Metropolitan Alexander Venerates the Holy Shrines of the Dormition Trifon Monastery of Vyatka

June 5, 2026. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, who is visiting the Vyatka land with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, began his pilgrimage to the holy shrines of the region.

Accompanying the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan on the pilgrimage are: O.N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Metropolitan District, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan and Russia, and member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing; and assistants to the Metropolitan, P.V. Sokolov and I.Ye. Yatsenko.

Vyatka is the native homeland of Metropolitan Alexander. From 1983 to 1989, Vladyka served as a cleric of the Kirov Diocese and assistant to Archbishop Chrysanthos of Kirov and Slobodskoy (Chepil; †2011) (later Metropolitan of Vyatka and Slobodskoy), and from 1986 to 1989 fulfilled the obedience of Secretary of the Kirov Diocesan Administration.

The Head of the Metropolitan District visited the spiritual and administrative center of the Vyatka Metropolitanate – the Dormition Trifon Monastery. The monastery was founded in 1580 by St. Tryphon of Vyatka and today is the oldest architectural monument of the Vyatka region, while its principal church – the Dormition Cathedral – is recognized as the oldest stone building in the regional center (constructed in 1684–1689). The architectural ensemble holds the status of a federal cultural monument. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the monastery’s revival.

At the Dormition Cathedral, Metropolitan Alexander venerated the relics of the heavenly patron of the Vyatka region – St. Tryphon of Vyatka. The hierarch also prayed before Blessed Procopius of Vyatka, whose relics repose beneath the northern porch of the cathedral.

Another revered holy object preserved in the Dormition Cathedral is a seventeenth-century copy, “measure and likeness,” of the Vyatka Icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands. It was in honor of this icon that the Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin received its name. The image of the Savior preserved in the Dormition Cathedral originates from Holy Trinity Church in the village of Istobensk.

Before the holy shrines of the Dormition Trifon Monastery, Metropolitan Alexander offered fervent prayers for the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and laity of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, for peace and prosperity upon the land of Kazakhstan, and for the President, authorities, armed forces, and people of the Republic.

The hierarch served a memorial lity at the grave of the first Metropolitan of the Vyatka land – Metropolitan Chrysanthos (Chepil), after which he laid flowers at the burial place of the ever-memorable hierarch.

The archpastor also visited the spring of St. Tryphon and the St. Nicholas Gate Church – the place where the wonderworking Velikoretsk Icon of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, is kept.