Word of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan in the Dormition Cathedral of Astana. September 29, 2024

Your Eminences and Excellencies!  

Reverend Fathers, dear brothers and sisters!  

I sincerely congratulate you on these sacred celebrations! We continue to venerate the precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord – the Altar of God's love, and we are filled with spiritual joy from the arrival of the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow, a saint whose name is revered by a great number of people around the world.

"The Cross is exalted today, and the world is sanctified," sings the Holy Church, calling us to bow our hearts and knees before the life-giving Wood of the Cross. When we gaze upon the image of Christ’s Crucifixion, we are presented with the great salvific truth: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Through the Cross, the Lord granted people the forgiveness of sins, adopting humanity into the family of God the Father. Everyone who approaches the Wood of the Cross with sincere faith and prayerful hope receives healing from illnesses, liberation from passions, consolation, and the strengthening to lead a virtuous life.

The blessed Matrona visits the blessed land of Kazakhstan during the days of the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. The reliquary containing her relics rests at the center of the church near the precious Wood of the Cross. This is deeply symbolic, for her entire life was one of humble carrying of the cross of life’s sorrows and sufferings. Saint Matrona fully fulfilled the command of Christ the Savior, who said, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34). By fulfilling the Lord’s command, she became a source of healings and miracles, a fervent intercessor and protector for everyone who prays to her. We will bow before the Life-Giving Cross and venerate the holy relics of Blessed Matrona, asking the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of our weak souls and bodies, and the enlightenment of our hearts so that we may worthily and righteously carry our own life’s cross.

When a person approaches a holy relic, they often expect miracles. I would like to tell you an old, instructive story. There was once a devout father who had a spiritual son. The young man thought that if he witnessed great miracles of God and heavenly signs, he would certainly be strengthened in his faith and attain salvation. The elder objected, but the young man was unwavering in his desire to see miracles and set off on a journey to distant lands. He wandered through waterless deserts, impenetrable forests, and raging seas. He endured cold and heat, suffered from hunger and thirst, and fled from bandits and wild beasts. When the young man returned to the elder, he was deeply saddened and said that he had not seen any miracles of God during his long journey. The elder sternly replied, "Oh, ungrateful one! The fact that you returned alive and unharmed from such a long journey – is this not a great miracle of God? Did the Lord not save you from death all this time, did He not help you in trials, did He not deliver you from misfortunes?" The young man, reproved by the elder, realized that God’s miracles had been with him all along, though he had failed to recognize them. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, also strive to see God’s wise and benevolent Providence in our lives and be grateful to the Creator. As Saint John Chrysostom says, "Nothing is so pleasing to God as a grateful and thankful soul."

Today, with deep emotion, I recall a special event for me – 35 years ago, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross, the Lord deemed me worthy to ascend to a high level of church service and receive the rank of bishop. The episcopal consecration, by the blessing of the late Patriarch Pimen of blessed memory, took place at the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral in Yelokhovo, Moscow. For me, that day was filled with fervent prayers, intense reflections on the service ahead, and awe before the apostolic grace. To be a bishop is not a privilege but a heavy cross. Being a bishop means being the first in prayer, in service, and in responsibility before the Lord not only for oneself but for the flock and the shepherds. To be a hierarch means, as the Apostle Paul says, to "be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12), and to "become all things to all men" (1 Corinthians 9:22).

The Cross of Christ sanctifies my church life – my episcopal consecration took place on the Feast of the Exaltation, and on the eve of the week of the Veneration of the Cross, I received the Patriarchal Decree appointing me as the Head of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan. In this significant coincidence, I see a sign from God and a directive from above to patiently and humbly carry the cross of service to God and people.

I would also like to share an ancient story for our edification. In a certain monastic community, there lived and worked for many years a skilled and experienced iconographer. One day, his students found him in tears. "Father, why are you crying?" they asked.  

"I have finished my work, but I see no flaws in it," he replied.  

"Isn’t that a good thing?" the students were surprised.  

"If I have stopped seeing the faults in my work, it means my talent has started to fade," answered the great iconographer.  

So it is with our lives: if we stop seeing mistakes in our efforts and fail to notice imperfections in our results, if we become self-confident and self-satisfied, it means that the talents of our souls have seriously diminished, and we have ceased to walk the path of salvation. In all circumstances, we must always look at ourselves and all we do through the light of the Gospel truth, and at all times and in every hour, we must call upon God's blessing on all our good plans and intentions. This is what I wish for myself and for all of you.

I offer heartfelt thanks to all of you who today prayerfully join in this celebration, who remember me in your prayers, and who labor with me for the sake of Orthodoxy on the land of Kazakhstan. I am deeply grateful to our great lord and father, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who has sent me a congratulatory address. I always feel His Holiness’s spiritual support. Our Primate sets a wonderful example for all of us – archpastors, clergy, and laity – through his ascetic service, inspiring us to active ecclesial work.

Celebrating the Divine Liturgy today in the main cathedral of Kazakhstan – the Dormition Cathedral of Astana – I would like to once again affirm to all of you my archpastoral love. I pray to the Most Merciful Lord that He may judge me, His humble servant, my life, and my deeds performed here on the blessed land of Kazakhstan, washed by the blood of the new martyrs and adorned with the feats of the confessors of the 20th century, with His merciful judgment.

I ask for your holy prayers and, to the best of my ability, I call upon the Creator and Giver of all good things, God, to grant peace and prosperity to all of you – the most reverend bishops, the venerable pastors, and dear brothers and sisters! May the Savior strengthen us with the power of His precious and life-giving Cross, which is "the guardian of the whole world, the beauty of the Church, the strength of kings, the steadfastness of the faithful, and the glory of the angels," and bless the land of Kazakhstan through the prayers of Blessed Matrona of Moscow.