On the Forefeast of the Annunciation and the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in the Southern Capital

April 6, 2025 – the Forefeast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos; the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent; the commemoration of Saint Mary of Egypt.

The Synaxarion (the liturgical homily for the day) states: “Although the commemoration of this venerable woman is set for April 1, it is also celebrated today, as Great Lent draws to a close, to rouse to repentance the frivolous and the sinful, for whom the saint being honored should serve as an example.”

On the preceding evening at Matins, following the reading of the Sunday Gospel passage, and in accordance with the Typikon, the Lenten troparia “Open to me the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life” were chanted for the final time during this year’s Holy Forty Days.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great at the Trinity Church of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Almaty.

His Eminence was concelebrated by: the Dean of the Nativity Cathedral, Protopriest Alexander Gaychenya; the head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); the head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Priest Maxim Bely; Priest Maxim Idrisov; Hieromonk Cherubim (Levin); Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; the head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; the chief physician of the Saint Luke Orthodox Medical Center, Deacon Alexander Dzhodzhua; and Deacon Vyacheslav Solomatov.

Praying at the service were: V.M. Kapsamun, director of the Eleos Public Foundation; members of the Society of Orthodox Physicians of Kazakhstan; staff of the Saint Luke Medical Center; employees of the Almaty diocesan administration; and parishioners of the church.

The choir of the Church of Christ the Savior in Almaty sang under the direction of E. Skorova.

After the Communion hymn, Priest Georgy Sidorov read the life of Saint Mary of Egypt — a revered narrative long loved by Orthodox Christians for the hope it offers in God’s mercy and the miraculous fruits of repentance.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the clergy and the faithful on the approaching feast of the Annunciation and the commemoration of Saint Mary of Egypt, and delivered a homily.

Metropolitan Alexander also read the message of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on the occasion of the centennial of the blessed repose of Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Upon the conclusion of the service, His Eminence sprinkled the faithful with holy water.

“The Fifth Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to Saint Mary of Egypt. Her life, which took place in the fifth century, is well known to us from the detailed account compiled by Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem: seventeen years of her life were spent in grievous sin, and forty-seven years, after her conversion to God, in the Jordanian desert in acts of repentance, unceasing prayer, and the strictest asceticism, enduring terrible heat and severe cold, hunger, and the fear of wild beasts.

The life of this ancient ascetic reveals to us, people of the 21st century, the power and greatness of God’s love for mankind – even for the most sinful, entirely immersed in the darkness of passion. There is no error that God cannot correct, no sin that our loving Heavenly Father is unwilling to forgive.

The example of Saint Mary of Egypt clearly reveals the essential conditions of salvation: sincere repentance for one’s sinful deeds, firm hope in the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the motherly intercession of the Theotokos, and a resolute determination to renounce a life of sin and moral decay.

The life of Saint Mary of Egypt, preserved for us by the Venerable Elder Zosimas, offers effective guidance for every believer seeking the salvation of their immortal soul. Looking at her life, we come to clearly understand that God hates only sin, and that any person who turns away from evil becomes a beloved child of the Lord — one for whom ‘there is more joy in Heaven’ than for the one who needs no repentance.

Once reconciled with God, the soul regains its lost dignity; the image of God and likeness to the Creator is restored in the human being; and along with this comes a strong faith, spiritual strength, peace with one’s conscience and neighbor, consolation, and true spiritual joy.” — From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.