Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan at the 21st Philaret Educational Readings

December 9, 2023, Almaty. In the Throne Hall of the Spiritual-Cultural and Administrative Center of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan named after Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), the 21st Philaret Educational Readings were held by the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

This spiritual and educational event of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District serves as the regional stage of the 32nd International Christmas Educational Readings.

The conference was organized by the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary.

Opening the plenary session, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan spoke:

Venerable Fathers, brothers and sisters!

Following a long-standing tradition, this main scientific, practical, and educational conference of the Metropolitan District acts as the regional stage of the International Christmas Readings. This year our conference is dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the all-church celebration in honor of the Synod of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan. The proposed agenda is directly related to the theme of the Christmas Readings: "Orthodoxy and national culture: losses and acquisitions of the past, the image of the future," as in Kazakhstan, the main treasure of Christ's Church is the feat of the sufferers for the faith, who have shone forth in abundance in this land in the 20th century.

The New Martyrs and Confessors are pillars of today, for we believe and know that they, having preserved loyalty to the Lord God, are all alive to this day (Deut. 4:4). Notably, the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II called Kazakhstan "an antimins spread under the open sky." The names of the confessor Nicholas, Metropolitan of Alma-Ata, the holy martyr Pimen, Bishop of Verny, and the venerable confessor Sebastian of Karaganda are inscribed in golden letters in the history of Orthodoxy. This past year, we prayerfully marked the 30th anniversary of the glorification of the saints of Verny – the hieromonks Seraphim (Bogoslavsky) and Theognost (Pivovarov), the 90th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Nikolay-Kuchugursk presbyters – Alexander Skalsky, Stefan Ponomarev, and Philipp Grigoryev, and the 100th anniversary of the episcopal service of the first bishop of the land of Kustanai, confessor of the faith – Bishop Timon (Rusanov).

We believe that the prayerful intercession of the God-pleasers, who toiled and suffered in the land of Kazakhstan and laid down their lives for Christ here, helps and strengthens all of us who bear church obedience in the Metropolitan District, who live and work here.

The assembly of new martyrs and confessors is vast and varied. It unites people of different ages and professions, different social origins, and life paths. Some were executed immediately, others were tortured for a long time, and still others wandered through prisons and camps for years, sometimes decades, dying from starvation and unbearable work, but everywhere we see their fervent faith, unbreakable will, deep conviction in the Gospel Truth, and readiness to follow it to the end.

By the grace of God, I have been fortunate to have personal contact with a whole host of confessors of our Church – clergy and laypeople who have suffered for Christ, served sentences in camps and exile merely for not renouncing God. Their earthly path "in simplicity and godly sincerity" (2 Cor. 1:12) passed before my eyes. By their life example, their love for Orthodoxy, they contributed to shaping my Christian worldview.

It's remarkable that these people, having gone through trials, were meek and affable. Despite their harsh lives, the losses endured, the pain experienced, they remained remarkably bright and joyous people.

The process of glorifying in the ranks of saints those who suffered for Christ began in our Church in the 1980s – first abroad, and then within the former Soviet Union. At the Bishops' Council of 1989, St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, was counted among the assembly of God's favorites; this was the first canonization of a saint who lived in post-revolutionary times and suffered repression from the godless. The canonization process reached its greatest extent in 2000.

To date, almost two thousand ascetics – bishops, clergy, monastics, and laypeople – have been gloriously named, and it must be understood that this is just a small portion of those who endured torments for Christ from the godless authority. As of today, the number of those who suffered for faith during the post-revolutionary persecutions, included in the database of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University, exceeds 36,000 names. This year, with the support of the staff of this university, a massive project to create an electronic database of all repressed clerics and laypeople of the Russian Orthodox Church associated with Kazakhstan and Central Asia was completed. Named "Turkestan Golgotha," the project involved members of the canonization commissions of all dioceses of the Kazakhstan and Central Asian Metropolitan Districts and independent researchers from 5 countries compiling biographical profiles and publishing the most comprehensive and reliable data about the repressed Orthodox faithful of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. In the course of this work, inaccuracies were corrected and supplemented with new information about the lives of the new martyrs and confessors.

Based on this database, the Martyrology of Kazakhstan and Central Asia will be published. It will include biographical data on both glorified and unglorified clergy and believers who suffered for Christ and His Church during the years of persecution, whose lives, labors, and feats are associated with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. As of the beginning of December this year, the "Turkestan Golgotha" database includes 5,856 sufferers for the holy Orthodoxy.

The study of the feats of new martyrs and confessors should not and cannot remain the domain of a narrow circle of specialists. Our common task is to make maximum efforts to fully glorify the sufferers for faith among broad sections of society, to acquaint not only church-goers but also all who are interested in history and the spiritual heritage of our country with their fates.

Special attention should be paid to this issue in the activities of Sunday schools. Our youth should know, at least briefly, the lives of the most outstanding new martyrs and confessors, and among the main prayers, learn the troparia to the revered sufferers of Christ.

An important step in this necessary and noble cause should be the creation of diocesan and parish museums with exhibitions about the saints who shone forth in the land of Kazakhstan. It is important to understand that historical consciousness and careful attention to the lessons of the past are formed not only through textbooks and lessons but also through the created cultural space, which includes museums. In the capital of the Republic, in the spiritual-cultural and administrative center of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan named after the Equals-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius, a museum of the new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan was established in 2014—a memorial center dedicated to the victims of political repressions who suffered for their faith. Our central museum serves as a good example for organizing exhibition work in the regions.

A significant date is approaching. In 2025, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the repose of the outstanding church figure of the 20th century, a confessor of faith and an ascetic of piety, Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov). The celebration of this spiritually and historically significant jubilee should go beyond church walls and attract the attention of broad circles of our fellow citizens and the global community to the feat of Kazakhstan's sufferers for faith and divine truth. The events that will take place within the framework of the festivities should help Orthodox Kazakhs realize themselves as heirs to the legacy of the new martyrs and confessors, to feel the responsibility for preserving and enhancing spiritual and cultural values. I believe that the upcoming year should be marked by preparations for the celebration of the upcoming jubilee. The feat of the innocent sufferers should be immortalized in monumental works of art, iconography, literature, and music.

I have given special instructions to the leadership of the Almaty Spiritual Seminary regarding conducting scientific research related to the Kazakh saints. I urge students to prioritize choosing themes of term papers and thesis on the church history of the 20th century in Kazakhstan, the era of persecution of Orthodoxy, and the memory of new martyrs and confessors.

I hope that the traditional Philaret readings will be successful and become a good contribution to the scientific and educational activities of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District and the cause of perpetuating the memory of the sufferers for Christ.

I invoke God’s blessing on everyone.