Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Nativity of the Theotokos Church in the Akzhar District

January 31, 2026 – the day of commemoration of Hierarchs Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria, and of the Venerable Schema-monk Cyril and Schema-nun Maria, the parents of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Akzhar district of the city of Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: the Dean of Almaty parishes, Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology, Mitred Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Rector of the Almaty church dedicated to the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov; Rector of the Nativity of the Theotokos Church in the Akzhar district Hieromonk Alexiy (Cherevtsov); Hieromonk Onisim (Tulnikov); Head of the Metropolitan’s Personal Secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service Protodacon Roman Golovin; Protodacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko; Deacon Vladimir Alferov.

Praying at the service were: the Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Choir Director of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov; benefactors and parishioners of the Nativity of the Theotokos Church.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the small choir of the Ascension Cathedral under the direction of E. Boguslavets.

The sermon after the Communion hymn was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the conclusion of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District addressed the faithful with a homily.

His Eminence sprinkled the worshippers with holy water.