19 March 2026. Archbishop Barsanuphius of Kokshetau and Akmola marked his 65th birthday. The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, addressed a congratulatory message to the ruling hierarch of the Kokshetau diocese:
Your Eminence, dear Vladyka!
I cordially congratulate you on this significant date in your life – your 65th birthday!
By the providence of God, you were appointed to fulfill various responsible church obediences. Seeing your labors, the Creator entrusted you with episcopal ministry in His vineyard, that you might preach to people the wisdom of God, secret and hidden, which God ordained before the ages for our glory (1 Cor. 2:7).
The words of Holy Scripture may be fully applied to you, dear Vladyka: «you have ordered your life in wisdom and have called understanding your mother» (3 Ezra 13:55).
On this day of your jubilee celebration, marking a new stage of ascent «from strength to strength» (Ps. 83:8), you may render glory and thanksgiving to the Lord for His innumerable benefactions abundantly bestowed upon you throughout all the years of your life, and say with the psalmist: «In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God» (Ps. 61:8).
With the kindest and most sincere feelings, I offer you prayerful good wishes for health, well-being, and God’s help in your labors, and especially that you may «shepherd the Church of the Lord and God which He purchased with His own Blood» (Acts 20:28).
Through the prayers and intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, may the All-merciful Lord grant you «the exceeding riches of His grace» (Eph. 2:7), send down His help and strengthen you in your further archpastoral ministry for the good of the Holy Church of Christ!
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