Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates Sunday Liturgy at the Representation Church of the Metropolis in Moscow

9 November 2025 – 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, the commemoration day of the Holy Martyr Nestor of Thessalonica.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love, and Sophia at the Patriarchal Metochion in Moscow – the Representation of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Hieromonk Agafangel (Gagua), Vice-Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, and Professor; Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko), Keykeeper of the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love, and their mother Sophia; Archpriest Vyacheslav Pugachev, Chairman of the Commission on Charity and Social Ministry of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan; Archpriest Oleg Kalmykov, Dean of the Lisakovsk Church District and Rector of the Church of St. John of Kronstadt in the city of Lisakovsk; Deacon Bohdan Boyko, cleric of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom at the Iveron–Seraphim Convent in Almaty; and clergy of the Metochion.

The choir of the church, under the direction of Anna Rozhnova, sang the hymns of the service.

Among those praying at the Liturgy were Acting Director General of “Sofrino” V.A. Levin, staff members of the Representation, and parishioners.

After the Communion hymn, Hieromonk Victorin (Aseyev) delivered the homily.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Alexander addressed the faithful with words of spiritual instruction and sprinkled them with holy water.

“Every time Sunday arrives – the Little Pascha – the Holy Church reminds us of the mystery of our salvation through the Resurrection of Christ. ‘God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:4–6), we heard today at the Divine Liturgy in the words of the Apostle Paul.

Through the Resurrection of the Savior, every believer has received the opportunity to partake of divine grace bestowed from above – to live according to the Gospel truth and the commandments of God – to be kind and merciful, honest and benevolent in relationships with all people, able to share both joy and sorrow with those near and far.

It is impossible to confess the Orthodox faith without diligent and constant spiritual work on oneself, on one’s inner world. At the same time, we must also transform the reality around us through wise words and noble deeds, by bringing into our lives and the lives of those near us the saving and sanctifying grace of God.

The Lord does not demand of us impossible feats. In following the Gospel commandments, only the first steps are difficult. At first, one must learn to stop in time and wisely refrain from answering rudeness with rudeness, evil with evil, falsehood with falsehood, judgment with judgment. The next step is to cultivate attentiveness to the needs of others, to their sorrows and their joys. It is important to understand that righteous and honest actions – whether in the family, at work, or simply in interaction with neighbors and acquaintances – bring true joy to the heart and peace to the soul.

Addressing every person, the Savior calls out again and again: ‘Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light’ (Mt. 11:28–30). To feel and understand how good and light the burden the Lord lays upon us truly is, we must hasten to do good.”

From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.