Diocesan Assembly of the Clergy of the Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo Diocese Held

March 21–22, 2025. Petropavlovsk. The diocesan assembly of the clergy of the Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo Diocese was held at the spiritual and administrative center attached to the Ascension Cathedral.

Among the participants were deans, rectors and clergy of the churches, monastics, heads of diocesan departments, staff of the diocesan administration, and those responsible for social, educational, and missionary activities in the parishes.

The assembly was opened by Archbishop Vladimir of Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo, who delivered a report on the main events that had taken place in the diocese during the current year. His Eminence also expressed his wishes regarding the ministry of the clergy and the work of the diocesan departments.

Reports were then presented by the following speakers:

Hieromonk Seraphim (Maksimov), Head of the Diocesan Department for Prison Ministry;

S.P. Ivanova, Chief Accountant of the Diocese;

I.S. Ulanov, Head of the Diocesan Department of Religious Education and Catechization.

The following presentations were delivered during the meeting:

• “The Teaching of the Ascetics of the 4th–5th Centuries on Acquiring Grace and Its Interpretation in Our Days” — Hieromonk Seraphim (Maksimov), Head of the Prison Ministry Department;

• “‘As Is Your Name, So Is Your Life’: On the Use of Non-Christian Names in Baptismal Naming Practices” — E.V. Morgunova, Literature Teacher at the First General Education Lyceum;

• “Explaining Ancient Church Texts: Old Testament Readings for the Feasts of the Lord” — Priest Roman Pudov, Rector of the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Arkhangelskoye;

• “Spiritual Hymns by S. Degtyarev” — A.A. Zatay, Conductor of the Hierarchal Choir of the Petropavlovsk Diocese;

• “The Victorious Year 1945: The Approach of Victory” — S.V. Tsvetkova, Methodologist of the Diocesan Department of Religious Education and Catechization.

At the conclusion of the assembly, the Archbishop summarized the work and thanked the clergy and laity of the diocese for their service to the Orthodox Church in Northern Kazakhstan.

The session ended with a general confession led by the spiritual father of the Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo Diocese, Priest Alexander Denichenko.

On March 22, the feast day of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, the participants of the diocesan assembly prayed at the Divine Liturgy at the Ascension Cathedral, celebrated by Archbishop Vladimir.