On the Feast Day of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy at the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Southern Capital

On 9 August 2025 – the feast day of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon – Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Almaty, whose southern side-altar is dedicated to the holy unmercenary physician.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan were: Dean of the churches of the Southern Capital, Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral Protopriest Valery Zakharov; Sacristan of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral Protopriest Alexander Gaichenya; Rector of the Church of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the settlement of Boraldai, Igumen Philaret (Petrochenko); Rector of the Theophany Church Protopriest Valery Shavrin; Dean of the Ili deanery Protopriest Alexander Zyryanov; Rector of the Church of St. John the Baptist in the settlement of Guldala Protopriest Georgy Kharlov; Rector of the Church of the Archangel Michael in the town of Kaskelen Protopriest Pavel Pridatchenko; Sacristan of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul Protopriest Kirill Shklyar; Vice-Rector for Educational Work of the Almaty Seminary Priest Ioann Livinsky; Head of the Personal Secretariat of the Metropolitan Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; and clergy of the churches of the Almaty diocese. The diaconal rank was headed by the Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service Protodeacon Roman Golovin.

The liturgical chants were performed by the plain chant choir of St. Nicholas Cathedral under the direction of O. Solomonova.

Among those praying at the service were benefactors and parishioners of St. Nicholas Cathedral, pilgrims from the churches of Almaty and the Almaty region, and representatives of the Semirechye Cossacks.

During the memorial litany, the builders of St. Nicholas Cathedral and the restorers of its liturgical life, reposed clergy, and parishioners of the church were commemorated.

After the Eucharistic Canon, Metropolitan Alexander performed the diaconal ordination of Reader Vladislav Pashkov, Head of the Practical Theology Department of the Almaty Orthodox Seminary and staff member of the Information and Publishing Department of the Almaty diocese.

The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Ioann Livinsky.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the service of glorification to the Great Martyr Panteleimon took place before his icon and the reliquary containing part of the saint healer’s head, which is kept in St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Metropolitan Alexander addressed the faithful with a homily on the life and martyrdom of the unmercenary physician, the Great Martyr Panteleimon.

The hierarch sprinkled the faithful with holy water.

Words of special archpastoral congratulations were addressed to the Dean of the parishes of Almaty, Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral Protopriest Valery Zakharov, who is marking in the current year the 50th anniversary of his service in the priesthood. In connection with this anniversary, Metropolitan Alexander presented Father Valery with the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, First Class. The high award of the Russian Orthodox Church was bestowed upon the jubilarian by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’. The Head of the Metropolitan District wished Protopriest Valery health, many years of life, and God’s help in continuing his pastoral labors for the good of the Holy Church in the land of Semirechye.

For more than a century, St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty has preserved a great relic – a reliquary adorned with enamel, containing the wonderworking relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon – a portion of his honorable head.

The history of the acquisition of this relic is as follows. At the request of the Orthodox residents of the city of Verny, as Almaty was then called, Bishop of Turkestan and Tashkent Dimitry (Venerable Confessor Schema-Archbishop Anthony (Abashidze)) in 1910 sent to the Rector of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, Archimandrite Iakinf (Kuznetsov), a request to bless the faithful of Verny with a particle of the relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon.

Soon, a portion of the head of the healer Panteleimon, along with particles of the relics of St. Gregory the Theologian and St. Niphont, Patriarch of Constantinople, were sent to the Turkestan Diocese via the Athonite metochion in Odessa. On the feast of the healer Panteleimon, July 27 according to the old calendar, the relics were solemnly received by Bishop Dimitry, the clergy, the governor, and a large gathering of the faithful.

“Today the whole universe shares our celebration and offers praise to the greatness of God,” – such were the words spoken then by the Orthodox people.

The reliquary with the holy relics, brought from Athos, is to this day kept on the altar of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty and is taken out to comfort the faithful throughout the dioceses of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.