Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the Commemoration of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Alexander of Svir

Your Graces, beloved fellow archpastors in Christ!

Reverend Fathers! Dear brothers and sisters!

Today we prayerfully commemorate the Holy Right-Believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Alexander, Abbot of Svir. In the Gospel we read how a certain man asked Christ: “Lord, are there few that be saved?” The Savior answered: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Lk. 13:23–24).

The saints, the servants of God, are those who chose the “narrow” path leading to eternal life, followed that path to the end, and became examples for countless believers to emulate. Through their lives and ascetic labors, they revealed to the whole world the truth that the holiness commanded by God is not an unattainable ideal, but the standard toward which all Christians should strive.

The Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Alexander, Abbot of Svir, differed in their social standing, in the historical circumstances in which they lived, and in the nature of their service to God and their fellow man. Yet despite all the obvious differences between these saints, Prince Alexander and the monk Alexander were united by the harmonious combination in their lives of the active and contemplative ways, of sacrificial labor and deep, heartfelt prayer.

In this they provide us with a good example: if we wish to correct and transform our lives according to the commandments of the Gospel and make them pleasing to God, we must labor and pray. Prayer and labor – these are the two states that are indispensable conditions for our salvation, the two wings that lift us up to Heaven.

In the apostolic reading appointed for the commemoration of the saints whom we honor today, we hear these words: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). The Right-Believing Prince Alexander and St. Alexander, Abbot of Svir, took upon themselves the burdens of others and received into their hearts the sufferings and sorrows of their fellow man.

For this reason, we glorify them as great servants of God who fulfilled the Law of Christ in its fullness, and we pray that they may be our intercessors and advocates before the Lord – for us, for our relatives and loved ones, and for the country in which we live, blessed Kazakhstan.

Today I have received words of congratulations on my name day. Once again, as always on such occasions, I respond to these words of praise with the words of the Psalmist: “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory” (Ps. 113:9). Everything that has been accomplished in the field of Church service, both in the past and in the present, and every good result, I attribute not to myself, but solely to God, the Giver of every good gift.

On days of special significance to me, the principal theme of my reflections invariably becomes gratitude – gratitude to the Creator and Provider of all things, and to the people with whom the Lord has ordained that I should walk the path of life. The sacred feeling of gratitude helps a person to perceive the world around him rightly and to discern the divine purpose in all that takes place.

I offer my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who prayerfully share this celebration with me today, who remember me in your prayers, and who labor together with me for the benefit of Orthodoxy in the land of Kazakhstan. I am deeply grateful to our great lord and father, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’. I always feel the spiritual support of His Holiness.

Our Primate provides all of us – archpastors, clergy and laity – with remarkable examples of ascetic ministry and inspires us to active service in the Church.

Through the prayerful intercession of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky and St. Alexander of Svir, I wish that all of us may be granted “all joy and peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13), abundant mercies and help from Christ the Giver of Life.