Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Nativity Great Vespers at the Principal Church of Almaty

On January 7, 2026, in the evening of the feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Nativity Great Vespers at the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were the vicars of the Astana Diocese – Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen and Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan; head of the Metropolitan District Department for Relations with the Public and key-bearer of the Ascension Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; heads of departments and commissions of the Metropolitan District, rectors and clergy of the Almaty churches.

Praying at the service were the abbess of the Iversko-Seraphim Convent of Almaty Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) with the sisters of the monastery, and parishioners of the churches of the Southern Capital.

The liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District under the direction of Honored Artist of Russia, member of the Patriarchal Church-Public Council for the Development of Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov, and by the combined children’s choir of the Orthodox singing school «Tsevnitza» at the Ascension Cathedral and of the Intercession Church of the Southern Capital under the direction of N.O. Golovina.

In accordance with the liturgical Typikon, after the singing of «O Gladsome Light» the great prokeimenon was chanted; thereafter the Head of the Metropolitan District read the Gospel passage from Luke concerning the Nativity of the Savior.

In the principal church of Almaty there were present Nativity shrines – a reliquary with a copy of the honorable Gifts of the Magi from the Monastery of Saint Paul on Mount Athos.

At the conclusion of the Great Vespers, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov read aloud the Nativity Message of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

After the service, Bishop Gennady, on behalf of the clergy and laity, congratulated His Eminence on the feast of the Nativity of Christ.

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan addressed words of greeting to the hierarchs, clergy, monastics and laity, thanked those gathered for the joy of common prayer at the beginning of the festal period, and delivered a homily.

Present at the celebration was the head of the Almaty City Department for Religious Affairs N.M. Kikimov. Nurlan Medsantovich read out to those present at the service a Nativity greeting from the Akim of the Southern Capital D. Satibaldy.

After the conclusion of the service, the combined children’s choir congratulated the metropolitan and those gathered with the performance of festive Nativity hymns.

«The present bright and all-joyous feast reveals to us a great truth about God: the Creator and Maker of the universe did not wish to remain apart from His creation, but came into the world created by Him. “Not an intercessor, not an angel, but You Yourself, O Lord, were incarnate and saved me wholly, a man,” thus does the Holy Church sing today of the mystery of the Incarnation that has come to pass.

For thousands of years the Church has borne witness to the Incarnation: the Eternal God, without ceasing to be God, became man; in the Incarnation God assumed human nature, and therefore He knows our physical pain, the bitterness of betrayal, and mortal anguish. God lived with us, He suffered and died on the Cross “for our salvation”. He rose again, conquering death and opening the possibility to follow His path – through sufferings to glory and eternal life – to each of His faithful disciples.

The Church teaches: if God is not born in your soul, then He was not born for you in Bethlehem. And what are the signs of the birth of God in the human soul? Let us recall how the heavenly angelic hymns sounded on that distant holy Nativity night: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among men good will” (Luke 2:14).

The sign of the birth of God in the believing soul is its peaceful order. Peace – holy, grace-filled, divine peace – descends into the soul of everyone who receives Christ. And if the true “peace of Christ” dwells in the believing soul, then pride and self-love, suspicion and jealousy, the desire to take revenge and to humiliate one’s neighbors, in a word, all that is characteristic of fallen human nature, depart. Therefore the Nativity feasts were perceived by the Orthodox people as a grace-filled time for the forgiveness of offenses and reconciliation with one’s neighbors. Let us follow this holy tradition – may our festive gifts to one another bear witness to our mutual love and readiness to follow the path of Christ».

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.