Celebration in Honor of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Chimkent. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of Shymkent

20 November 2025 – the feast of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Chimkent (established by the decision of the Synod of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Journal No. 16 of 26 May 2014). On this day, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, celebrates his 79th birthday.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the main church of the Chimkent Diocese – the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the city of Shymkent.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Bishop Chrisanf of Chimkent and Turkestan; Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan, Vicar of the Astana Diocese; Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, rector of the Almaty church dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God «Joy of All Who Sorrow»; Archimandrite Antony (Solovyov), dean of the South Kazakhstan Church District; Archpriest Andrey Lebedev, rector of the Church of the Archangel of God Michael in Shymkent; Archpriest Evgeny Glushchenko, cleric of the St. Nicholas Cathedral; Archpriest Alexy Lazutin, rector of St. Nicholas Church in Saryagash; Archpriest Alexander Mogilevsky, head of the Information Department and Church–Society Relations Department of the Chimkent Diocese; Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat; Priest Georgy Sidorov, head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service; Protodeacon Alexy Gorobchenko; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Rustik Yakupov.

The hymns were sung by the choir of the St. Nicholas Cathedral under the direction of E. V. Aleshina.

Praying during the service were: staff of the Chimkent Diocesan Administration, members of the Cossack community, students of Sunday schools, parishioners of the churches of Shymkent, and pilgrims from nearby settlements.

At the fervent litany, special petitions were offered for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, commemorated on this day:

«Again we pray to Thee, O Lord our God, that the voice of our prayer be heard, and that Thou wouldst have mercy upon Thy servant, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, now being commemorated, by Thy grace and Thy mercies; and fulfill all his petitions, and forgive him every voluntary and involuntary transgression; and may his prayers and almsgiving be acceptable before the throne of Thy dominion; and protect him from visible and invisible enemies, deliver him from every trouble, sorrow and affliction, and grant him health and length of days: let us all say, Lord, hear and have mercy.

Look down, O Master, Lover of Mankind, with Thine all-merciful eye upon Thy servant, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; and hear our prayers offered with faith, for Thou Thyself hast said: whatsoever things ye ask when ye pray, believe that ye shall receive them, and ye shall have them; and again: ask, and it shall be given you. Therefore we, though unworthy, trusting in Thy mercy, ask: grant Thy goodness to Thy servant, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, now commemorated; and fulfill all his good desires; preserve him in peace and quietness, in health and length of days all the days of his life: let us all say, quickly hear and mercifully have mercy.

May this thanksgiving of ours, O All-Good Master, for Thy benefactions abundantly poured forth upon Thy servant His Holiness Patriarch Kirill during the past fifty years of his service and monastic labor, be acceptable before the majesty of Thy glory as incense of sweet fragrance and as a rich whole-burnt offering; and falling down, we bring to Thee as to God our praise and cry out with compunction: deliver now and in the years to come Thy servant, now commemorated, and the Russian Church led by him, from every opposition of visible and invisible enemies. And unto her faithful children grant sinless life, health, length of days, and progress in every virtue; we pray Thee, All-merciful King, mercifully hear and quickly have mercy.»

At the memorial litany prayers were lifted up for the repose of the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and all Orthodox Christians «who in the time of fierce persecution by the godless were tortured and slain; who from hunger, cold, wounds, diseases, and unbearable labor in camps, prisons, and confinement departed this life».

The homily after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the conclusion of the service, the clergy, choir and faithful sang the troparion, kontakion and magnification to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Chimkent.

Long life was proclaimed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the faithful on the feast of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Chimkent and delivered words of instruction.

After the Liturgy, the archpastor served a memorial litia at the burial place of the ever-memorable Archbishop Elevfery (Kozorez).

His Eminence sprinkled the faithful with holy water.

«Kazakhstan was destined to occupy a special place in the modern history of the Russian Orthodox Church. This ancient land, in the time of fiery trial (1 Pet. 4:12), became a place of feats, confession, courageous sufferings, and martyrdom of an enormous multitude of believers of all ranks and ages, so that today it is rightfully called an “Antimension spread out under the open sky”. These lofty words were first spoken by the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II. The sacrificial feat of the assembly of hierarchs, pastors, monastics, and laypeople became a vivid testimony to 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” (Mt. 16:18). Those who shed their blood for the Gospel truth, who faithfully served God in the hour of fiery trial, who endured persecution, oppression, and humiliation, who passed through exile and camps, laid the foundation upon which today we may build and develop full-fledged church life. Now, after decades since the terrible persecution of holy Orthodoxy, we see that the All-Good Divine Providence has turned all their sufferings, sorrows, and hardships to good – to the glory and honor of the faithful servants of Christ. “In this rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye are grieved by manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise and honor and glory” (1 Pet. 1:7-9), wrote the Chief Apostle Peter to the sufferers for the name of Christ. Today’s celebration in honor of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Chimkent calls us to examine and test ourselves for faithfulness to the commandments of the Gospel, to strengthen our souls by the examples of the martyrly struggle, to labor tirelessly for the salvation of the soul, and to proclaim the word of Christ’s Truth to those near and far.»

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.