Greeting of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan to Bishop Ignaty of Aktobe and Kyzylorda on the occasion of his 60th birthday

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, congratulated Bishop Ignaty of Aktobe and Kyzylorda on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

To His Grace, the Right Reverend Ignaty,

Bishop of Aktobe and Kyzylorda

Your Grace, dear Vladyka!

I heartily congratulate you on this significant jubilee – your 60th birthday.

For many years you have labored in the field of Christ, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and offering the Bloodless Sacrifice of thanksgiving for all and for everything.

By the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2), you were called to the highest hierarchical ministry in the Church of Christ, which you now bear in the Aktobe Diocese, caring that “the word of God may grow and the number of the disciples of Christ may be multiplied” (Acts 6:7).

As Chairman of the Commission for Youth Ministry of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church, and as its representative on the collegium of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs, you carry out with your characteristic diligence and responsibility the many-labored work to which the Lord has appointed you.

In recognition of your archpastoral labors and in connection with the 60th anniversary of your birth, I consider it just to award you the Order of the Venerable Confessor Sebastian of Karaganda.

On this special day for you, I prayerfully wish you health, many years of life, well-being, and God’s help in your archpastoral labors – may they bear abundant fruit in the work of the spiritual growth of the faithful. I raise prayers to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Christ who shone forth on the land of Kazakhstan for your health and prosperity.