Your Graces!
Your High Reverence, Reverend Rector Archpriest Valery, reverend fathers, dear brothers and sisters!
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Today is a special celebration for the residents of Almaty and for all the people of Kazakhstan to whom the history of our country and its spiritual and cultural heritage are dear. In these Paschal days, filled with rejoicing in Christ Risen, we commemorate a significant date – the eightieth anniversary of the restoration of liturgical life in St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Southern Capital. Through the labors of the holy confessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Almaty and Kazakhstan, this majestic church at the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau, dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, was returned to its rightful owner – the Orthodox faithful people.
For a Christian, a church is the place where the glory of the Lord dwells (Ps. 25:8), the house of God and the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:17). St. Nicholas Cathedral, erected at the dawn of the twentieth century through the zeal of the pious inhabitants of the city of Verny according to the designs of the talented architects S.K. Troparevsky and A.P. Zenkov, became an architectural adornment and a major spiritual center of Semirechye. In 1908, the newly built church was consecrated by Bishop Dimitry (Abashidze) of Turkestan and Tashkent, later glorified among the saints as the Venerable Confessor Schema-Archbishop Anthony the New. He also labored to enrich the church with holy objects. At the hierarch’s request, relics of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon were transferred to the cathedral from the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon on the Holy Mountain of Athos, and relics of the Great Martyr Barbara were brought from Kiev. The Orthodox faithful of Verny spared neither effort nor resources in adorning their beloved church, donating icons and sacred vessels, acquiring vestments and books; a number of icons for the cathedral were painted by the renowned artist Nikolai Khludov.
At the beginning of the era of persecutions against the Church of Christ, St. Nicholas Cathedral became a stronghold of canonical Orthodoxy, while its clergy courageously defended the Patriarchal Church and exposed the deceit of the Renovationist schismatics. During those years of fierce trials, the presbyters Alexander Skalsky, Stefan Ponomaryov, and Philip Grigoryev served here, later receiving the crown of martyrdom for confessing the truth of God. The church became a refuge and place of consolation for countless sufferers for the faith exiled to Kazakhstan from all regions of the country. Here, while awaiting the execution of their sentences, pastors and monastics prayed and celebrated divine services, many of whose names would later be included in the glorious list of the New Martyrs and Confessors. St. Nicholas Cathedral itself may rightly be called a martyr – people darkened by atheism stripped it of its holy objects and adornments, desecrated it, turned it into warehouses and barracks, and only after the Great Patriotic War, by the Providence of God, was it returned to the faithful.
In the difficult postwar years, the sixty-eight-year-old Archbishop Nicholas (Mogilevsky) was released from long exile and appointed by the Church authorities to govern the newly established Diocese of Almaty and Kazakhstan. Through the efforts of the hierarch, St. Nicholas Cathedral was returned to the faithful, yet the building handed over was, in the words of the prophet, “the abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31) – the church stood without a bell tower, its domes torn down, its walls crumbling. Nothing remained of its former splendor. God alone knows how much labor the saint, the clergy, and the faithful people devoted in order to restore the cathedral’s worthy appearance, renew liturgical life, adorn it with icons rescued from the atheists, and obtain liturgical vessels and books. In those distant years, Metropolitan Nicholas, addressing the parishioners, said: “Our church has not yet been restored due to lack of time and resources, but even in this condition it is our home. If it is our home, let us always come here for heartfelt prayer, for such prayer is pleasing to the Lord and salvific for us.”
This church, which for half a century served as the cathedral church, was warmed by the fervent prayers of the ever-memorable hierarchs of Kazakhstan, among whom a special place belongs to the elder-hierarch Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov). Beneath these sacred vaults, ancient liturgical traditions were carefully preserved, secret monastics labored, and thousands of believers found consolation.
Today, St. Nicholas Cathedral stands as one of the symbols of the Church’s revival in Kazakhstan and as a monument to the courage of the hierarchs, clergy, and laity of the twentieth century who boldly confessed the truth of God in the face of militant unbelief. It bears witness to the invincibility of Orthodoxy and to the strength of spirit of pious people; it proclaims that the Risen Lord remains with the faithful “always, even unto the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
As we commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the return of St. Nicholas Cathedral to the Orthodox Church, we must gratefully remember all those who built and restored it, who served and prayed within these sacred walls. Words of gratitude are also offered today to the modern benefactors and laborers. I prayerfully wish abundant mercy from Christ the Giver of Life to all who now labor in this ancient church, to all who visit and love St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Celebrating the anniversary of the revival of St. Nicholas Cathedral, which is rightly regarded as a shrine for all Kazakhstan, let us recall the words of the prophet and psalmist David: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to visit His temple” (Ps. 26:4). May this majestic church stand in the Southern Capital of Kazakhstan until the end of time, reminding all people of Christ Crucified and Risen, bearing witness to the saving power of Orthodoxy, helping people to know the Truth and to find the path to union with God.
CHRIST IS RISEN – TRULY HE IS RISEN!
Invoking the blessing of Christ Risen,
HEAD OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KAZAKHSTAN
METROPOLITAN OF ASTANA AND KAZAKHSTAN
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