Leavetaking of the Feast of Pentecost. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Theophany Church in the Southern Capital

June 14, 2025 – the leavetaking of the feast of Holy Pentecost; the day of commemoration of Saint John of Kronstadt, the Righteous Archpriest.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Theophany in the city of Almaty.

Before the beginning of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District consecrated the newly completed frescoes of the Theophany Church. The frescoes were executed by the team of iconographers from the icon painting workshop named after Saint Alipius of the city of Dubna (Moscow Region, Russia). The painting work continued for two years, covering a total surface of 1,500 square meters of walls and vaults.

Serving with His Eminence were: Protopriest Yevgeny Vorobyov, rector of the Almaty church dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”; Protopriest Valery Shavrin, rector of the Theophany Church; priests of the Theophany parish – Priest Yevgeny Kozlov, Priest Alexander Triandofilov, and Priest Ioann Serdobintsev; Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky), head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat; Priest Georgy Sidorov, head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Priest Georgy Rublinsky, sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, head of the Metropolitan’s protocol office; Deacon Ioann Mombaev; and Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

For prayerful veneration and spiritual edification of the faithful, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, an icon of Saint John of Kronstadt was brought to the Theophany Church from the house church of the Iveron-Seraphim chapel at the metropolitan residence in Almaty. The icon had been blessed on the saint’s tomb at the St. John Convent in St. Petersburg. The icon case contains a piece of vestment worn by the righteous Kronstadt pastor and a fragment of the oak tree planted by him at the monastery.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Theophany Church under the direction of Maria Trifonova.

The homily after the Communion hymn was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, hymns of praise were sung to the Most Holy Trinity and to Saint John of Kronstadt. The hierarch congratulated the faithful on the leavetaking of Pentecost and the feast of the All-Russian pastor, and addressed those present with words of edification.

Following the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence consecrated the newly installed iconostasis and icon cases of the lower chapel of the church, dedicated to Saint Serapion, Archbishop of Novgorod. The new iconostasis was crafted by masters from Almaty.