Sermon of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the Commemoration Day of the Holy Right-believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we prayerfully commemorate the Holy Right-believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky. In the hymns of the Church this saint is called a most honorable shoot from a pious root, a new glorious wonderworker, a sacred treasure, a liberator of captives and a healer of the afflicted. He is one of the most beloved and venerated saints. His name is well known to millions of people, even to those far from the Orthodox faith. Historical records and folk tradition present Prince Alexander as a valiant defender of his native land and a champion of Orthodoxy, a wise ruler and a man filled with high Christian virtues. In our difficult time, full of trials and sorrows, it is necessary to strengthen and inspire ourselves with examples of Gospel mercy and deep humility shown to us by Prince Alexander – a righteous man, mighty “in word and deed” (Acts 7:22). From his youth, the meaning of his life became the seeking of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33). “God is not in might, but in truth!” – many know these words that have become proverbial. “God is with those who are pious, who are righteous, who keep His law and fulfil His commandments,” proclaims Saint Alexander to his contemporaries, and through the centuries also testifies this unchanging truth to us. The life of the Right-believing Prince reveals to us that serving the Creator presupposes the courageous bearing of one’s cross in steadfast following of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The life of Saint Alexander Nevsky contains an instructive episode. When the future grand prince was only nine years old, a terrible famine struck Novgorod where he lived with his mother, claiming the lives of many. This disaster did not affect the princely family – food was sent to them from other cities. Yet the nine-year-old Alexander gave away almost all the food he received to the starving. Often he did this secretly from his relatives. Once a servant reproached him: “What are you doing? You may die of hunger if you keep giving your food away.” The young prince answered: “Do not speak so! I believe that God, all-knowing and all-seeing, will never abandon me.” Thus the future light of Orthodoxy, in childhood, bore witness with a pure heart to his faith in the good and wise Providence of God. These words of the young Alexander remind us of one of the foundational truths of Orthodoxy and urge us to entrust our entire life and all care for the present and the future to the Providence of God. Let us strive each day to see the constant and unceasing wise and loving care of the Lord for us, and be grateful to the Creator.

In the apostolic reading appointed for the commemoration of Saint Alexander Nevsky we hear the words: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). The Right-believing Prince took upon himself the burdens of others, carrying in his heart the pain of the Church and of the Fatherland. He set before himself the task of alleviating, as far as possible in those historical circumstances, the lot of the people entrusted to him and fulfilled it to the measure of his life and strength. Therefore we glorify him as a great servant of God and pray to him that he be an intercessor before the Lord for us, for our relatives and loved ones, and for the country in which we live – blessed Kazakhstan. I wish all of us, through the intercession of the Right-believing Prince Alexander, to be granted “all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13), abundant mercies and the help of Christ the Giver of Life.