The Head of the Metropolitan District Visited the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in the City of Karaganda

April 19, 2026. Karaganda. During his archpastoral visit to the Karaganda Diocese, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan visited the place of the ascetic labors of Venerable Sebastian of Karaganda – the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in Mikhailovka.

Together with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, the following arrived at the monastery: Archbishop Sebastian of Karaganda and Shakhtinsk; Secretary of the Diocesan Administration Archpriest Dimitry Patrikeev; and assistant to the Metropolitan I.E. Yatsenko.

The Metropolitan and the guests were welcomed by: Abbess Olympiada (Salopeko) of the Nativity of the Theotokos Convent of Karaganda with the sisters of the monastery; a spiritual child and disciple of Venerable Elder Sebastian – the confessor of the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Pachomius (Goroshko); and the cell-attendant of the elder, Nun Varvara (Tkachenko).

In the monastery church, the Head of the Metropolitan District performed the glorification of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and a litia for the victims of Karlag – one of the largest corrective labor camps of the Gulag – and for all those “innocently tortured and killed in the years of godless persecutions, who died from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses, and heavy labor,” after which he delivered a homily.

According to established tradition, Metropolitan Alexander, the ruling bishop of the Karaganda Diocese, and the clergy visited the memorial cell of the Venerable one, where they sang the troparion and magnification to the heavenly patron of Kazakhstan. The Metropolitan anointed those gathered with oil from the unquenchable lamp before the icon of the saint.

Archbishop Sebastian and Abbess Olympiada acquainted the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan with the newly constructed monastery building and the pilgrimage center.

Further, the Head of the Metropolitan District met with the confessor of the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Pachomius (Goroshko) – a disciple of the holy elder Sebastian – and with the cell-attendant of the Venerable one, Nun Varvara (Tkachenko). During the conversation, the monastics shared with the archpastor their recollections of Schema-Archimandrite Sebastian and their reflections on the problems of spiritual life in contemporary society.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Metropolitan wished Archimandrite Peter (Goroshko) and Nun Varvara (Tkachenko) health and God’s help in their church ministry.