Most Reverend Fathers, dear brothers and sisters!
The Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan reverently preserves the sacred memory of the God-pleasing lives, confessional feats and martyrdom of hierarchs, clergy, monastics and laypeople who, during the years of godless persecution, bore witness to their faith, hope and love for Christ and His Holy Church even unto death, leaving to future generations a testimony that “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord” (Rom. 14:8).
Today we prayerfully commemorate the 30th anniversary of the glorification among the saints of the especially venerated ascetics of the land of Kazakhstan – Hieromonks Seraphim (Bogoslovsky) and Feognost (Pivovarov). In 1921, at the Aksai Skete established by them on the slopes of the Kyzyl-Zhar Gorge, they suffered martyrdom and received from God the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4). In the words of the Apostle, in all things they showed themselves “as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in banishments, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned” (2 Cor. 6:4-6).
Our spiritual unity with the New Martyrs and Confessors of the past century is experienced in a special way, since they are our compatriots, our kinsmen according to the flesh, and for the older generation – virtually their contemporaries.
The beginning of the ecclesiastical ministry of the Alma-Ata sufferers for Christ is connected with the Glinsk Hermitage of the Nativity of the Mother of God. It was in this monastery, renowned for its experienced spiritual mentors and clairvoyant elders, that they received monastic tonsure. Well educated and desiring to serve the cause of enlightenment in the developing and vast Turkestan Diocese, Monks Seraphim and Feognost moved to the Holy Trinity Monastery, founded in 1882 by the outstanding hierarch of blessed memory, Archbishop Alexander (Kulchitsky), on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. Their labors continued in the city of Verny, where, with the blessing of the ecclesiastical authorities, the pastors fulfilled various obediences. Through their unfeigned piety, evangelical simplicity of life, asceticism and love of prayer, they gained great authority among the people. Moved by a desire for prayer and unwilling that anyone should witness their ascetic feats, Hieromonks Seraphim and Feognost withdrew into the mountains. Thus, near Verny, cave sketes appeared after the pattern of the ancient Egyptian and Palestinian monasteries: the first in the Medeo tract, on Mokhnataya Hill, and the second near Mount Kyzyl-Zhar in the Aksai Gorge. Popular memory has preserved traditions that the ascetics found the places for their eremitic life through a special indication from Above.
In the tragic period that followed 1917, the Aksai Skete became a true center of spiritual life for Verny and its surroundings. The spiritual children of the hieromonks, including sisters of the Iveron-Seraphim Monastery devastated by the new authorities, came here to participate in divine services and to seek spiritual counsel and consolation. Driven by hatred of Orthodoxy, on the night of August 10–11, 1921, armed godless men arrived at the skete and treacherously murdered Hieromonks Seraphim and Feognost, who had received them with heartfelt simplicity, hospitably offering them shelter and food. Spiritually enlightened pastors and ascetics who had proclaimed service to the truth of the Gospel as the meaning of their lives, they were among the first in the territory of modern Kazakhstan to suffer the blow of atheistic persecution. Moved by sincere faith in Christ, they offered their lives as a sacrifice to God, becoming like our Savior in His sufferings and ascending through sorrow to the Heavenly Chambers. “He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn. 11:25), says the Lord; therefore His worthy servants, the Hieromartyrs Seraphim and Feognost, live and triumph in eternity. Their names are inscribed in golden letters in the history of Orthodoxy.
Three decades ago, by the mercy of Christ the Chief Shepherd, the Aksai Monastery, established through the labors of the Hieromartyrs, was granted a second life. The uncovering of the precious relics of the sufferers for the faith, Hieromonks Seraphim and Feognost, became a sign of God’s special favor toward the monastics and all the Orthodox faithful. Since that time, this great sacred treasure has remained in the monastery they founded, bestowing manifold gifts of grace upon the faithful.
St. Basil the Great says: “He who honors those who struggled for the faith clearly shares their zeal for the faith. The honor shown to them is directed toward the Master Himself, Christ our God, Whom they served and for Whose sake they suffered.” It is our sacred duty to cherish the memory of the Aksai ascetics, who through their labors spread the light of the Gospel and gave their lives for Christ. It is not they who need us, our praises and prayers, but we who need their daily help and support. Today, everyone who undertakes the difficult pilgrimage ascent to the mountain skete, to an altitude of almost two thousand meters, in order to prayerfully glorify the venerable sufferers, fulfills the apostolic commandment and bears witness to his own determination to follow their example – to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Church. By learning about the lives of the New Martyrs and drawing inspiration from their feat and courage, not only we and our contemporaries, but also our descendants will be able to find true spiritual and moral guidance, to find God, Wondrous in His saints (Ps. 67:36), and to learn to accept and fulfill His will, always good and perfect (Rom. 12:2).
With gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the good labors of Hegumen Trifon (Pechkovsky), Abbot of the Seraphim-Feognost Monastery, and the brethren. I offer special words of gratitude to the benefactors. In preparation for the commemorative anniversaries, with the assistance of the Foundation, a new carved reliquary was created to house the precious relics of the saints of God. May the Lord bless all those who support the life of the hermitage and help develop pilgrimage to this special place, abundantly marked by the grace of God and sanctified by the ascetic feats and sufferings of the Venerable Fathers Seraphim and Feognost.
Through the prayers of the Hieromartyrs whom we honor today, may Christ our true God grant us all His great and abundant mercy and bless the land of Kazakhstan and all countries and peoples with peace.
HEAD OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KAZAKHSTAN
METROPOLITAN OF ASTANA AND KAZAKHSTAN
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