Visit of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan to the Kostanay Diocese Begins

January 10, 2026. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan arrived on an archpastoral visit to the Kostanay Diocese of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.

Accompanying the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan on the trip are: the Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Worker of the Arts of the Russian Federation, choirmaster of the choir of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; the head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); the head of the Metropolitan protocol service, Protopodeacon Roman Golovin; and clergy of the Alma-Ata Diocese.

At the airport, the archpastor was met by the Secretary of the Kostanay Diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burdyuzha), and the head of the Department for Religious Affairs of the Akimat of the Kostanay Region, B.S. Bukeyev.

For prayerful veneration and the spiritual support of the faithful, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander brought to the Kostanay Diocese a Nativity shrine – a reliquary with a copy of the honorable Gifts of the Magi from the Monastery of St. Paul on Mount Athos.

The Head of the Metropolitan District also presented to the Kostanay Diocese a precise copy, a «measure and likeness», of the wonderworking Feodorovskaya Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, consecrated at the revealed holy icon in the city of Kostroma (Russia).

The meeting of the copy of the wonderworking image of the Queen of Heaven and the reliquary with the Gifts of the Magi will take place on Sunday, January 11, before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy at the Constantine and Helen Cathedral of the city of Kostanay. The time of arrival of the shrines is 8:30.

The program of the archpastoral visit includes: working meetings on issues of diocesan activity; fellowship with the clergy; meetings with leaders of the region’s secular authorities and representatives of public associations.