Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan at the Dormition Cathedral in Astana, September 27, 2026

September 27, 2026. Astana. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, addressed the congregation:

Your Graces, Reverend Fathers, dear brothers and sisters!

I warmly congratulate you on these special and sacred celebrations! Today we glorify the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord – the Altar of God’s love – and rejoice at the arrival in the capital of Kazakhstan of the relics of St. Spyridon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Trimythous, a saint whose name is revered by millions of people throughout the world.

“The Cross is the guardian of the whole world; the Cross is the beauty of the Church; the Cross is the strength of the faithful; the Cross is the glory of the angels,” the Holy Church sings, calling us to bow our hearts and our knees before the Life-Giving Wood of the Cross. When we look upon the image of Christ crucified, a great and saving truth is revealed to our spiritual sight: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Through the Cross, the Lord granted mankind the forgiveness of sins and made the human race children of God the Father. Everyone who approaches the Wood of the Cross with sincere faith and prayerful hope receives healing from illness and deliverance from the passions, finds consolation and is strengthened in a life of virtue.

St. Spyridon is visiting the blessed land of Kazakhstan during the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. The reliquary containing his relics now stands in the center of the church beside the Precious Wood of the Cross. This is deeply symbolic, for his entire life was the humble bearing of the difficult cross of serving his neighbors – those who mourned, suffered, were deprived and afflicted by illness.

The Bishop of Trimythous fulfilled in its fullness the commandment of Christ the Savior: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Having fulfilled the Lord’s commandment, he became a source of healings and miracles, a fervent intercessor and advocate for all who turn to him in prayer.

We shall bow before the Life-Giving Wood and venerate the precious relics of this saint of God, asking the Lord for the forgiveness of our sins, for strength in our weakness of soul and body, and for the enlightenment of our hearts, so that we may bear the cross of our lives worthily and righteously.

Today, with particular feeling, I recall an event of special significance to me. Thirty-seven years ago, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross, the Lord granted me the grace to enter upon a new and exalted ministry in the Church by receiving episcopal consecration. With the blessing of the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, my consecration took place at the Patriarchal Epiphany Cathedral at Yelokhovo in Moscow.

For me, that day was filled with intense prayer, profound reflection on the ministry that lay ahead, and awe before the apostolic grace I was receiving. To be an archpastor is not a privilege but a heavy cross. To be a bishop means to be first in prayer, first in service and first in responsibility before the Lord – not only for oneself, but also for one’s flock and pastors. To be a hierarch means, in the words of the Apostle Paul, to be “an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12), and to become “all things to all men” (1 Cor. 9:22).

The Cross of Christ has marked my life in the Church. My episcopal consecration took place on the Feast of the Exaltation, and on the eve of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross I received the Patriarchal decree appointing me Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. In this remarkable coincidence I see a sign from God and a direction from above to bear patiently and humbly the cross of service to God and to His people.

I offer my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who share this celebration with me in prayer today, who remember me in your prayers and who labor alongside me for the good 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’, for his steadfast spiritual support.

Our Primate gives all of us – bishops, clergy and laity – a remarkable example of selfless service and inspires us to active work for the Church.

There is still much for all of us to accomplish. Yet I firmly believe that the Lord will not leave us without His help in the work that lies ahead, and that the grace of the Holy Spirit, in response to prayer, effort and patience, can make up for every human weakness and deficiency. For us Christians, and especially for those who serve at the altar of the Lord, there is no other path, nor can there be.

The Savior Himself reveals the source of this great and all-conquering strength: “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).

As I celebrate the Divine Liturgy today in Kazakhstan’s principal church – the Dormition Cathedral in Astana – I wish once again to assure you all of my love. I pray to the All-Good Lord that He may judge me, His servant, my life and my deeds here in the blessed land of Kazakhstan – a land washed with the blood of the New Martyrs and adorned by the witness of the Confessors of the twentieth century – according to His merciful judgment.

I ask for your holy prayers, and I myself, according to my strength, call upon God, the Creator and Giver of every good thing, asking Him to grant peace and well-being to all of you – Your Graces, reverend pastors, dear brothers and sisters!

“O wondrous miracle! The breadth and length of the Cross are equal to the heavens, for by divine grace it sanctifies all things,” the Church of Christ sings today. May the Savior strengthen us by the power of His Precious and Life-Giving Cross and bless the land of Kazakhstan through the prayers of St. Spyridon the Wonderworker, Bishop of Trimythous.