Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District Visits the St. Seraphim Cathedral of Vyatka

June 5, 2026. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, together with O.N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Metropolitan District, and accompanying assistants, visited the Cathedral dedicated to St. Seraphim of Sarov.

At the historic church, the hierarch venerated one of the principal holy shrines of the Vyatka land – the wonderworking copy of the revealed Tikhvin Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The revered image of the Queen of Heaven was brought to Vyatka in 1675 by Archbishop Jonah (Baranov) from the Dormition Tikhvin Monastery, where he had served as abbot from 1668 to 1675.

Vladyka also served a memorial lity for the departed hierarchs of Vyatka – Archbishop Mstislav (Volonsevich; †1978) and Archbishop Benjamin (Tikhonitsky; †1957), who are buried in the crypt of St. Seraphim Cathedral.

Archbishop Benjamin (Tikhonitsky), a confessor of the faith, was the son of Hieromartyr Archpriest Mikhail Tikhonitsky. His entire ecclesiastical ministry was connected with the Vyatka region. During the final fifteen years of his life, he headed the Kirov Diocese. He was awarded the state medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.”

Archbishop Mstislav (Volonsevich), who served in episcopal dignity for more than two decades, enjoyed the reputation of being a strict yet just and kind наставник. According to the recollections of contemporaries, Vladyka sincerely loved his flock, while clergy and faithful alike held him in great respect.