On the Commemoration Day of Venerable Theodosius the Great, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Almaty Church Dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”

January 24, 2026 – Saturday after Theophany, the feast day of Venerable Theodosius the Great, the founder of coenobitic monasticism.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in the city of Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Dean of the churches of the Southern Capital, Rector of the St. Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology, Mitred Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Rector of the Church of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, Rector of the Theophany Church Archpriest Valery Shavrin, Rector of the Churches of St. Paraskeva and St. Alexander Nevsky Archpriest Ioann Lopatin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Personal Secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky), Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov, Key Custodian of the Kazan Cathedral in Almaty Priest Georgy Rublinsky, Head of the Correspondence Department of the Almaty Theological Seminary Priest Daniil Bobylev; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, and Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

Praying during the service were: Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Choir Director of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan, and member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; benefactors and parishioners of the Church of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Icon.

The hymns were performed by the church choir under the direction of O. Solomonova.

After the Communion verse, the sermon was delivered by Priest Daniil Bobylev.

The service concluded with the singing of the Magnification of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Upon completion of the Liturgy, the Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the clergy and faithful on the feast day of Venerable Theodosius the Great and addressed those gathered with words of spiritual instruction.

The hierarch sprinkled the faithful with holy water.