Trinity Saturday. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the Main Cathedral of Alma-Ata

June 7, 2025 – Trinity Saturday. On the eve of the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Church commemorates all Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and eternal life.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Ascension Cathedral of Alma-Ata.

Concelebrating with the head of the Metropolis were: spiritual father of the Diocese of Alma-Ata, Archimandrite Ioann (Sazonov); sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral and head of the Public Relations Department of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Protopriest Alexander Suvorov; acting rector of the Orthodox Theological Seminary of Alma-Ata and head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District, Protopriest Evgeny Ivanov; cleric of the Church of Blessed Xenia of Petersburg of the Diocese of Lodz, Priest Georgy Vodopyanov (Polish Orthodox Church); Deputy Sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral, Priest Andrey Shklyar; head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); head of the administrative secretariat of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolay Grinkevich; head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Andrey Pleten; Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin; Hierodeacon Sofony (Mazurenko); Deacon Alexander Piven; Deacon Ioann Zhuchkov; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

Praying at the service were: staff of the Diocesan Administration of Alma-Ata, students of the Sunday school, and parishioners of the cathedral.

Liturgical hymns were performed by the male choir of the main cathedral of the Southern Capital under the direction of Igumen Philip (Moiseev), and the small choir under the direction of E. Boguslavets.

During the service, fervent prayers were offered for the repose of “all who have suddenly died while traveling, at sea or in impassable mountains, in raging waters, abysses, from illness and hunger, cold, fire, natural disasters, in the ice, in civil wars, or who have suffered other kinds of death, and all Orthodox Christians from all ages to this day who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection.” Special commemorations were made for the first hierarch of the Diocese of Turkestan, Archbishop Sophonius (Sokolsky), the ascetic Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), Kazakhstani archpastors, pastors, monastics, and all “who lived in faith and piety in the land of Kazakhstan and have reposed.”

The homily after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Andrey Shklyar.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy, the hierarch addressed the gathered faithful with an archpastoral exhortation in which he spoke on the importance of commemorating the departed.

At the end of the service, a panikhida was offered for “all Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep from all ages to this day.”

“The Church’s liturgical tradition sets aside special days of universal remembrance for the departed, when the Church of Christ prays for all who have lived on this earth before us and crossed the mysterious threshold that separates the temporal from the eternal. Today is such a day – the universal parental Saturday preceding the Holy Pentecost, the Feast of the Life-Giving Trinity, the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. We offer special prayers for all who lived before us and have passed away – for the forefathers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. We ask the Lord, the Righteous Judge, to forgive the sins of all who have fallen asleep through the ages. We commemorate our relatives and loved ones, those we knew and walked with through life, and even those unknown to us, but united with us in spirit through the Orthodox faith.

Today, our prayers are also for those who, due to various circumstances, were not granted a Christian burial or were not comforted by receiving the Holy Mysteries at the hour of death, for those whose names have long faded from human memory.

Trinity Saturday precedes the feast that we call the ‘Birthday of the Church.’ That is why today’s commemoration of the departed carries special meaning. We are granted a glimpse into the mystery of ecclesial unity. All Orthodox Christians – we, the living, our reposed loved ones, and all generations of believers before us – form one Body of Christ, one Church, sustained and enlivened by the Holy Spirit.

We pray that the grace of the Life-Giving Spirit of God may cleanse us from defilement, renew us, sanctify us, and at the same time, we ask for this mercy also for the departed. Being in the Church, living unto the Lord, the reposed Orthodox Christians, through the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice – the Divine Eucharist, through the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints, and by our humble prayers – are made worthy of the grace of the Comforting Spirit, through whom ‘every soul is enlivened and exalted in purity.’ This grace becomes for the departed a source of joy and beatitude, and for us – a reminder of the reality that death has been conquered by the Savior, and that all who have passed into the other world continue to exist in anticipation of the Day of Universal Resurrection.”— From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.

ORTHODOX CHURСH OF KAZAKHSTAN

Trinity Saturday. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the Divine Liturgy in the Main Cathedral of Alma-Ata

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