Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the Feast Day of Hieroconfessor Nicholas, Metropolitan of Almaty - Heavenly Patron of Kazakhstan

October 25 - the anniversary of the repose in the Lord of Hieroconfessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Almaty and Kazakhstan. On the occasion of the feast, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, addressed the faithful with an archpastoral message:

Most Reverend Fathers! Dear brothers and sisters!

Today is a great and joyful feast for the city of Almaty and the entire blessed land of Kazakhstan - the commemoration of St. Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Hierarch and Confessor. The life of this outstanding hierarch can be briefly described in the words of the Gospel: “He was a burning and a shining light” (John 5:35). His very name evokes an entire era in the history of the Orthodox Church and our country. These were sorrowful times, marked by the destruction of centuries-old social foundations rooted in faith in God, the killing of countless hierarchs, clergymen, and laypeople, and the persecution of innocent people for confessing the truth of the Gospel. The Metropolitan lived through the hardships of the Great Patriotic War and the difficulties of overcoming the devastation of the postwar years. His ministry to the Church was marked by many sorrows and sufferings.

Metropolitan Nicholas, born Feodosy Nikiforovich Mogilevsky, came from a devout family of a church reader and received a thorough Christian upbringing and a sound theological education. He loved to recount that he had been born on the first day of Holy Pascha, amid the joyful ringing of bells and solemn singing. The ardent love for the Church of Christ, devotion to the celebration of divine services, and steadfastness in prayerful labours that the future hierarch of Kazakhstan inherited from his parents sustained him through every hardship and trial. The words of the Prophet and King David became the guiding principle of his life: “I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 103:33). He transformed his life into a hymn to God, glorifying the Creator in word and deed.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 36:23), testifies the righteous man of the Old Testament. When God appoints someone to the lofty ministry of a pastor, His Providence guides that person along many paths, the meaning and purpose of which become clear and evident only in retrospect. In the life of St. Nicholas, we see this mysterious divine power placing him in various circumstances and conditions, helping him develop the gifts that would be necessary for a minister who rightly divides the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

The Lord ordained that the future confessor of the faith should undertake monastic obediences at the Nilov-Stolobensky Monastery, study at the Moscow Theological Academy, and foster theological education in Poltava, Chernigov, and Irkutsk. His episcopal ministry began in the tragic years following the Revolution. Metropolitan Nicholas courageously struggled against schismatics and Renovationists - ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) - and, sparing not his own life, opposed the godless authorities who closed and destroyed churches and monasteries, desecrated holy shrines, and tormented the faithful. His labours and spiritual struggles are remembered in the Diocese of Chernigov, the land of Tula, Oryol, and Moscow.

Once, addressing the Apostle Paul in prayer, Venerable John of Damascus exclaimed: “What prison did not hold thee captive?” These words may equally be addressed to Hieroconfessor Nicholas. He suffered for Christ in the notorious Butyrka Prison and a detention facility in Voronezh, and was exhausted by unbearable labour in the camps of Mordovia, Chuvashia, and Sarov. The holy hierarch joyfully accepted the cup of suffering, giving thanks to God and fearing not those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul (Matthew 10:28).

As a “socially dangerous element,” Metropolitan Nicholas was exiled to the Kazakh SSR for five years. Thus, at the age of 64, began the Kazakhstani period of his confession of the faith and archpastoral ministry. In a prison railway carriage, dressed in worn-out clothing and weakened by hunger and cold, the Metropolitan arrived at Chelkar Station, a small settlement in the Aktobe Region, where he lived for several months on alms, concealing his high ecclesiastical rank from everyone. Being a modest and humble man, he feared becoming a burden to any of the faithful, knowing how difficult life was for everyone during the war years. Love and compassion for others, together with complete devotion to the will of God, guided his actions.

Soon after the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Lord once again called His faithful servant to shepherd His rational flock - Metropolitan Nicholas was appointed to lead the newly established Diocese of Almaty and Kazakhstan. Exhausted by imprisonment in labour camps and exile, the holy hierarch now faced apostolic labours and a multitude of difficulties: the small number of churches and their deplorable condition, an acute shortage of clergy, widespread poverty, and countless victims of repression and displaced persons in need of support and consolation.

In their archpastor, the faithful, who had suffered so deeply from godless persecution, war, and repression, found a loving father, a caring shepherd, and a wise teacher. Burning zeal for Orthodoxy, unshakable firmness in the faith, ardent love for one’s neighbours, a spirit of meekness and wise forbearance toward sinners, and pastoral perseverance in calling everyone to a truly Christian life - these qualities permeated the entire ministry of the great hierarch of Kazakhstan. In the life of Metropolitan Nicholas, the words of St. John Chrysostom were fulfilled in their entirety: “A good shepherd and bishop struggles at all times no less than a thousand martyrs.”

Thanks be to God, there are still people alive who knew Metropolitan Nicholas personally. They recount miracles that occurred through his prayers and speak of his grace-filled assistance and intercession. Everyone who today, following the call of their heart, comes to venerate the shrine containing the precious relics of Hieroconfessor Metropolitan Nicholas at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty receives the fulfilment of their good and righteous desires. As Holy Scripture teaches, “The righteous live forever” (Wisdom of Solomon 5:15), and they continue to care for their spiritual children who call upon them.

The Lord has granted us the opportunity to partake of the spiritual heritage of Hieroconfessor Nicholas, preserved in his life, sermons, recollections, and letters. The holy hierarch left us his book The Mystery of the Human Soul, in which he expounded the teachings of the Holy Fathers concerning the passions and the ways of overcoming them. One chapter contains these profound words: “A person can truly live only when he enters into living communion with his God, Who is true, self-existent Life and the fullness of all blessings.” Having himself received this grace-filled Life into his heart and attained union with Christ, the archpastor brought, and continues to bring, the joy of the Gospel to others.

On the feast day of Metropolitan Nicholas, let us turn to him in prayer, asking that, according to our strength, we may imitate 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, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 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 (Romans 8:35, 38-39).