March 16, 2025 – Second Sunday of Great Lent, “Sunday of the Light-Creating Fasts,” Commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki.
Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love, and Their Mother Sophia at the Patriarchal Metochion of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan in Moscow.
His Eminence was joined in concelebration by: Acting Rector of the Church of the Holy Hieromartyr Clement of Rome in Zamoskvorechye, Head of the Doctoral Department of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School, Archpriest Alexey Marchenko; Acting Rector of the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary, Head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov; Vice-Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua); Sacristan of the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love, and Their Mother Sophia, Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko); clergy of the Metochion.
The church choir, conducted by Anna Rozhnova, sang during the service.
Among those praying at the Divine Service were: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Administrator of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, staff members of the Representation, benefactors of the Patriarchal Metochion, and parishioners of the church.
At the conclusion of the Divine Service, the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan addressed the faithful with a sermon, speaking about the life and pastoral labors of Saint Gregory Palamas.
“On the second Sunday of Great Lent, called in the liturgical order the ‘Sunday of the Light-Creating Fasts,’ the Church of Christ, in addition to celebrating the Sunday Resurrection, commemorates one of the great hierarchs and preachers of Orthodoxy—Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of the city of Thessaloniki. Great Lent is a divine call to the renewal of man, his liberation from sin, the inner enlightenment of the mind and heart, and an invitation to journey toward the radiant joy of Holy Pascha. Saint Gregory Palamas taught that the mysterious Divine Light, which shone upon the apostles on Mount Tabor, which radiated in the Life-Giving Tomb of the Savior at His Resurrection from the dead, can be truly seen and experienced by every believer. Moreover, participation in this Light is an essential condition for our salvation. The vision of this Light is nothing other than a living and active communion with Christ, union with Him—‘the true Light, which enlightens every man coming into the world’ (John 1:9). We are capable of becoming partakers of the Divine life and the Divine nature through illumination by grace, which is acquired through the purification of the heart, the guarding of the mind from vain and evil thoughts, fervent prayer, the reading of the Word of God, a pious and virtuous life according to the commandments, sincere service to God and neighbor, and participation in the sacraments of Confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.” — From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.
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