Metropolitan Alexander Served a Memorial Service for the Ever-Memorable Hegumeness Rafaela (Vasilenko)

On February 4, 2025, one year had passed since the repose in the Lord of the abbess of the women’s monastery in Astana, dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God “Seeking of the Lost,” Hegumeness Rafaela (Vasilenko).

Following the Divine Liturgy at the Matrona Church of the Iveron-Seraphim Women’s Monastery in Almaty, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan served a memorial service (panikhida) for the ever-memorable mother hegumeness.

Among those in attendance for the service were: the Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District and Honored Artist of Russia, O.N. Ovchinnikov; the Sacristan of the Assumption Cathedral in Astana, Protopriest Dimitry Baydek; Protopriest Alexander Sokolov; the Head of the Personal Secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); Hieromonk Cherubim (Levin); Priest Andrey Ivashinin; Hierodeacon Athanasius (Kozel); Deacon Ioann Zhuchkov; the Abbess of the Iveron-Seraphim Women’s Monastery, Hegumeness Lyubov (Yakushkina), along with the sisters of the monastery; staff of the Almaty Diocesan Administration; and students of the Almaty Theological Seminary.

The choir of the Sophia Cathedral of the monastery, directed by O. Usoltseva, and the mixed choir of the Almaty Seminary, directed by K. Nikulina, performed the hymns of the service.

Before the prayer, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those present with an archpastoral word, expressing gratitude for the labors of the late hegumeness:

“Hegumeness Rafaela lived a long life, filled with labors for the benefit of her native Orthodoxy. The Lord granted her the grace to receive salvific spiritual lessons from pastors and monastics who, during the years of hardship, endured trials yet remained steadfast in the truth of the Gospel. The ever-memorable abbess, with gratitude to God and heartfelt joy, devoted her strength, health, and talents to the flourishing of monastic life in the Tselinograd region. Hegumeness Rafaela accomplished much to preserve monastic traditions in Kazakhstan, to increase its spiritual heritage, and to nurture the moral upbringing of the younger generation. Whatever obedience the Lord entrusted to her, she always fulfilled with unwavering diligence, heartfelt simplicity, and sincerity,” noted the metropolitan.

At the conclusion of the memorial service, the clergy and faithful chanted Eternal Memory.