On the Saturday After the Nativity of Christ, the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan Celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kazan Cathedral of Alma-Ata

January 10, 2026 – the Saturday after the Nativity of Christ; the day of commemoration of the 20,000 martyrs who suffered in Nicomedia.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the oldest church of the city of Alma-Ata – the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

His Eminence was concelebrated by: Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov), rector of the Nativity of the Mother of God Church in the Akzhar microdistrict; Hieromonk Isaac (Isteluyev); Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat; Priest Georgy Rublinsky, sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral; Hieromonk Cherubim (Levin); Protopodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protopodeacon Roman Golovin, head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service; Protopodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko; and Deacon Daniil Pasyuk.

For the prayerful consolation of the faithful, a copy of the reliquary with the Gifts of the Magi, brought to Alma-Ata from the Athonite Monastery of St. Paul, was delivered to the church for the divine service.

The hymns were performed by the choir of the Kazan Cathedral under the direction of M.S. Chistyakova.

Praying at the Liturgy was: the Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, and choirmaster of the choir of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, O.N. Ovchinnikov.

After the Communion Hymn, Hieromonk Cherubim (Levin) read aloud the Nativity message of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, the glorification of the Nativity of Christ took place, after which Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the clergy and parishioners on the feast of the coming into the world of God the Word and addressed those gathered with a homily.

«Now every Christian and every Orthodox family rejoices. The souls of all the faithful are filled with bright joy. Once again we relive the greatest and saving event of world history – the incomprehensible to the mind, mysterious Incarnation of God on earth. “The Bodiless One is embodied, the Word becomes firm, the Invisible becomes visible, the Intangible is touched, the Timeless begins. The Son of God becomes the son of man,” exclaims the teacher of the Church, St. Gregory the Theologian. The loving, All-Good Creator did not wish to remain apart from the world created by Him and, without ceasing to be God in heaven, became true Man, took upon Himself our flesh and blood, the natural weaknesses and infirmities of human nature, our capacity to suffer and to rejoice, to endure and to grieve. But all these inalienable natural properties of the human soul Christ exalted and sanctified by His Divine Spirit. Having accomplished the work of our salvation, He opened for humanity the path to the closest union with God. The Lord desires that we too be imbued with, nourished by, those same Divine feelings. And the Savior is ready to grant them to every person seeking the Truth. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). And therefore the Feast of the Nativity is a call addressed to our conscience, urging us to set out on the path of spiritual struggle and service to the Lord».

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.