Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan Holds Working Meeting with Bishop Chrysanth of Chimkent and Turkestan

March 27, 2025 – Almaty. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan held a working meeting with Bishop Chrysanth of Chimkent and Turkestan at the administrative and spiritual-cultural center of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.

The meeting was attended by O.N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan and Honored Artist of Russia; Protopriest Eugene Ivanov, Acting Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary and Head of the Information and Publishing Department of the Metropolitan District; Priest George Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Metropolitan; and Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service.

Following an exchange of greetings, Bishop Chrysanth congratulated Metropolitan Alexander on the 15th anniversary of his service as Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.

The main topic of discussion was the upcoming visit to Kazakhstan by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The hierarchs discussed the program for the Primate’s stay within the bounds of the Chimkent Diocese.

During the working meeting, the archpastors also spoke about the implementation of an initiative proposed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. Well-acquainted with the history of persecution against Orthodoxy, the Patriarch had proposed the construction of a memorial chapel in Lisya Balka—located in present-day Shymkent—in memory of the countless innocent sufferers for the Orthodox faith. The site is widely known as a place of execution and burial of thousands of Orthodox Christians, including Metropolitan Cyril (Smirnov) of Kazan, Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh), Archbishop Alexis (Orlov), Bishop Eugene (Kobranov), and many other renowned hierarchs and pastors.

The noble idea of His Holiness found a response from the country’s leadership, and as a result, both a memorial mosque and a chapel dedicated to the New Martyrs of Shymkent will be erected in Lisya Balka to honor the more than 18,000 officially recorded victims of repression.

Metropolitan Alexander shared that during his most recent meeting with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place on March 20, His Holiness expressed the desire to consecrate the newly built Orthodox memorial and celebrate a divine service in the chapel.

The meeting also addressed the development of educational and social-charitable initiatives in the Chimkent Diocese, the creation of diocesan administrative and spiritual-cultural centers in Shymkent and Turkestan, and the establishment of a museum of church history.

Bishop Chrysanth expressed his gratitude to the Head of the Metropolitan District for his particular attention to the life of Orthodoxy in Southern Kazakhstan.