On the Commemoration Day of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul of the Southern Capital

On 18 November 2025 – the commemoration day of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (his election to the Patriarchal Throne in 1917) – Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul of the Southern Capital.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Metropolis were: rector of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Archpriest Vladimir Shklyar; sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral and head of the Metropolis Department for Public Relations, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; rector of the Church of St. Alexis in the settlement of Baiterek, Archpriest Anatoly Boyko; sacristan of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Archpriest Kirill Shklyar; head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); head of the administrative secretariat of the Metropolis, Priest Georgy Sidorov; cleric of the Church of St. Alexis in Baiterek, Hieromonk Alexy (Samosenkov); cleric of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Priest Kirill Gromov; sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral of Almaty, Priest Georgy Rublinsky; Protodeacon Nikolay Grinkevich; head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Bogdan Boyko; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko; Deacon Daniil Pasyuk.

The guest of the feast was V.M. Kapsamun, president of the charitable foundation “Eleos-Meirim”.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul under the direction of I.N. Korovina.

During the Litany for the Departed, special prayers were offered for the ever-memorable Bishop Tikhon (Stepanov), who bore in monastic tonsure the name of St. Tikhon the Patriarch–Confessor. While serving as ruling bishop of the Kostroma Diocese, Metropolitan Alexander participated in the episcopal consecration of Archimandrite Tikhon (Stepanov) as Bishop of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory. Bishop Tikhon, a native of Kostroma, led the Arkhangelsk Diocese for nearly 15 years, laboring for the revival of Orthodoxy in the Russian North.

After the Cherubic Hymn, Metropolitan Alexander ordained Deacon Bogdan Boyko, cleric of the Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron–Seraphim Convent, to the priesthood.

The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Rublinsky.

Following the Prayer Behind the Ambo, the clergy brought out from the altar for veneration a reliquary containing a particle of the relics of St. Tikhon. The reliquary also contains sacred items connected with the holy Patriarch: a piece of his patriarchal koukoulion, a fragment of the coffin in which he was buried, and the pectoral cross he wore during his service as an archimandrite in America.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a service of glorification was offered to St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia. The clergy, choir and faithful sang the troparion, kontakion and magnification to the honored saint.

The Head of the Metropolis addressed the participants of the service with words of archpastoral instruction.