Address of the Head of the Metropolitan District at the Opening of the House-Museum of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov)

Your Graces, Most Reverend Archpastors! Reverend Fathers!

Dear brothers and sisters!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Today, on Bright Tuesday, when the Church on earth and in heaven sings praise to Christ the Giver of Life, risen from the dead, and glorifies the wonderworking Iveron Icon of the Queen of Heaven, we are participants in a joyful event – in Alma-Ata, the Southern Capital of our country, the house-museum of the ever-memorable Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) is being opened.

With the support of benefactors and thanks to the efforts of caring people, the historic building of the Alma-Ata Diocesan Administration has been restored. For fifteen years – from 1960 to 1975 – this house served as the working residence of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), a courageous confessor of the faith and ascetic of piety.

The Vladyka assumed church leadership in Kazakhstan during a tragic period – the time of the so-called Khrushchev thaw, which for the Church of Christ turned into bitter frosts of persecution and repression. The elder-hierarch himself stood firm, overcame the pressure of militant atheism, and preserved, as much as possible, churches and parish life. He visited urban and rural parishes, often located hundreds and thousands of kilometers from Alma-Ata, instructing the clergy by his example and wise word, warming people’s hearts with fervent and vivid sermons.

Before his appointment to the Kazakhstan see, Metropolitan Joseph endured several arrests, suffered abuse at the hands of the Gestapo, and spent more than twenty years in camps and prisons. Physical frailty, pain in his arms and legs for the rest of his life became an indelible mark of the sufferings he had borne. The archpastor knew how to forgive in the Gospel manner, and despite the burden of sorrows, he retained sincere kindness and hospitality. According to contemporaries, he treated every person who came to him as a living image of God. Many testimonies remain concerning his spiritual insight and the great power of his prayer. Having venerated the Most Holy Theotokos from his youth, Vladyka Joseph was granted to depart into eternal life precisely during the days of the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, as a faithful servant of Her Divine Son.

We must certainly fulfill the commandment of the holy Apostle Paul: “Remember them which have the rule over you” (Hebrews 13:7). Interest in the life of Vladyka Joseph is evidence of our deep respect for the destiny of our national history and for the history of our Mother Church, for the very life of this elder-hierarch is inseparable from the судьбы of the long-suffering Orthodox people of our land. The unique exhibits collected through the zeal of those devoted to the ever-memorable hierarch will help museum visitors enter into the atmosphere of genuine kindness and love for mankind that surrounded Vladyka Joseph, sense his human humility and simplicity, and behold his fervent love for God and for people.

The interiors of the memorial house are adorned with icons especially venerated by this righteous archpastor: the Belynichi Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which sanctified the childhood and youth of the future hierarch in the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery in Belynichi of the Mogilev Diocese; the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, before which the ever-memorable Vladyka especially loved to pray; the image of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, whom Metropolitan Joseph called “my diocesan secretary, inspector of the Alma-Ata Diocesan Administration”; and the Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, painted in the nineteenth century on Holy Mount Athos in the Monastery of St. Panteleimon, which for many years served as the personal cell icon of the ever-memorable hierarch.

The museum collections were formed over more than ten years. Glory be to God, people who had known Metropolitan Joseph well responded and came forward – spiritual children of the hierarch, staff of the Alma-Ata Diocesan Administration, clergy from Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and their relatives. Now, thanks to the serious work accomplished, visitors to the house-museum will be able to see liturgical vestments and personal belongings of this confessor of the faith, church vessels and old books, diary notes and akathists written in the archpastor’s own hand, rare photographs and documents. The restored study of the hierarch, which served simultaneously as his office and prayer cell, conveys the atmosphere of that era.

A visit to the memorial house of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) is far more than simply acquaintance with the history of the Church in the tragic years of the twentieth century. Here, within these walls, there will take place a sacred encounter with the ever-memorable righteous one, visionary elder, and wonderworker. Everyone who crosses this threshold will have the opportunity to commune prayerfully with the elder-hierarch and to feel his spiritual support and help.

The doors of the house-museum are open to all – to believers and to those seeking God, to representatives of all nationalities and confessions, to adults and children alike. “The righteous live forever” (Wisdom 5:15), Holy Scripture testifies, and therefore we believe and know that the prayers of Metropolitan Joseph protect us from troubles and sorrows and help us along the path of life.

I invoke the blessing of the Risen Savior of the world upon all who have labored for the opening of this museum, and upon all visitors to the memorial house of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov).

TRULY CHRIST IS RISEN!