A working meeting was held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan

December 29, 2024. Moscow. A meeting was held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, at the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the Danilov Monastery.

During the meeting, current issues of the activities of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, the state of interfaith dialogue and church-state relations in the Republic were discussed.

One of the topics of the meeting was the discussion of the results of the meeting of His Holiness with the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Maulen Sagatkhanovich Ashimbayev, which took place at the Patriarchal Residence in the Danilov Monastery in Moscow on November 22 of this year. The Primate emphasized that the Russian Orthodox Church is promoting the strengthening of global interreligious dialogue and the development of spiritual diplomacy at the international level and fully supports the holding of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill noted the high level of relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and the leadership of Kazakhstan and the country as a whole, the church life developing in the Republic, and noted with gratitude that the Kazakh state supports good church initiatives.

During the conversation, the issues of participation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' in the VIII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions were discussed, which will be held on September 17-18, 2025 in Astana.

Metropolitan Alexander expressed words of gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', who blessed the bringing of the miraculous icon of the Holy Mother of God “Healer” and part of the holy relics and robe of the blessed nun Matrona of Moscow to the borders of Kazakhstan for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Astana diocese.

The Metropolitan shared with His Holiness a plan of church and social events dedicated to historical dates of the coming 2025 - the 50th anniversary of the blessed death of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), the 70th anniversary of the death of the holy confessor Nikolai (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan, and the 225th anniversary of the birth of the first archpastor of the Turkestan diocese - Archbishop Sophonia (Sokolsky). Metropolitan Alexander informed the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church about a number of events of a spiritual, educational and scientific nature, which are planned for 2025, marked by a significant date - the 15th anniversary of the approval of the canonical status of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District. At the end of the meeting, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' congratulated Metropolitan Alexander on the upcoming New Year and the Nativity of Christ and called for God's blessing on the work of the archpastors, clergy, monastics and laity of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan.