh SSR for five years. Thus, at age 64, his Kazakh period of confessorship and archpastoral ministry began. In a prison wagon, in worn clothes, exhausted by hunger and cold, Vladyka arrived at Chelkar station – a small settlement in the Aktobe region – where he lived for several months on alms, hiding his high rank. A modest and humble man, he feared burdening any of the faithful, knowing how difficult life was during wartime. Compassion for people and full submission to the will of God guided him. Saint Nicholas taught that “active love for one’s neighbor is more pleasing to God than the most difficult ascetic feats.” Recalling his exile and his near death from hunger and cold, he once said: “If the Lord sends a cross, He also gives strength to bear it. He Himself lightens it. In such cases, one must not seek one’s own will – one must surrender fully to the will of God.” In response to the saint’s humility, the Lord worked a miracle – a local Tatar Muslim took in the dying hierarch and later told him: “God told me I must help you, I must save your life.”
Soon after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Vladyka Nicholas was appointed ruling hierarch of the newly formed Diocese of Almaty and Kazakhstan. Exhausted by camps and exile, he was to undertake apostolic labors. He faced many difficulties – few churches and their ruinous condition, a critical lack of clergy, widespread poverty, and a multitude of repressed and displaced people in need of support and consolation. In their archpastor, the faithful – worn down by persecution, war, and repression – found a loving father, a caring shepherd, and a wise teacher. Zeal for Orthodoxy, unwavering firmness in faith, fervent love for others, a spirit of meekness and mercy toward those who fell, and pastoral persistence in calling all to a truly Christian life – these qualities imbued the ministry of the great Kazakh hierarch. In the life of Vladyka Nicholas were fulfilled the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “A good shepherd–bishop at all times labors no less than a thousand martyrs.”
Metropolitan Nicholas once said: “Some say that humility is a sign of weakness of character, that a person should possess self–respect. But the highest manifestation of true self–respect is precisely humility. With his Christian meekness, modesty, humility, and active love for those he met, the archpastor drew many souls to Christ.
Sensing the nearness of his departure, the hierarch prayed fervently: “Lord, judge me not according to my deeds, but deal with me according to Thy mercy.” He often repeated with deep feeling: “Lord, I ask for mercy – not judgment.
Having lived a long life full of sorrows and great spiritual fruit, Saint Nicholas peacefully departed to the Lord on October 25, 1955, at 16:45 – just as the bells of Saint Nicholas Cathedral rang for the Vigil on the eve of the feast of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. Before this icon Vladyka often loved to proclaim: “Rejoice, O Gracious Gatekeeper, who openest the gates of Paradise to the faithful!
Seventy years have passed since the hierarch’s repose, yet his memory does not fade among Orthodox Christians. Generation after generation recounts the miracles that occur through his prayers – his grace–filled help and intercession. All who today come with faith to venerate the relics of Hieroconfessor Metropolitan Nicholas in Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty receive the fulfillment of their good petitions. As the Scripture says: “The righteous live forever” (Sirach 5:15), and they care for their spiritual children who call upon them.
The Lord has given us the opportunity to partake of the spiritual heritage of Hieroconfessor Nicholas – preserved in his life, sermons, recollections, and letters. The saint left us his book The Mystery of the Human Soul, where he sets forth the patristic teaching on the passions and how to struggle with them. In one chapter he writes: “Man can live only when he enters into living communion with his God – Who is true Life and the fullness of all good.” Having received into his heart this grace–filled Life and attained union with Christ, the archpastor brought and continues to bring Gospel joy to people – guiding us still on the saving path to the Kingdom of Heaven.
On the day of his commemoration, let us turn to Metropolitan Nicholas with prayer, that we, according to our strength, may imitate his steadfastness in faith and piety. May his intercession before the throne of the Creator preserve us – so that neither death nor life, neither present nor things to come, neither height nor depth – may separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:35, 38–39).
Rejoice, wondrous adornment of the Orthodox faith. Rejoice, O Saint Nicholas, confessor of Christ and wonderworker of Kazakhstan.
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