The Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Liturgy at the Representation of the Metropolitan District in Moscow

15 February 2026 – the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan presided over the festal Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia at the Patriarchal Metochion of the city of Moscow – the Representation of the Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Archimandrite Sergius (Karamyshev), Dean of the Astana Church District; the Vice-Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Abbot Agafangel (Gagua); the rector of the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia, Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko), and the clergy of the metochion.

The church choir and the pupils of the parish Sunday school sang under the direction of Anna Rozhnova.

Praying at the service were: N.V. Parshikova, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation; V.A. Levin, Acting General Director of “Sofrino”; S.Yu. Orlova, Auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation; O.G. Barybin, First Deputy Chairman of “Promsvyazbank”; staff members of the Representation and parishioners of the church.

For the apostolic reading on the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, a passage from the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Hebrews (chapter 7, verses 7–17) was appointed, which speaks of the superiority of the sacrificial ministry of the Saviour over the Old Testament Levitical priesthood and of the setting aside, with the coming of Christ, of the ordinances of the Mosaic Law. The Gospel reading at the Liturgy (Luke 2:22–40) contains a detailed account of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple of Jerusalem.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, a festal glorification of the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord was performed.

Many Years was proclaimed to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; to the Head, archpastors, clergy and flock of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; to the President, the authorities, the armed forces and the entire people of Kazakhstan.

Metropolitan Alexander sprinkled the faithful with holy water, after which he read aloud the Address of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ on the occasion of the celebration of Orthodox Youth Day. His Eminence warmly congratulated the clergy and the faithful on the feast and delivered a homily.

At the end of the divine service, in recognition of their labours for the benefit of the Orthodox Church and in connection with significant dates, the metropolitan bishop presented high church awards:

• the Patriarchal Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, III class – to N.V. Parshikova;
• the Order of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District “Enbek Üşin” (For Labours) – to S.Yu. Orlova and O.G. Barybin.

“Today in the Church calendar is the Meeting of the Lord – we recall the sacred event that took place at the very beginning of the earthly life of the Saviour in the city of Jerusalem. On the fortieth day after the birth of the Christ Child, in fulfilment of the prescriptions of the Law of Moses, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Righteous Joseph the Betrothed brought Him to the Old Testament temple. The commandment set forth in the Book of Exodus prescribed that every firstborn male child brought into the world should on that day be dedicated to the Lord. And here, in the centre of the spiritual life of the God-chosen people, an astonishing event occurred, of which the Gospel proclaims. There was at the Temple of Jerusalem a certain aged elder whose name was Simeon. Sacred Tradition relates that in his youth, as a knower of many languages, he was among the seventy interpreters – translators entrusted with translating the books of Holy Scripture from Hebrew into Greek. This translation is known as the Septuagint. Simeon was assigned to translate the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. When the young translator read the words, ‘Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel,’ he thought this an obvious error, that instead of ‘Virgin’ the scroll should read ‘Woman,’ and he considered it his duty to correct the text. Simeon took a knife to erase the word, but an angel of the Lord stopped his hand and assured him that he would not die until he had seen the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy and become a living witness of these sacred words. Years and decades passed, his relatives and acquaintances died, yet death did not come to Simeon. He continued to live, waiting in painful expectation for the fulfilment of God’s decree. And one day, led by the Holy Spirit, he came to the Temple precisely at the moment when the Christ Child was brought, according to the commandment, to be dedicated to God. With trembling, joy and reverence he received into his frail aged arms the God-Child – the Saviour of the world – and uttered the words that later became a great Christian hymn: ‘Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.’ At every Vespers the Church proclaims these lines. The Fathers and Teachers of the Church, interpreters of Holy Scripture, say that at that moment a mysterious meeting took place – the meeting of the New Covenant with the Old, the meeting of the Creator with His creation, the meeting of man with God. Reading the Gospel lines, we vividly sense how joyful this meeting was for Simeon, whom the Church calls righteous, and for the devout eighty-four-year-old widow – the Prophetess Anna, who served God with fasting and prayer day and night throughout the long years of her widowhood. Yet amid these joyful exclamations there were also heard words addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos, filled with sorrowful prophetic meaning: that the God-Child ‘is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against – and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also – that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.’ The Lord Jesus Christ, from the days of His earthly life to the present time, remains a ‘sign that shall be spoken against,’ a stone of stumbling for humanity. Some, accepting the Saviour, rose and continue to rise to righteousness and holiness, striving toward the Divine Kingdom, while others, rejecting Him, fell and continue to fall spiritually and morally. Today we have come to God’s temple in order to meet the Lord, to offer Him – our Creator and Saviour – a ‘sacrifice of praise.’ How many spiritual encounters the Lord has granted us, how often our hearts have trembled at the presence of the majesty of God. In manifold ways God has borne witness to Himself. He reveals Himself to us in the Mystery of Holy Communion, in the reading and hearing of the Word of God, in the doing of good works, in communion with spiritually experienced people. Yet the most important, the most decisive meeting still lies ahead for all of us – the meeting with Christ, the righteous Judge. None can avoid it. Each of us will stand before the truth of the Lord, and all that a person has done – good and evil – will be revealed. What that meeting will be depends on us. Did we desire to live honestly, piously and righteously? Were the commandments of Christ for us an immutable law? Or in the darkening of mind did we commit lawlessness and injustice, offend our neighbours, fail to love the Church, fail to pray, fail to attend the temple? While a person lives, he has the opportunity to come to his senses and cry out with all his heart, like the Apostle Peter: ‘Lord, save me, I perish!’ and with the Psalmist David humbly ask: ‘Teach me to do Thy will.’ May each of us, having felt and comprehended the greatness and awe of the coming meeting with God, turn to Him with fervent supplication: ‘Grant me strength, firmness and wisdom to walk the only road that leads from earth to Heaven, from the temporal to the eternal, from the passing to the incorruptible and Divine.’ Let us be wise children of God, prudent servants of the Creator, true Christians who desire that the heart be cleansed from impurity, that love and God’s good pleasure may shine in the soul.” From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.