The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan held a working meeting with Bishop Chrysanthus of Chimkent and Turkestan

January 3, 2025. Alma-Ata. In the administrative and spiritual-cultural center of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan held a working meeting with Bishop Chrysanthus of Chimkent and Turkestan.

The meeting was attended by: Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; Acting Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Head of the Information and Publishing Department of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Yevgeny Ivanov; Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; Assistant to Bishop Chrysanthus, Key Keeper of the Adriano-Natalievskiy Church Priest Ioann Konoplev; Head of the Metropolitan's Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin.

The meeting discussed preparations for the upcoming visit to Kazakhstan of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', who will visit the country to participate in the VIII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the fall of this year. The official invitation to the international forum, signed by the President of the Republic K.-Zh.K. Tokayev, was conveyed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill by the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan M.S. Ashimbayev during the official meeting on November 22, 2024.

The Metropolitan noted that in a special year for Kazakhstan, marked by the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the canonical status of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, the city of Shymkent - the place of suffering for Christ of a host of archpastors, clergy and laity - should become one of the centers for holding spiritual and educational church and social events.

Metropolitan Alexander and Bishop Chrysanthus spoke about the implementation of the initiative proposed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. His Holiness, well aware of the history of persecution of Orthodoxy, proposed to erect a memorial chapel in Lisya Balka, located on the territory of the present-day city of Shymkent, in memory of the countless innocent sufferers for Orthodoxy. The infamous Lisya Balka became the place of execution and final resting place of thousands of Orthodox Christians; among them were Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov) of Kazan, Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh), Archbishop Alexy (Orlov), Bishop Evgeny (Kobranov), and many other famous hierarchs and pastors. It was noted that petitions for the creation of a memorial chapel were made by descendants of victims not only from Kazakhstan, but also from countries near and far abroad - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the USA, Germany, Italy and other countries. Metropolitan Alexander said that the initiative to build a memorial chapel, which received the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, was considered by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.-Zh.K. Tokayev. According to the Head of the Metropolitan District, he was informed about this by the Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the country M.S. Ashimbayev during a meeting held on December 9, 2024 in Astana. Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich, having studied the issue, approved the construction of two religious memorials in Lisya Balka - an Orthodox chapel and a Muslim mosque, since this place is the final resting place of the innocently murdered representatives of the two leading traditional Kazakh faiths - Islam and Orthodoxy. The hierarch reminded the participants of the meeting of the words of the head of state, spoken by him on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression: "Only by fully learning the terrible lessons of the past and preserving the memory of them, we will be able to overcome any challenges and reach new heights on the path to building a just state and a harmonious society."

At the meeting, Metropolitan Alexander approved the project of the future chapel proposed by Bishop Chrysanthus, and put his signature on the documents, marking the beginning of the first stage of the construction of the church memorial.

During the working meeting, issues of implementing educational and social-charitable work in the Shymkent diocese, the creation of diocesan administrative and spiritual-cultural centers and a church-historical museum in Shymkent and Turkestan were discussed.

Bishop Chrysanthus thanked the Head of the Metropolitan District for his special attention to the life of Orthodoxy in Southern Kazakhstan. The archpastors exchanged congratulations on the coming civil New Year and the upcoming holiday of the Nativity of Christ.