A Monument to Hieromartyr-Confessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan, Unveiled in the Southern Capital of Kazakhstan

December 19, 2025. Almaty.

On the feast day of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, following the Divine Liturgy at St Nicholas Cathedral, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan consecrated a monument to Hieromartyr-Confessor Nicholas (Mogilevsky), Metropolitan of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan.

The monument to the outstanding hierarch and prominent church figure of the twentieth century, who endured many years of suffering for Christ and revived Orthodoxy on Kazakhstani soil during the difficult post-war years, has been installed on the cathedral square near the building of the Central Sunday School.

The unveiling of the monument was timed to coincide with significant commemorative dates – the 70th anniversary of the repose of Hieromartyr-Confessor Nicholas and the 25th anniversary of the discovery of his holy relics.

The monument to the heavenly patron of Kazakhstan was created by blessing of Metropolitan Alexander by the well-known Kazakhstani sculptor P.I. Shorokhov.

Metropolitan Alexander sprinkled the bronze image of the ever-memorable hierarch with holy water. The clergy and faithful sang the magnification hymn to the saint.

The creator of the monument, Pavel Ivanovich Shorokhov, was awarded a church distinction – the medal “Enbek Üshin” (“For Labors”).

The commemorative sculpture, executed in the best traditions of national monumental art, depicts St Nicholas the Confessor, Metropolitan of Alma-Ata, vested in a cassock and klobuk, seated on an archpastoral throne. In preparing the design, the sculptor carefully studied archival photographs depicting the ever-memorable Kazakhstani hierarch.

Pavel Ivanovich Shorokhov is a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, a participant in republican, all-Union, and international exhibitions, and a renowned Kazakhstani sculptor, an outstanding master of easel, monumental, memorial, and park sculpture. In the late 1990s, he took part in the state urban beautification program of Almaty. For many years, Pavel Ivanovich served as a member of the artistic councils of the organizations “Almatygoroformlenie,” VDNKh, the Almaty City Department of Culture, and the Central Republican Art Council of the Art Fund. Works by P.I. Shorokhov are held in museums and private collections in Kazakhstan, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Among his works are monuments, reliefs, gravestones, and memorial plaques dedicated to outstanding figures of Kazakhstan and Russia.