The Ascension of the Lord – Patronal Feast of the Main Cathedral of the Southern Capital

29 May 2025, on the Great Feast of the Ascension of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, patronal celebrations were held in the main cathedral of the city of Almaty – the Ascension Cathedral.

With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, the festive divine service was led by Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Chancellor of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan.

Concelebrating with His Grace were: Protopriest Alexander Suvorov – Head of the Public Relations Department of the Metropolis and Sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral; Priest Andrey Shklyar – Assistant Sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral; Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky) – Head of the Metropolitan’s Personal Secretariat; Priest Georgy Sidorov – Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolis; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Deacon Andrey Pleten; Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin; Hierodeacon Sofony (Mazurenko); Deacon Alexander Piven; and Deacon Ioann Zhuchkov.

Praying at the Liturgy were: V.M. Kapsamun – Director of the public foundation “ELEOS-MEIRIM”; staff of the Almaty diocesan administration, teachers and students of the cathedral’s Sunday school, and numerous parishioners.

The choir of the Ascension Cathedral sang under the direction of E. Boguslavets.

During the memorial litany, special commemorations were offered for: Bishop Paisius (Vinogradov) of Turkestan and Tashkent, who consecrated the laying of the cathedral’s foundation in 1903; the cathedral’s chief builder, engineer Andrey Pavlovich Zenkov, and architect Konstantin Arkadyevich Borisoglebsky; as well as departed builders, benefactors and adorners, clergy and parishioners of the church.

The service concluded with glorification before the icon of the Ascension of the Lord, followed by a procession of the cross around the cathedral.

Bishop Gennady congratulated the clergy, monastics, and laity on the patronal feast and delivered a homily.