Commemoration Day of Blessed Matrona of Moscow. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the Liturgy at St. Sophia Cathedral in Almaty

May 2, 2025 – the commemoration day of Blessed Matrona of Moscow.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron–Seraphim Women’s Monastery in Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Administrator of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan; Bishop Veniamin of Talgar, Vicar of the Astana Diocese; Archpriest Valery Zakharov, Dean of the churches of Almaty, Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Candidate of Theology; Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, Rector of the Almaty church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”; Archimandrite Joseph (Eremenko); Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek), Personal Secretary to the Head of the Metropolitan District; Archpriest Vadim Alekseyev, Rector of the church of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt in the settlement of Zhetygen, Almaty region; Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), Head of the Metropolitan’s Personal Secretariat; Priest Oleg Lisin, Head of the Biblical and Theological Department of the Almaty Seminary; Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Hieromonk Arseny (Voloshin); Priest Georgy Rublinsky, Sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral in Almaty; Hieromonk Paisiy (Tishakov); Priest Alexander Shishlov, Head of the Chancellery of the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Deacon Andrey Plakhuta; Deacon Ilya Vorobyov; Deacon Georgy Tkachenko; Deacon Roman Karaman.

For the veneration of the faithful, a reliquary containing a particle of the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow was brought into the church.

Praying at the Liturgy were: O. N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, choirmaster of the Metropolitan District choir, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing; Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) of the Iveron–Seraphim Women’s Monastery with the sisters of the convent; students of the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary, staff of departments and commissions of the Metropolitan District, staff of the Almaty Diocesan Administration; parishioners of Almaty churches and numerous pilgrims.

The choir of St. Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron–Seraphim Monastery sang under the direction of O. Usoltseva.

During the service, memorial prayers were offered for the ever-memorable hierarchs of Kazakhstan buried in the monastery: Archbishop Sophronius (Sokolsky, †1877), Bishop Nikon (Bogoyavlensky, †1897), and Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov, †1975); for the departed abbesses of the Iveron–Seraphim Monastery: Nun Paisiya (Kryuchkova), Abbess Nectaria (Dimitrieva), and Abbess Euphrosinia (Bakurevich); and for all who labored in the monastery both in the pre-revolutionary period and in modern times.

The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Archimandrite Joseph (Eremenko).

The Liturgy concluded with the glorification of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and Blessed Elder Matrona, after which the Metropolitan proclaimed “Christ is risen!” in various languages, ancient and modern.

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan congratulated the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful on the feast and addressed those praying with a word of instruction.

His Eminence sprinkled the faithful with holy water.

“If we attentively read the life of Blessed Matrona, it is not difficult to see that her entire life was the bearing of the cross in humble obedience to the will of God and in courageous endurance of sorrows. She was born blind, severely limited in her abilities, lost the ability to walk, endured hunger and wandering. Yet suffering and illness did not break her spirit – she did not succumb to despondency or bitterness, nor did she sin by murmuring against God or others. From her youth, the words of the Lord became her guide: ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ (Matt. 16:24), and her life became a daily and hourly ‘co-crucifixion with Christ’ (Gal. 2:19). Saint Gregory the Theologian says: ‘Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; today I live with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him.’ The Lord says: ‘Those who honor Me I will honor’ (1 Sam. 2:30). By fulfilling the commandments, Blessed Matrona glorified the Creator; through humility and patience she partook in the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet. 4:13), and thereby became a great pleaser of God, a light to the world and a source of miracles. Though herself exhausted by illness, she found strength to have compassion on others, to bear the infirmities of the weak (Rom. 15:1). And even after her repose in the heavenly dwellings, Blessed Matrona did not wish to be separated from people. Before her death she said: ‘All of you, come to me and tell me, as if I were alive, about your sorrows; I will see you, hear you, and help you.’ We live in a difficult time when, because of the increase of lawlessness, love grows cold in many (Matt. 24:12), and various sorrowful circumstances give rise to anxiety in people’s souls and bind hearts with despondency. The examples of the saints are given to us so that we may become stronger. Coming to the holy relics of Blessed Matrona and remembering her sorrow-filled life, let us first ask her, through her prayers to God, to grant us spiritual strength, to strengthen our faith, and to help us pass through our life’s path without murmuring or fear, with gratitude to God.”

from the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.