An icon of Righteous Anna painted on the Holy Mount Athos has been delivered to the Alma-Ata church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos

19 October 2026. Alma-Ata. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, in the fireplace hall of the spiritual and cultural center of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District named after Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), the transfer of an Athonite shrine for the church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos took place.

A sacred gift to Orthodox believers of Kazakhstan became a copy of the ancient wonderworking icon of Righteous Anna – the mother of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, preserved on the Holy Mount Athos.

The image was created under the care of the public foundation «Eleos-Meirim» at the initiative of its president Valery Mikhailovich Kapsamun. The icon of Saint Anna, executed by iconographers of the cell in honor of the Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen of the Athonite Dionysiou monastery, was consecrated before the original on 8 March of this year, on the day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, and delivered to Alma-Ata through the efforts of V.M. Kapsamun.

The place of пребывания of the new shrine was not chosen by chance – the lower church of the Alma-Ata church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos is dedicated to the Righteous Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna.

The «Eleos-Meirim» foundation officially handed over the Athonite icon to Metropolitan Alexander, and the metropolitan in turn presented the shrine to Archpriest Evgeny Bobylev, head of the Department of Education and Catechesis of the Metropolitan District, rector of the Intercession Church and the church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Taking part in the transfer of the image of Righteous Anna were: the secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; head of the District’s Department for Public Relations, key holder of the Ascension Cathedral of the Southern capital Archpriest Alexander Suvorov; head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; head of the metropolitan’s protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin; clergy of the church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan expressed words of gratitude to the benefactors, the president and staff of the «Eleos-Meirim» foundation and told those present about the spiritual connection between Athos and Kazakhstan.

«Mount Athos, both for previous generations of Kazakhstanis and for modern residents of the Republic who profess Orthodoxy – is a spiritually significant and sacred land. In many churches of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District one can see ancient icons brought in past centuries from the Russian St Panteleimon Monastery. These are images of the Mother of God “Iveron”, “It is Truly Meet” and “Quick to Hear”, icons of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, written in a special “Athonite” style. Often, inscriptions with the blessing of the monastery have been preserved on the reverse side of such icons. In some families, traditions are preserved about how a great-grandfather or another ancestor made a pilgrimage on foot to the Holy Mountain. As a memory of this feat, lithographs and small prayer books or commemorative lists acquired on Athos are preserved in family archives.

The first hierarch of the Turkestan diocese, Archbishop Sophronius (Sokolsky), greatly loved the Holy Mountain. Being in the rank of archimandrite and rector of the church at the Russian embassy in Constantinople, he made a pilgrimage to Athos in 1850. Father Sophronius visited not only all monasteries and sketes, but also the most remote cells and dwellings of Athonite hermits. He even chose for himself a place in the hard-to-reach Athonite wilderness for a cell with a house church. Subsequently, he repeatedly said that the desire to withdraw to Athos and complete his earthly days there did not leave him. It is known that he generously gave the shrines he collected on Athos to the clergy of Semirechye.

A special spiritual connection between Athos and the land of Kazakhstan arose at the beginning of the last century. At the request of Orthodox residents of the city of Verny, as Alma-Ata was then called, Bishop of Turkestan and Tashkent Dimitry (Venerable Confessor Schema-Archbishop Anthony (Abashidze)) in 1910 sent a request to the abbot of the Russian St Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, Archimandrite Iakinf (Kuznetsov), to bless the residents of Verny with a particle of the relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon. Soon, part of the head of the healer Panteleimon, and particles of the relics of Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople, through the Athonite representation in Odessa were transferred to the Turkestan diocese. Today these parts of the holy relics are kept in St Nicholas Cathedral», – said, in particular, the archpastor.

Receiving the sacred gift, the rector of the church in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos, Archpriest Evgeny Bobylev, warmly thanked the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan and Valery Mikhailovich Kapsamun.

With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, prayer services for family well-being and the gift of children will be served before the newly painted image of Righteous Anna.