Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the Feast Day of the Confessor of Faith Nicholas, Metropolitan of Almaty – the Heavenly Patron of Kazakhsta

Venerable fathers! Dear brothers and sisters!

Today is a great and joyful holiday for the city of Almaty and for all the blessed land of Kazakhstan – the memory day of the hierarch and confessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky). The life of this distinguished hierarch can be briefly described by the Gospel words: “He was a burning and a shining light” (John 5:35). When his name is mentioned, it evokes the image of an entire era in the history of the Orthodox Church and our country. Those were sorrowful times of the destruction of centuries-old societal structures based on faith in God, the annihilation of countless archpastors, clergy, and laypeople, and the persecution of innocent people for confessing the Gospel truth. The Bishop lived through the hardships of the Great Patriotic War and the difficulties of overcoming post-war devastation. His church service was sealed with many sorrows and sufferings.

Bishop Nicholas, in the world known as Feodosiy Nikiforovich Mogilevsky, was born into a devout family of a church singer, received a serious Christian upbringing, and a good theological education. He liked to recount that he was born on the first day of Bright Easter, under the joyful ringing of bells and solemn chanting. The fervent love for the Church of Christ, zeal for performing liturgies, steadfastness in prayerful efforts, which the future Kazakhstani hierarch adopted from his parents, he carried through all the hardships and trials. The motto of his life became the words of the prophet and king David: "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being" (Psalm 104:33). He turned his life into a hymn to God, glorifying the Creator in word and deed.

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23), testifies the Old Testament righteous man. When God designates someone for high pastoral service, He leads this person through many paths, the meaning and significance of which are clearly and evidently recognized only afterwards. In the life of St. Nicholas, we see this mysterious divine power that places him in various circumstances and conditions, helping to reveal those talents that will be necessary for a clergyman who faithfully teaches the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

The future confessor of faith was destined by the Lord to carry out monastic obediences in the Nilov Monastery, to study at the Moscow Theological Academy, to develop spiritual education in Poltava, Chernigov, and Irkutsk. His episcopal service began in the tragic post-revolutionary years for the Church of Christ. Bishop Nicholas courageously fought against schismatics and renovationists – ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15) and, sparing no effort, opposed godless people who were closing and destroying churches and monasteries, annihilating holy relics, tormenting the faithful. His efforts and feats are remembered by the Chernigov diocese and the land of Tula, Orel, and Moscow. Once, turning in prayer to Apostle Paul, St. John Damascene said: "What dungeon did not have thee as a prisoner?" These words can also be addressed to the confessor Nicholas. He suffered for Christ in the notorious Butyrka prison and in the investigative isolation ward in Voronezh, was exhausted from the unbearable labors in the camps of Mordovia, Chuvashia, and in Sarov. The Bishop joyfully accepted the cup of suffering, thanking God and fearing not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10:28).

As a "socially dangerous element," Bishop Nicholas was exiled to the Kazakh SSR for five years. Thus, at the age of 64, his Kazakh period of confessional and archpastoral service began. In a prisoner's wagon, in worn clothing, emaciated from hunger and cold, the bishop arrived at Chelkar station – a small settlement in the Aktobe region, where he lived on alms for several months, hiding his high rank from everyone. Being a humble and meek man, he feared to burden anyone among the faithful, knowing that during the war years everyone was living in hardship. Love and compassion for people and complete devotion to the will of God guided him.

Soon after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Lord once again called His faithful servant to shepherd the flock of the faithful—Bishop Nicholas was appointed head of the newly formed Almaty and Kazakhstan diocese. The bishop, exhausted by camps and exile, faced apostolic labors ahead of him, filled with numerous difficulties: the small number of churches and their dire state, a severe shortage of clergy, poverty among the population, and countless numbers of repressed and relocated individuals needing support and consolation. The faithful, who had suffered from godless persecutions, war, and repressions, found in their archpastor a loving father, a caring shepherd, and a wise teacher. His fiery zeal for Orthodoxy, unshakeable firmness in faith, fervent love for his neighbors, a spirit of gentleness, and wise tolerance towards sinners, pastoral insistence on living a truly Christian life—these were the hallmarks of the great Kazakhstani hierarch's activities. The life of Bishop Nicholas fully embodied the words of Saint John Chrysostom: "A good shepherd-bishop is ever diligent, no less than a thousand martyrs."

Thank God, there are still those alive who personally interacted with Bishop Nicholas. These individuals recount the miracles that occurred through the bishop's prayers, his grace-filled help, and intercession. Everyone who today, heeding the call of their heart, comes to bow before the shrine with the holy relics of the confessor Bishop Nicholas in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Almaty, receives the fulfillment of their virtuous desires. According to the Holy Scriptures, "the righteous live forever" (Sirach 5:15) and manifest their care for those who call upon them as spiritual children.

The Lord has granted us the opportunity to partake in the spiritual heritage of the confessor Nicholas, preserved in his life story, sermons, memoirs, letters. The hierarch left us a legacy in his book "The Mystery of the Human Soul," where he discussed the patristic teachings on passions and the ways to combat them. In one of the chapters, he profoundly states: "A person can only truly live when they enter into a living communion with their God, who is the true self-sustaining Life and the fullness of blessings." Having embraced this grace-filled Life himself, having achieved union with Christ, the archpastor bestowed and continues to bestow Gospel joy upon the people.

On the memory day of Metropolitan Nicholas, let us turn to him with a prayerful request that we might emulate his steadfastness in faith and piety, and together with him have the boldness to proclaim the great apostolic confession: who shall separate us from the love of God? Neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future, nor any height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35, 38, 39).