Memorial Saturday of Great Lent. Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy in the Constantine and Helen Cathedral of Astana

7 March 2026 – Saturday of the 2nd week of Great Lent, commemoration of the departed; celebration in honor of the uncovering of the relics of the martyrs in Eugenius.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the oldest church of the city of Astana – the Constantine and Helen Cathedral.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: dean of the Astana church district Archimandrite Sergiy (Karamyshev); spiritual father of the women’s monastery of Astana in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost” Hieromonk Modest (Drozdov); sacristan of the Constantine and Helen Cathedral Archpriest Sergiy Kaliev; head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); Priest Nikolai Koval; Priest Maksim Madzhitov; head of the Metropolitan’s protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Iliya Salyakhov; Deacon Evgeny Gudz; Deacon Ioann Yanchuk.

At the beginning of the service the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow were brought to the church for prayerful veneration and the spiritual strengthening of the faithful.

Praying at the Liturgy were: Abbess Sevastiana (Plotnikova), superior of the monastery in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost” of the city of Astana, with the sisters of the monastery; staff members of the diocesan administration, pilgrims and parishioners of the church.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Constantine and Helen church under the direction of N. Mazurina.

During the funeral litany special prayers were offered for the hierarchs of Kazakhstan, the founder of the monastery in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost” – confessor of the faith Archimandrite Kirill (Borodin), the ever-memorable Abbess Rafaila (Vasilenko), and the departed pastors and monastics who labored in the monastery.

After the Cherubic Hymn Metropolitan Alexander performed the priestly ordination of Deacon Andrei Shidlovsky.

The sermon before Communion was delivered by Priest Maksim Madzhitov.

At the conclusion of the service His Eminence addressed those present with a homily on the importance of commemorating the departed, after which a memorial service was served for all “Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep from the beginning of the ages until this day.”

“The Church has great power, an extraordinary authority given to her by God, to change the fate of her departed children. We bring to the church notes with the names dear to our hearts and fervently pray for the forgiveness of the voluntary and involuntary sins of ‘our relatives and neighbors who lived and reposed before us’; we offer prosphora, from which at the very beginning of the Liturgy, during the Proskomedia at the holy altar table, particles are taken out. And during the Divine service a very important, spiritually significant moment comes – all these particles are immersed into the chalice with the Most Pure and Life-Giving Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. At this time the prayer is pronounced: ‘Wash away, O Lord, the sins of all those commemorated here by Thy Precious Blood, through the prayers of Thy saints.’ Our relatives, close ones and acquaintances whose names are written in the memorial notes receive grace, sanctification and the remission of sins from the Bloodless sacrifice offered on the Holy Table. Those righteous ones to whom, by the special providence of God, the mysteries of the afterlife were revealed testify that the souls of the departed are vouchsafed the greatest consolation and inexpressible joy when the prayer of the Church is offered for them and the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist is brought for them.” From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.