January 13, 2026 – the leave-taking of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ; commemoration day of Venerable Paisios of Mount Athos.
Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Alatau district of Almaty, where the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan is located.
Concelebrating with the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan and Bishop Veniamin of Talgar (vicars of the Astana diocese), Archpriest Yevgeny Vorobyev (rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in Almaty), Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov (dean of the Ili church district), Archpriest Georgy Kharlov (rector of the Church of St. John the Forerunner in the village of Guldala), Archpriest Vasily Ivanov (dean of the churches of the central district of the Oryol diocese – Oryol Metropolis, Russia), Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov – rector of the Nativity of the Theotokos Church in the Akzhar district), Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky – head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan), Priest Georgy Sidorov (head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolis), Hieromonk Sergy (Vnukovsky – sacristan of the Vladimir Church in the Baganashyl district), Priest Roman Klyuev (rector of the Alexander Nevsky Church in the village of Saymasai – Alexandrovka), Priest Daniil Bobylev (head of the correspondence department of the Almaty Seminary), Priest Ioann Konoplev (sacristan of the Adriano–Natalievsky Church), Priest Georgy Rublinsky (sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral), Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, Protodeacon Roman Golovin (head of the protocol service of the Metropolitan), Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Protodeacon Sergy Kulikov, Deacon Rustik Yakupov, 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 was brought to the church from the Holy Monastery of St. Paul on Mount Athos.
Praying at the service were: O.N. Ovchinnikov (Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, choir director of the Kazakhstan Metropolis, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing), Orthodox residents of the Alatau district, and believers from neighboring localities.
The hymns were performed by the male choir of the Almaty Diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Pivny.
The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Rublinsky.
At the end of the Liturgy, before the festive icon, the clergy, choir, and believers chanted the troparion, kontakion, and magnification of the Nativity of Christ.
Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the hierarchs, clergy, and parishioners on the leave-taking of the Feast of the coming into the world of the Word of God and addressed those gathered with a sermon.
The Head of the Metropolis sprinkled the faithful with holy water.
“In Orthodox worship, the leave-taking of a feast is the last day of the afterfeast of a great Twelve Feast. Today, for the final time this year, we heard during the solemn divine service the prayers and hymns of the Feast of peace and God’s love for mankind, proclaiming the coming into the world of Christ the Giver of Life. A believing person always awaits the radiant Feast of the Nativity of Christ with awe, greets it with joy, and sees it off with gratitude to God. Being God, the Lord Jesus Christ became man and appeared to us to give His strength and gracious help – to save us from sin and its consequences: troubles and sorrows. And in this lies the spiritual height, the incomprehensibility of God’s love, the ineffable nature of His mercy and compassion for humanity. As we chant in the festal troparion, the Nativity ‘has shone to the world the light of reason’ – the light of true knowledge about God, about man, about the path to salvation. The miracle of the Incarnation gives us the joy of adoption by God and the hope of eternal life. As we part with the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we once again turn to the ‘great mystery of godliness’ – the mystery of the union of God with man. Having become incarnate, Christ has remained among us forever. He is with us in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in prayer and pious labors, in the church and on all paths of life: ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Matt. 28:20).”
From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.
Main
Login or register, to write a comment!
Your comment has been successfully added and is currently being reviewed by the site administration