Metropolitan Alexander chaired the final 2025 meeting of the Synod of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District

30 December 2025. Alma-Ata. In the synodal hall of the Spiritual, Cultural, and Administrative Center of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District named after Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), a meeting of the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was held in a hybrid in-person and remote format, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The Synod of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District included: Archbishop Barnabas of Pavlodar and Ekibastuz; Archbishop Sebastian of Karaganda and Shakhtinsk; Archbishop Amphilochius of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk; Archbishop Varsonofy of Kokshetau and Akmola; Archbishop Vladimir of Petropavlovsk and Bulaevo; Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Managing Director of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan; Bishop Ignatius of Aktobe and Kyzylorda; Bishop Klaudian of Taldykorgan, vicar of the Astana Diocese; Bishop Chrysanth of Shymkent and Turkestan; Bishop Veniamin of Talgar, vicar of the Astana Diocese; Bishop Vianor of Uralsk and Atyrau.

After a common prayer, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan greeted the hierarchs with an opening address and announced the agenda.

The work of the Synod was opened by Metropolitan Alexander with a report on his meetings with the newly appointed Deputy Akim of the city of Alma-Ata, Abzal Nukenovich Nukenov, and with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Georgia to Kazakhstan, Levan Diasamidze.

Metropolitan Alexander informed the hierarchs about his visits to the Shymkent and Turkestan, and the Karaganda and Shakhtinsk dioceses of the Metropolitan District.

His Eminence told the members of the Synod about the holding in the city of Alma-Ata of the “XXIII Almaty Orthodox Educational Readings in Memory of St. Sophonias (Sokolsky), Archbishop of Turkestan, Enlightener of Semirechye.” The hierarch noted that the international academic forum was timed to coincide with the celebration of a number of significant historical dates – the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, the 225th anniversary of the birth of Archbishop Sophonias (Sokolsky), the 70th anniversary of his repose and the 25th anniversary of the uncovering of the honorable relics of St. Nicholas of Alma-Ata, and the 50th anniversary of the repose of Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov).

The Synod heard reports from Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Managing Director of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. His Grace spoke about the opening in the city of Alma-Ata of the photo exhibition “Their Feat Is Immortal,” dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, about the holding in Astana of the I Pedagogical Conference of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, and about the holding in Alma-Ata of a meeting of the working group “Religions” of the Forum “Petersburg Dialogue,” devoted to the theme of social ministry of religious communities. The hierarch also delivered reports on his participation in a number of events – the International Scientific and Educational Congress “The Intellectual Code of the Commonwealth” in Saint Petersburg, the general assembly of members of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the XXXI International Conference “The End of Globalism and the Future of the World – Meanings and Values of the Coming Era,” organized by the International Foundation for the Spiritual Unity of Peoples.

The members of the Synod heard a report by Archbishop Sebastian of Karaganda and Shakhtinsk on the holding in Karaganda of the XXV Sebastian Educational Readings, as well as a presentation by Archbishop Varsonofy of Kokshetau and Akmola on the participation of representatives of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District in the XII Pan-Church Congress on Social Ministry in Moscow.

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan congratulated the episcopate on the forthcoming civil New Year and the approaching sacred days of the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ.

The minutes of the meeting of the Synod of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan are approved by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ (see Article 9 of Chapter XIII of the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church: “The minutes of the Synod of the Metropolitan District are submitted to the Holy Synod and approved by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’”).