Commemoration Saturday of Great Lent: Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates Liturgy at the Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Astana

March 29, 2025 – Saturday of the Fourth Week of Great Lent, a day of commemoration of the departed; feast of Saint Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the oldest church in the city of Astana – the Constantine and Helen Cathedral.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Archimandrite Sergy (Karamyshev), Dean of the Capital’s Parishes; Hieromonk Modest (Drozdov), Spiritual Father of the Convent of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost”; Hieromonk Dimitry (Baydek), Sacristan of the Assumption Cathedral; Protopriest Sergy Kaliyev, Sacristan of the Constantine and Helen Cathedral; Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky), Head of the Metropolitan’s Personal Secretariat; Priest Maxim Madzhitov; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Ioann Churkin; Deacon Alexander Piven; and Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

Praying during the service were: Igumena Sevastiana (Plotnikova), Abbess of the Convent of the Icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost,” together with the sisters of the monastery; staff of the diocesan administration; pilgrims; and parishioners of the cathedral.

The choir of the Constantine and Helen Cathedral sang under the direction of N.V. Mazurina.

During the litany for the departed, special commemoration was offered for the hierarchs of Kazakhstan; Archimandrite Kirill (Borodin), Confessor of the Faith and founder of the Convent of the “Recovery of the Lost” Icon; the ever-memorable Igumena Raphaela (Vasilenko); and departed pastors and monastics who labored in the monastery.

The sermon after the Communion hymn was delivered by Hieromonk Dimitry (Baydek).

At the conclusion of the Divine Service, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those gathered with a homily on the significance of prayer for the departed, after which a panikhida was served for all “Orthodox Christians who have reposed from ages past until this day.”

“The Church possesses great power—an extraordinary authority granted by God—to change the condition of the souls of her departed children. We bring to the church commemorative slips with names dear to our hearts, and we earnestly pray for the forgiveness of voluntary and involuntary sins of ‘those who have lived and reposed before us – our relatives and loved ones.’ We offer prosphora, from which particles are removed at the very beginning of the Liturgy during the Proskomedia on the holy Table of Oblation. Then comes a most significant and spiritually profound moment during the Divine Liturgy – all these particles are placed into the chalice with the Most Pure and Life-Giving Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. At this moment, the priest says: ‘Wash away, O Lord, the sins of all those commemorated here by Thy Precious Blood, through the prayers of Thy saints.’ Our relatives, loved ones, and acquaintances whose names are written in the commemorative slips receive grace, sanctification, and remission of sins through the Unbloody Sacrifice offered upon the Holy Altar. Those righteous ones to whom, by special Divine providence, the mysteries of the afterlife were revealed testify that the souls of the departed experience the greatest comfort and ineffable joy when the Church offers prayers on their behalf and the Holy Eucharist is celebrated in their memory.” — From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.