On Lazarus Saturday, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Saints Peter and Paul church of the Southern capital

4 April 2026 – Lazarus Saturday – the feast of the Raising of the Righteous Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The divine service performed on Lazarus Saturday has certain liturgical особенностей: hymns that are an integral part of the Sunday All-Night Vigil are chanted: “The Angelic host was amazed”, “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ”, “Holy is the Lord our God”. Instead of the Trisagion, the baptismal hymn is sung at the Liturgy: “As many as have been baptized into Christ…”, in remembrance of the ancient tradition of baptizing catechumens on this day. Lazarus Saturday is the day when, “before the Passion” of Christ, and even before His Resurrection, the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection is revealed to the faithful in the raising of Lazarus.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Saints Peter and Paul church of the Southern capital.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Metropolitan District were: Dean of the churches of Alma-Ata, rector of St Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Archimandrite Joseph (Yeremenko); rector of the Saints Peter and Paul church Archpriest Vladimir Shklyar; rector of the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary, Head of the Information Department of the Metropolitan District, Candidate of Theology Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; sacristan of the Saints Peter and Paul church Archpriest Kirill Shklyar; Hegumen Onisim (Tulnikov); personal secretary of the Head of the Metropolitan District Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); Head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky); Head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; rector of the Kazan Cathedral of Alma-Ata Priest Georgy Rublinsky; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

Praying at the service were: Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; president of the public foundation “Eleos-Meirim” V.M. Kapsamun; ktitors and parishioners of the church.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Saints Peter and Paul church under the direction of I.N. Korovina.

The sermon before Communion was delivered by Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those gathered with a word of archpastoral instruction.

The hierarch sprinkled the faithful with holy water.

“Today in the church calendar there is a special Saturday – the Saturday before Palm Sunday, called Lazarus Saturday. On this day, we who have ‘completed the soul-profiting Forty Days’ are called by the Church to recall the miracle of Christ raising His friend – the righteous Lazarus. This event the Holy Church glorifies as a proof of the divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time, an assurance of His human nature. Listening attentively to today’s Gospel narrative, we see in Christ His God-manhood: two natures, two actions, two wills. As the all-knowing God, He announced to His disciples the death of Lazarus without being informed of it. As a true man, Jesus Christ came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived and died, and seeing the sister of His departed friend weeping and those who came with her also weeping, He Himself wept, and as one who did not know, asked: ‘Where have you laid him?’ As the true God, the Savior, after a brief prayer to the Heavenly Father, by His almighty word raises Lazarus on the fourth day after his death, delivering him from the darkness of death and corruption. ‘Assuring the universal resurrection before Thy Passion, Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God…’. For Christians, the raising of Lazarus became a pledge that God is able to raise all other departed people as well, a confirmation and assurance of the general resurrection. Celebrating Lazarus Saturday, we confess with all our heart faith in the life of the age to come, which awaits each of us. We celebrate the beginning of the victory over death, non-existence and destruction. Christ’s victory over death is not only a spiritual, but also a physical reality. The Lord Jesus truly rose in the body for the salvation of all people. With His Resurrection, death lost its irreversible character, and for those who believe in Christ it became birth into eternal life, a door opening the way to Heaven, to the Kingdom of God. Strengthened by the awareness of this truth, the martyrs for Christ boldly and courageously met any trials and sufferings. A vivid example of faith in the Lord and hope for the life of the age to come was shown to us by the children of the Church, who fearlessly accepted crowns of suffering during the years of persecution of Holy Orthodoxy in the past century”. From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.