In the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the main church of the Kostanay Diocese

11 January 2026 – the 31st Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ, the day of commemoration of the righteous Joseph the Betrothed, and of the fourteen thousand infants slain by Herod in Bethlehem.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the main church of the Kostanay Diocese – the Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral in the city of Kostanay.

Before the beginning of the service, a solemn reception of an exact copy of the wonderworking Feodorovskaya Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos took place in the main church of the Kostanay Diocese.

The holy icon is a gift to the Kostanay and Rudny Diocese from the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

During the chanting of the troparion “By the coming of Thy precious icon, O Virgin Mother of God”, the clergy carried the kiot with the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God under the church vaults and placed it in the central part of the church.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: the secretary of the Kostanay Diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burdyuzha), the sacristan of the Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral Archpriest Vasily Korolev, a cleric of the diocesan cathedral Hegumen Innokenty (Pomogalov), the dean of the Lisakovsk Church District and rector of the church in honor of the righteous John of Kronstadt in the city of Lisakovsk Archpriest Oleg Kalmykov, the confessor of the Kostanay Diocese Archpriest Andrey Korchazhnikov, a cleric of the Saints Constantine and Helen Church and dean of the Sarykol Church District Archpriest Vitaly Kleba, the sacristan of Saint Nicholas Church in Kostanay Archpriest Vitaly Gutsan, the head of the metropolitan’s secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky), the rector of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Church in the settlement of Zatobolsk Priest Andrey Krutin, the rector of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Church in the village of Auliekol Priest Ioann Fedyay, the rector of the Saints Peter and Paul Church in the village of Uzunkol Priest Georgy Kusliev, Priest Alexey Kovalev, Priest Sergy Neverov, Priest Georgy Chernykh, the head of the metropolitan protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Protodeacon Alexander Mokiy, Deacon Eliazar Aitbakin, Deacon Georgy Tkachenko, Deacon Alexey Fedorchenko, Deacon Tarasiy Takenov.

Also before the beginning of the service, for prayerful veneration and spiritual strengthening of the faithful, a reliquary with a copy of the honest Gifts of the Magi from the Monastery of Saint Paul on Mount Athos was brought to the main church of the Kostanay Diocese.

The choir of the Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral in the city of Kostanay sang under the direction of T. Zhebrak.

Praying at the service were: the secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist 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 abbess of the Iveron–Saints Peter and Paul Women’s Monastery in the settlement of Oktyabrsky Nun Nika (Otroshchenko) with the sisters of the monastery, representatives of the Cossacks, pupils of Sunday schools, parishioners of the churches of Kostanay, and pilgrims from surrounding settlements.

After the Communion hymn, Archpriest Vitaly Kleba read aloud the Nativity message of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, a glorification of the Nativity of Christ was performed, after which Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the clergy and parishioners on the feast of the coming into the world of God the Word and on the arrival in the capital of the Kostanay Region of the unique copy of the icon of the Queen of Heaven revered throughout the Orthodox world, and then delivered a word of instruction.

Protodeacon Roman Golovin read aloud the charter on the transfer of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Queen of Heaven to the main church of the Kostanay Diocese for reverent keeping and prayerful veneration.

During the chanting of the magnification of the Most Holy Theotokos, Metropolitan Alexander blessed the church, the clergy, and the faithful with the icon, invoking God’s blessing upon the city of Kostanay.

Many years were proclaimed to His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill, to the Head and the Most Reverend hierarchs of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, to the President of the country K.-Zh.K. Tokayev, to the authorities, the armed forces, and to all the people of Kazakhstan.

After the archpastoral sermon, veneration of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Queen of Heaven by parishioners and pilgrims began.

“Now ‘every creature, the angelic host and the human race’ are filled with rejoicing over the Divine Infant born in Bethlehem. The cause of the great joy of heaven and earth is the Incarnation: ‘Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world’ (1 Tim. 3:16). The Son of God came to earth in order to reconcile people with the Creator, by His life, His sufferings on the Cross, and His glorious Resurrection from the dead to enliven humanity for a new sinless life, for the eternal blessed Kingdom. Celebrating the coming into the world of the Incarnate God, revealed to us as true Love, we must learn firm and unfeigned love for the Lord and for our neighbor. ‘Come, O faithful, and behold the divine descent from on high revealed to us in Bethlehem, and, having purified our minds, let us offer a life of virtue’, – the Church of Christ calls us in these great days. According to the teaching of the holy fathers, the love commanded to us by the Savior in the Gospel does not consist in emotional impulses, vivid feelings, or beautiful words, but is the sum of concrete good deeds and actions. ‘Let us love not in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth!’ (1 John 3:18), – teaches us the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.