On September 28, 2025 – the Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord; the commemoration day of Venerable Nikita of Kostroma, a disciple and kinsman of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh; the day of memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors who shone forth on the land of Kazakhstan.
Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Iveron–St. Seraphim Convent in the city of Almaty.
Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: the vicars of the Astana Diocese – Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan and Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; Dean of the parishes of the Southern Capital, Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Dean of the parishes of Astana Archimandrite Sergy (Karamyshev); Rector of the Almaty church in honor of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon of the Mother of God, Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov; Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Head of the Information and Publishing Department of the Metropolitan District, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; Sacristan of the Nativity Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaychenya; Archpriest Alexander Sokolov; Hieromonk Roman (Chistyakov); 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; Sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral in Almaty Priest Georgy Rublinsky; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Bogdan Boyko; Deacon Ilya Vorobyov.
Praying at the service were: Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) of the Iveron–St. Seraphim Convent with the sisters of the monastery; Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Choir Director of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan, and member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Church Singing, O. N. Ovchinnikov; staff of the Almaty Diocesan Administration, parishioners of the churches of the Southern Capital, and pilgrims from Kyrgyzstan.
The choir of the convent’s cathedral sang under the direction of O. Usoltseva.
Prayers were offered for the repose of hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and all Orthodox Christians “who during the time of fierce persecution were tortured and slain by the godless; who perished from hunger, cold, wounds, illness, and unbearable labor in camps, prisons, and in bonds.”
The sermon following the Communion hymn was delivered by Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov.
At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the clergy and choir venerated the Cross of Christ, chanting the troparion, kontakion, and magnification of the feast, as well as the sticheron “We bow down before Thy Cross, O Master…”. Glorification was also offered to Venerable Nikita of Kostroma and the New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan.
Metropolitan Alexander addressed those present with words of greeting on the occasion of the Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross and delivered a homily.
His Eminence cordially congratulated O. N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Metropolitan District, on his 54th birthday, wishing him help from the Lord in his service to the Holy Church, strength of soul and body, and success in his creative work. The hierarch presented Oleg Nikolaevich with a holy prosphora and a bouquet of flowers, after which a Polychronion (Many Years) was intoned.
On behalf of the clergy and faithful, Archpriest Valery Zakharov, Dean of the churches of the Southern Capital, offered words of greeting to Oleg Nikolaevich.
The clergy and participants of the divine service presented the maestro with a holy prosphora and a bouquet of flowers, followed by the singing of “Many Years.”
“It was appointed for Kazakhstan to occupy a special place in the recent history of the Russian Orthodox Church. This ancient land, in the time of fiery trial (1 Peter 4:12), became a place of spiritual struggle, confession, courageous suffering, and martyrdom for a vast number of believers of various ranks and ages – so that now it is rightfully called the ‘Antimension spread under the open sky.’
These lofty words were first used to describe Kazakhstan by the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II.
On the vast expanses of Sary-Arka, in Semirechye, in the foothills of the Zailiysky Alatau, in Turkestan – they bore their heavy cross, suffering from hunger and illness, enduring cold and scorching heat, tormented by hard labor, dying in great agony for their faith in God.
Even after many decades, the names of places of mass repression and the death of innocent people still echo with pain in the heart: Karlag, ALZhIR, Steplag, Lisya Balka.
The Assembly of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan includes faithful sons and daughters of our Church from the most diverse provinces of the former Russian Empire – from the Baltic and the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The martyrology of the Great Steppe contains the names of such renowned hierarchs as Metropolitan Kirill (Smirnov) of Kazan – an unbending, uncompromising defender of the holiness and purity of Orthodoxy; Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) of Simferopol – a world-renowned surgeon, professor of medicine, state prize laureate, and author of many unique scientific works; Archbishop Nikodim (Krotkov) of Kostroma, Archbishop Alexy (Orlov) of Omsk, Archbishop Zachariah (Lobov) of Voronezh, Bishop Var (Shmarin) of Lipetsk, Bishop Boris (Voskoboynikov) of Ivanovo, Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) of Dmitrov, Archbishop Procopius (Titov) of Kherson, Bishop Ambrose (Polyansky) of Podolsk, and many others.
Wherever an Orthodox Christian may live today – in Central Russia, the Far East, Siberia, Ukraine, the Baltics, or Belarus – his diocese, parish, and native church will always be spiritually linked to Kazakhstan through the name of one or another Confessor of Christ, who shed his blood on this land or served prison terms in exile and labor camps here.
It is our duty to remember each of the sufferers for the Name of Christ, to restore their bright image, to immortalize their names in the memory of the people, to ensure that these examples serve to raise new generations of Christians.
Thanks be to God, that in recent years, much has been done in the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan so that the sacrificial witness of the confessors of the faith who shone forth in Central Asia would become better known and studied both within our country and beyond its borders.
The sacrificial feat of the host of hierarchs, pastors, monastics, and laypeople became an evident confirmation of the truth and invincibility of the words of Christ the Savior, Who said to His disciples: ‘I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18).
Those who shed their blood for the Gospel truth, who served God faithfully in the time of fiery trials, who passed through exile and camps, and who endured persecutions and humiliations with courage – laid the foundation upon which we can now build and develop a full ecclesiastical life.
Today, decades after the terrible persecution against Holy Orthodoxy, we see how the All-Good Providence of God has turned all suffering, sorrow, and hardship into glory and honor for the faithful servants of Christ.
‘In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:7–9), – thus the Chief Apostle Peter addressed the sufferers for the Name of Christ.
Today’s commemoration of all the saints of Kazakhstan urges us to examine and test ourselves in faithfulness to the commandments of the Gospel, to strengthen our souls by the examples of the lives of the martyrs, to labor tirelessly for the salvation of our souls, and to proclaim the Word of Christ’s Truth both to those near and far.”
From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander
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