On the Eve of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the All-Night Vigil with the Rite of the Bringing Out of the Cross in the Main Church of the Southern Capital

On March 22, 2025, on the eve of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross of Great Lent, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the All-Night Vigil with the rite of the bringing out of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: the Sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral, Head of the Department for Public Relations of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, and the clergy of the cathedral.

The hymns of the service were sung by the Choir of the Metropolitan District under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia O. N. Ovchinnikov, and the choir of the Ascension Cathedral under the direction of E. Boguslavets.

In accordance with the Typikon, during the service of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the Church glorifies the Holy Cross and the fruits of the Savior’s sufferings upon the Cross. Therefore, the principal feature of this Sunday’s All-Night Vigil is the rite of the bringing out of the Cross from the altar to the center of the church for veneration.

At Matins, following the Great Doxology, during the chanting of the Trisagion, Metropolitan Alexander brought out the Cross of the Lord from the altar.

The Cross that was brought out is a gift from the ever-memorable His Beatitude Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem and contains particles of the Life-Giving Wood of the Lord’s Cross, Golgotha, and the Tomb of the Lord.