The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan Venerated the Sacred Relics of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra

February 25, 2025. Sergiev Posad. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan made a pilgrimage to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra.

Accompanying the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan on this pilgrimage were the Vice-Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua), and Assistant S.V. Sokolov.

Upon arriving at the Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander offered prayers before one of the most ancient Orthodox relics—the icon of the Life-Giving Trinity, painted by St. Andrei Rublev in the first third of the 15th century—and before the honorable relics of the Abbot of the Russian Land, St. Sergius of Radonezh, enshrined in the Trinity Cathedral of the monastery. The hierarch also venerated numerous other sacred relics and the remains of God’s saints preserved in the Serapion Chamber and the Nikon Chapel, among them the relics of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen, a fragment of the Robe of the Mother of God, a stone from the Holy Sepulcher, and the head of St. Isaiah of Rostov.

Before the sacred treasures of the monastery, the archpastor fervently prayed for the episcopate, clergy, monastics, and laity of the Metropolitan District, as well as for peace and prosperity in Kazakhstan.

In the rector’s chambers of the Moscow Theological Academy, Metropolitan Alexander met with Bishop Kirill of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov, the rector of the Moscow Theological Schools.

The hierarchs discussed prospects for mutual participation of faculty and students from the theological institutions of Moscow and Almaty in academic events and exchanged views on several pressing issues concerning theological education.

The Head of the Metropolitan District also shared with Bishop Kirill details about the events planned in the current year in honor of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Almaty Theological Seminary in the southern capital.