Address of the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Repose of Venerable Sebastian of Karaganda

Your Graces, Reverend Fathers, brothers and sisters!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Now, in these saving Paschal days, filled with rejoicing in the Risen Christ, we are illumined by the light of a special spiritual joy – we celebrate in honor of the Heavenly patron of the city of Karaganda and of all the land of Kazakhstan, the confessor of the faith of the twentieth century and one of the last elders of Optina Hermitage, our Venerable and God-bearing Father Sebastian of Karaganda.

Venerable Sebastian may be called our contemporary – only 60 years have passed since the repose of the holy elder, and some of his spiritual children are still alive. The life of the venerable confessor is addressed to all of us living today in a world overwhelmed by unbelief and malice.

From his youth, having received the first lessons of Orthodoxy from his parents, the ascetic of Karaganda deeply believed in Christ. At the age of four, having first visited Optina Hermitage, he was forever captivated by the spiritual beauty of monastic life. Even then, the heart of the young Stefan, as the venerable one was named at Baptism, was seized by an all-consuming desire to serve the Lord. A simple and modest youth from the Oryol countryside desired to remain in obedience to the Church of Christ, to dedicate all his strength and talents to the spiritual benefit of his neighbor, to fulfill the will of God in his life. Thus he became a novice, and then a monk, in one of the most prominent spiritual centers of Russian Orthodoxy – Optina Hermitage.

Later the elder would say: “One must offer oneself as a sacrifice to the Lord from one’s youth, when one is in the flower of years, health, purity, and a vigorous spirit, and not when all this has been lost.”

Optina Hermitage became for Monk Sebastian a school of prayer, obedience, patience, and humility. Inspired by the feats of the all-Russian elders Hieroschemamonk Joseph (Litovkin) and Hieromonk Nektary (Tikhonov), he acquired many grace-filled gifts, which he would later generously share with his numerous spiritual children.

“Blessed is he who does the will of God, and not his own. I surrender with all my soul and heart to Thy will, O Lord. Do with me what Thou wilt,” – this saying of Venerable Sebastian reflects the very essence of his being and defines the character of all his labors and deeds.

In due time, Monk Sebastian was destined to step onto the thorny path of fiery trials and fierce persecutions. Yet on this way of the Cross, he was never abandoned by the ardent desire “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). “Nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:24) – such was the unceasing pastoral labor of Elder Sebastian.

“Truth triumphs when people die for it,” he would console his spiritual children who suffered for the Orthodox faith.

It was precisely during the harsh persecutions against the Russian Orthodox Church that, by God’s will, the venerable one opened a new page in her history – the period of eldership in exile.

For his firm confession of the evangelical truth, the humble pastor was sentenced to seven years of labor in concentration camps, and from 1934 Karaganda entered forever into the life of Venerable Sebastian.

Humble, worn down by prisons and camps, by exhausting labor, hunger, and illness, after his release from imprisonment in Karlag, Venerable Sebastian refused the opportunity to return to Russia: “We will live here. Here everything is different, and the people are different. The people here are sincere, conscious, having tasted sorrow. We will bring more benefit here; this is our second homeland. I remain!”

In these words we hear the testament of Venerable Sebastian addressed also to us who now live on the God-preserved land of Kazakhstan – the call to fulfill the obedience entrusted to us by God Himself: to be guardians of the Orthodox shrines of Kazakhstan and to develop the spiritual life of our country.

The holy elder especially loved the land of Kazakhstan – here he became a great man of prayer, a clairvoyant, and a wondrous wonderworker, and the small church in Karaganda’s Mikhailovka, miraculously established by him during the years of godless persecution, became a second Optina for hundreds of thousands of believers from all regions of the vast country, seeking spiritual consolation and support.

Of Saint Sebastian, the ascetic of piety, Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan said: “He endured everything with humility, praying to God for the salvation and enlightenment of all. And for his tears and prayers to the Lord, the grace of the Holy Spirit will be upon Karaganda until the Second Coming.”

Three great gifts have been left to us by the venerable ascetic – the example of his virtuous life, described in detail by his spiritual children and contemporaries; his Spirit-bearing instructions, sermons, and teachings; and the shrine containing his honorable relics, which pour forth help and healing to all who turn to God with faith in prayer.

Near the place of the venerable one’s prayerful labors, a majestic cathedral dedicated to the Life-Giving Trinity has been built – for all who will live on the blessed land of Kazakhstan after us, it will bear witness to the labors of the Karaganda elder and to the suffering feat of hundreds of thousands of believers – hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and laity. It was they – the new martyrs and confessors – who laid here, in Kazakhstan, the foundation upon which today we are able to build our spiritual life; their prayerful intercession has preserved and will preserve Orthodoxy on the expanses of the Great Steppe until the end of the age.

As in the days of his earthly life, so now, standing before the throne of God in the heavenly dwellings, the humble elder of Karaganda prays for everyone who invokes his intercession, who venerate his holy relics with hope, who ask with faith for help and consolation. The miracles revealed through the holy elder are numerous: many spiritual and bodily ailments have been and continue to be healed, sorrows are calmed, life circumstances are changed for the good, and answers to the most difficult questions are found.

On this jubilee day, let us turn our spiritual gaze to the testament of the venerable one: “I ask you all for one thing: live in peace. Peace and love are the most important things. If you have these among yourselves, you will always have joy in your souls. It can be attained only through peace, love, and sincere heartfelt prayer.”

The memory of Venerable Sebastian of Karaganda calls us to a special prayerful labor for the peace and prosperity of Kazakhstan and for the well-being of all countries and peoples that belong to the canonical space of Russian Orthodoxy.

May God grant that the experience of active piety manifested by the Karaganda ascetic may inspire all of us to purify our souls and hearts and to follow the good example of the Orthodox saints, who by their lives fulfilled the commandment of love for God and neighbor.

Through the prayers of Venerable Sebastian, may the Lord preserve the Orthodox Church and our land of Kazakhstan, and increase in us, according to the apostolic word, the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22).

I cordially congratulate everyone on the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and the feast of Venerable Sebastian, and proclaim the all-joyful hymn of the victory of life over death:

CHRIST IS RISEN! – TRULY HE IS RISEN!

With Paschal joy, invoking God’s blessing,

HEAD OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KAZAKHSTAN

METROPOLITAN OF ASTANA AND KAZAKHSTAN