Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Sunday Liturgy and a prayer service for the beginning of the school year in the main church of the Southern capital

August 31, 2025 – the afterfeast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, the commemoration of the martyrs Florus and Laurus, the feast in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Pantanassa.”

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Almaty.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: the dean of the churches of Almaty, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Protopriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in Almaty, Protopriest Evgeny Vorobyev; the spiritual father of the Almaty diocese, Archimandrite Ioann (Sazonov); the key keeper of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral, Protopriest Alexander Gaichenya; rector of the Theophany Church, Protopriest Valery Shavrin; deputy key keeper of the Ascension Cathedral, Priest Andrey Shklyar; head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolis, Priest Georgy Sidorov; head of the correspondence department of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Priest Daniil Bobylev; key keeper of the Adriano-Natalievsky church, Priest Ioann Konoplev; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; head of the protocol service of the Metropolitan, Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin; Deacon Bogdan Boyko; Deacon Ioann Zhuchkov; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko; Deacon Daniil Pasyuk.

Praying at the service were: the staff of the diocesan administration of Almaty, teachers and pupils of Sunday schools of the southern capital, parishioners of the main church of Almaty.

The hymns were sung by the choir of the Metropolis (conductor – Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov, choirmaster – V. Dudareva) and the combined children’s choir of the Sunday schools of the southern capital under the direction of N. Golovina.

The sermon after the Communion hymn was delivered by Protopriest Valery Zakharov.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the magnification of the Most Holy Theotokos was sung – before the icon of the Dormition and the icon of the “Pantanassa” the clergy and choir sang the troparion, kontakion, and magnification of the feast, after which the Metropolitan sprinkled the faithful with holy water and delivered a homily.

The Head of the Orthodox Church celebrated a prayer service before the beginning of the new school year, then addressed those present with words of guidance and imparted his archpastoral blessing to children and young people.

“I congratulate you on this special celebration which unites children and adults, teachers and mentors, school pupils and students – on the Day of Knowledge and the beginning of the new school year. The school and student years can rightly be called the best period of a person’s life, for this is the time of youth, the time of formation and intensive development of personality, the time of acquiring the basic knowledge necessary for subsequent professional and creative activity. At the same time, in this bright period a young person must cultivate diligence and purposefulness, learn to overcome laziness and other moral shortcomings. The task before young men and women is to learn respect towards their mentors and peers and diligence in mastering the subjects taught. In childhood and youth, by their spiritual and moral choices, habits, actions and words, people determine for decades ahead their relationship with God and with others, and define the further course of their whole life. ‘For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’ (Gal. 6:7), warns us the Holy Scripture. For centuries, the Orthodox Church has fulfilled the ministry of teaching and has blessed pedagogical work. Every school year we begin with prayer to God for sending down help to teachers in teaching and to pupils in mastering knowledge. On this festive day I address teachers, students, and schoolchildren with good counsel – in order to find success in works and endeavors, never forget God, strive with all your heart to fulfill His commandments. The Old Testament prophet and psalmist David says: ‘Depart from evil, and do good’ (Ps. 34:14). When one ancient ascetic of the 5th century, St. Pimen the Great, was asked what is necessary to become happy, he answered: ‘One must pray much, work much, and do good to people.’ I wish teachers, schoolchildren, and students health, strength, help from the Lord, and success in their labors.”

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander