Metropolitan Alexander celebrated Vespers with the bringing out of the Holy Shroud and Matins with the Rite of the Burial of the Savior in the main church of the Southern capital

10 April 2026 – Great and Holy Friday – the commemoration of the Holy saving Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan presided over Great Vespers with the bringing out of the Holy Shroud and Matins with the Rite of the Burial of the Savior at the Ascension Cathedral in the city of Alma-Ata.

According to tradition, Great Vespers in remembrance of the suffering of the Savior, the removal of Christ’s body from the Cross and His burial is served earlier than usual – at the hour of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

After the entrance with the Gospel, three readings are proclaimed from the books of Exodus, Job and the Prophet Isaiah, in which the sufferings of the Redeemer of the world are prophetically depicted. The faithful also hear a reading from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians about the Divine power and wisdom revealed in the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross (1 Cor. 1:18–2:2), and a composite Gospel reading about the final hours of the earthly life and the crucifixion of the Lord (Mt. 27:1–43; Lk. 23:39–43; Mt. 27:45–54; Jn. 19:31–37; Mt. 27:55–61).

At the conclusion of Vespers, during the singing of the troparia “The Noble Joseph…”, with candles carried before and incense offered, from the Holy Table – as from Golgotha – the Metropolitan and the clergy brought out from the altar the image of Christ laid in the tomb – the Holy Shroud. The embroidered cloth bearing the icon of the Burial of the Savior was placed upon a flower-adorned bier in the center of the church; on either side were placed censers with burning charcoal and incense.

After the bringing out of the Shroud, the canon “On the Crucifixion of the Lord and on the Lament of the Most Holy Theotokos” was read. This compunctionate work, composed in the 10th century by Saint Symeon Metaphrastes, presents the words of the Most Holy Mother of God addressed to her suffering and dying Son on the Cross.

Immediately after the reading of the canon, the service continued with Matins with the Rite of the Burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Matins of Great Saturday is dedicated to Christ’s descent into Hades and His victory over death.

After the singing of the troparia at “God is the Lord”, Metropolitan Alexander and the concelebrating clergy, before the Shroud of the Savior, read the Lamentations – the verses of the 17th kathisma, interspersed with special short hymns, praises in honor of the Lord “numbered among the dead”.

At the end of the Great Doxology, during the singing of “Holy God”, accompanied by a funeral tolling of the bells, the Shroud was carried in procession, in remembrance of the descent of the Lord Jesus Christ into Hades and His victory over death.

After the procession, before the Shroud were proclaimed: a prophecy from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, who beheld the resurrection of the dead (Ezek. 37:1–14), and a passage from the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians about the fruits of the Savior’s death (1 Cor. 6:7–8; Gal. 4:13–14), after which the archpastor read the Gospel passage about the sealing of the Lord’s tomb by the chief priests and the setting of a guard (Mt. 27:62–66).

During the singing of the sticheron “Come, let us bless Joseph of everlasting memory”, the archpastor and clergy brought out from the altar a portion of the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord and placed the reliquary with the shrine on an analogion next to the Shroud.

The Holy Shroud will remain in the center of the church until the Paschal Matins, thus recalling the three-day dwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb.