Day of Commemoration of St. Theodosius of the Caves. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the Liturgy at the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in the Southern Capital

May 16, 2026 – the feast day of Venerable Theodosius, Abbot of the Kiev Caves Monastery.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in the Karasu district of the city of Alma-Ata.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: vicars of the Astana Diocese – Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan and Bishop Veniamin of Talgar; dean of the churches of the Southern Capital and rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Archimandrite Geronty (Borisevich); rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in Alma-Ata, Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov; Archimandrite Joseph (Yeremenko); cleric of the parish Hieromonk Levky (Yershov); personal secretary to the Head of the Metropolitan District, Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); head of the Metropolitan’s Secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky); head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; key cleric of the parish, Priest Roman Burdukov; cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Chimkent Diocese, Priest Ilya Markov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, and Deacon Georgy Tkachenko.

The hymns were performed by the choir of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross under the direction of Viktoria Burdukova.

During the Litany for the Departed, the Metropolitan offered special prayers for the repose of the ever-memorable former rector of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, Hieromonk Meliton (Porotikov), whose anniversary of repose fell on this day.

The sermon after the Communion verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

The Liturgy concluded with a glorification of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, after which Metropolitan Alexander exchanged the Paschal greeting with the faithful in various languages.

The Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful on the feast day of Venerable Theodosius of the Kiev Caves and addressed the congregation with words of instruction.

His Eminence sprinkled those gathered with holy water.