Memorial Saturday of Great Lent. The Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of Alma-Ata

21 March 2026 – Saturday of the 4th week of Holy Forty Days, the Lenten commemoration of the departed; celebration in honor of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos «The Sign».

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom at the cathedral in honor of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky in the city of Alma-Ata.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Dean of the churches of Alma-Ata, rector of St Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Archimandrite Iosif (Eremenko); rector of the Paraskeva Church and the Alexander Nevsky Church Archpriest Ioann Lopatin; Hegumen Onisim (Tulnikov); personal secretary of the Head of the Metropolitan District Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); cleric of the Iversky-Seraphim convent of the Southern capital Archpriest Alexander Sokolov; Head of the metropolitan’s secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); Head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; Hieromonk Paisiy (Tishakov); key holder of the Kazan Cathedral of Alma-Ata Priest Georgy Rublinsky; key holder of the Adrian and Natalia Church Priest Ioann Konoplev; Head of the metropolitan’s protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Dimitry Yachmenev.

For the prayerful veneration of the faithful, an exact copy, «measure for measure», of the wonderworking Kursk-Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos «The Sign», consecrated during the last visit of this great Orthodox shrine to Kazakhstan, was brought to the cathedral.

The service was sung by the choir of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral under the direction of regent A. Kulmetov.

At the Liturgy, commemoration was made of the departed hierarchs, pastors and monastics of Kazakhstan, of leaders and warriors who laid down their lives on the battlefield for the faith and the Fatherland, of all who in times of severe persecutions were tortured and slain by the godless, who died from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses and exhausting labors, and of all Orthodox Christians.

His Eminence offered fervent prayers for the repose of the newly departed: His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II and the long-time church laborer Lyubov Pavlovna Milovanova.

The sermon after the communion hymn was delivered by Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek).

At the conclusion of the service, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those gathered with a word of archpastoral instruction, in which he spoke about the importance of commemorating the departed. After that, a panikhida was served for all «Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep from ages past to this day».

By decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, in anticipation of the forthcoming feast of Holy Pascha, the cleric of the Iversky-Seraphim convent of the Southern capital, Archpriest Alexander Sokolov, was awarded the right to wear a jeweled cross.

«People of righteous life testify that for our departed loved ones the greatest good is church prayer and the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. Neither on earth nor in heaven is there a more effective means for delivering the souls of the departed from suffering and granting them blessed repose than commemoration at the Divine Liturgy. In the life of Alexiy of Goloseevo, an elder and ascetic of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, a didactic case is described that confirms this truth. In 1896 all Russia awaited with reverence and joy the uncovering of the relics of the great saint of God, who had lain incorrupt for more than 200 years in Chernigov – Saint Theodosius. Hieromonk Alexiy was entrusted on the eve of the canonization rite with re-vesting the holy relics. Having accomplished this with great reverence in the cave where they rested, the elder immersed himself in prayer and, from fatigue, fell into a light sleep. And to him, as if in a subtle dream, a wondrous vision appeared. In great glory the saint of God himself appeared and said: “I thank you for laboring for me. I ask you, commemorate at the proskomedia my parents – the priest Nikita and Maria.” “Saint of God,” replied the astonished elder, “how can I, a sinner, dare to pray for them, when you yourself abide in such glory before the Lord?” – “Commemorate them at the Divine Liturgy, at the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice,” the Saint repeated again, “for this is higher than my prayers.” The vision ended. It should be noted that neither popular memory nor history preserved the names of the parents of Saint Theodosius. Several years passed, and in one of the most ancient monasteries of Kiev, the Vydubychi Monastery, a synodikon – the memorial book of Saint Theodosius, who had been abbot there – was found, and in it his own handwritten запись of the names of his parents: the priest Nikita and Maria. This fact confirmed the truth of the vision of Elder Alexiy». From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.