Congratulatory Message to Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the 36th Anniversary of His Episcopal Consecration

On 27 September, the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the 36th anniversary of the episcopal consecration of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan is celebrated. He is the Head of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Alexander is being congratulated on this significant date by the episcopate of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; the Chancellor of the District – Honoured Artist of Russia and member of the Patriarchal Council for Church Music Development O.N. Ovchinnikov; heads and staff of diocesan departments and commissions; the rector, administration, faculty and students of the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary; clergy and laypeople:

On this great and world-saving feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, thirty-six years ago, you received the apostolic grace. Since then and to this day, sparing neither strength nor health, you have selflessly laboured for the benefit of the Church of Christ.

Your multifaceted activity in building up spiritual life, the wise and far-sighted decisions you have taken, as well as the bold, relevant and fruitful initiatives that have become reality – all clearly testify that throughout these years, so significant in human terms, you have borne your episcopal cross with dignity and humility, placing your hope in the Lord with all your heart (Prov. 3:5).

Half a century has passed since the beginning of your church service, and fifteen years since the moment when His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church entrusted you with the high responsibility of leading the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.

With gratitude to Christ, you carry out apostolic labours in a land watered with the blood of new martyrs and sanctified by the feats of confessors – a land rightfully called “an Antimension spread beneath the open heavens.”

Through your personal example, you preach the love of Christ, mercy to the weak, compassion to the lost, and forgiveness to those who offend. Despite the multitude of duties, you never abandon prayer, considering the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and standing before the Holy Altar as the most important and central aspect of church life. In the Holy Eucharist, you find an inexhaustible source of spiritual and physical strength.

On this solemn day, we wish you strong health and new achievements for the good of the Orthodox Church and the people of God. May the invincible and incomprehensible power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ preserve you. May the Most Holy Theotokos protect you with her maternal intercession. And may the All-Merciful Lord, through the prayers of the new martyrs and confessors, grant you many and blessed years of life.

The Head of the Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan received congratulations on the occasion of his episcopal anniversary from hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church and Local Orthodox Churches, clergymen and laypeople, representatives of state authorities, diplomats, public figures, and leaders of traditional confessions in Kazakhstan, Russia, and countries near and far abroad.