In Almaty, the Commemoration Day of the Confessor of Faith and Ascetic of Piety, Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), was Honored

On September 4, 2024, in Almaty, on the commemoration day of the confessor of faith and ascetic of piety, Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), a memorial service was held at the site of his burial in the Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron-Seraphim Women's Monastery following the Divine Liturgy.

The service for the repose of the ever-memorable elder and hierarch was led by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

Praying at the service were: the vicars of the Astana diocese – the chancellor of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan, and Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; the dean of the churches of Almaty and the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; the spiritual father of the Almaty diocese, Archimandrite Ioann (Sazonov); the rectors and clergy of the churches of Almaty and the nearby deaneries; the abbess of the Iveron-Seraphim Women's Monastery, Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina), along with the sisters of the monastery; the teachers and students of the parish Sunday school named after the Apostle John the Theologian, and numerous parishioners of the churches of the southern capital.
After the service, His Eminence laid flowers at the tomb of Metropolitan Joseph and delivered a speech in which he recalled the life path of the ever-memorable Almaty hierarch, his suffering for Christ, and his apostolic labors in Kazakhstan.

The memory of the confessor bishop, who endured Stalinist labor camps, German captivity, harsh conditions of exile, and then carried out a laborious episcopal ministry for two decades in Petropavlovsk and Almaty, is reverently honored by thousands of believers throughout Kazakhstan and beyond.

Throughout the day, hundreds of people visited the burial site of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) to prayerfully honor the memory of the elder hierarch, light candles at his tomb, and lay flowers.

"In his life, Metropolitan Joseph experienced several arrests, endured the abuses of the Gestapo, and spent over twenty years in camps and prisons. Following the Apostle Paul, he could say, 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus' (Gal. 6:17). Physical weakness and pain in his hands and feet for the rest of his life became an indelible mark of the sufferings he endured. The archpastor knew how to forgive; he maintained a sincere goodwill. According to contemporaries, he treated each person as a living image of God, thereby elevating that person to an unprecedented height. When Bishop Arsenius tonsured the future hierarch as a monk, he told him, 'Just as righteous Joseph fed the entire nation of Israel, so too must you feed all people.
And this testament from his spiritual father, Bishop Joseph carried throughout his life, nourishing his flock with the incorruptible words of the Gospel and generously giving alms to those in need. Because of such a special attitude toward people, both clergy and Soviet authorities, both Orthodox and representatives of other religions, as well as ordinary people and academics, were drawn to him. Numerous recollections of his insightfulness and the great power of his prayers have been preserved. For Metropolitan Joseph, in his pastoral work, there were no distinctions between important and secondary matters, as he saw the highest meaning and connection to the mysteries of God's dispensation in all aspects of episcopal service.

Having honored the Most Holy Theotokos from a young age, Bishop Joseph was deemed worthy to enter eternal life precisely during the days of the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, as a faithful servant of Her Divine Son.

With both word and deed, Metropolitan Joseph taught the faithful the path to salvation. In one of his sermons, he defined the purpose of a person in this world: 'Christ constantly radiated love and mercy, and we must continually spread tenderness, goodness, and compassion around us. Christ raised the dead, and we must strive with all our might to awaken and revive the dormant souls of our loved ones.' Eternal and grateful memory to Metropolitan Joseph of Kazakhstan, the hierarch, confessor, and righteous man." From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.