The Feast of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Midnight Divine Liturgy at the Kazan Cathedral in Almaty

July 9, 2026 – the Feast of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the midnight Divine Liturgy at the oldest church in the Southern Capital – the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

Concelebrating with the Head of the Metropolitan District were: Hegumen Onisim (Tulnikov); the Metropolitan’s personal secretary, Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek); Hieromonk Arseny (Voloshin); the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Akzhar district, Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov); Hieromonk Gennady (Solovyov), cleric of the Church of St. John the Theologian; the head of the Metropolitan’s Secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Yendovitsky); Hieromonk Kheruvim (Levin); Hieromonk Isaac (Istelyuyev), cleric of the Kazan Cathedral; Hieromonk Evgeny (Shcheglov), cleric of the Dormition Church in the Kemel district; Hierodeacon Athanasy (Kozel), Deacon John Churkin, and Deacon Konstantin Volnyagin.

For the prayerful veneration of the faithful, the church received a revered shrine—a faithful copy (“measure and likeness”) of the wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, created for Kazakhstan with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ and consecrated before the original miraculous icon at the Dormition Tikhvin Monastery on August 12, 2021.

Praying during the service were: the head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; the rector of the Kazan Cathedral of Almaty, Priest Georgy Rublinsky; staff members of the Eleos-Meirim Public Foundation (President – V.M. Kapsamun); employees of the Almaty Diocesan Administration; and parishioners of the cathedral.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the Men’s Choir of the Almaty Diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Piven.

Special prayers were offered for the repose of the ever-memorable Archbishop Meliton of Tikhvin (Solovyov; †1986), the spiritual mentor of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The sermon before Holy Communion was delivered by Hieromonk Kheruvim (Levin).

The Divine Liturgy concluded with a glorification of the Most Holy Theotokos. The choir sang the troparion to the Tikhvin Icon, the Head of the Metropolitan District read the prayer before the icon, after which the clergy chanted the magnification in honor of the Queen of Heaven.

Following the service of glorification, Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the clergy and faithful on the feast and delivered an archpastoral homily.

The Divine Liturgy was broadcast live on the Proobraz YouTube channel with the support of the Eleos-Meirim Public Foundation (Director – V.M. Kapsamun). Photographic coverage was provided by A. Shcheglov.

“The feasts dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos are meant to help us perceive ever more clearly the great maternal love of the Queen of Heaven, to experience Her care, and with the eyes of faith behold the saving protection She spreads over us. For every Orthodox Christian, the name of the One who is ‘More honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim’ is precious and revered, for through Her Christ the Savior came into the world. In relation to the Mother of God, we are all Her children, adopted at Golgotha during the Lord’s Passion on the Cross. Christ’s words to the Apostle John the Theologian, ‘Behold your Mother!’ are addressed to each one of us. Therefore, every prayer we offer to the Most Blessed Lady should be made with an awareness of this sublime truth.

The example of the Most Pure Ever-Virgin Mary remains an unfading ideal for every Christian. There is no virtue of which the Mother of our Savior is not the highest example. Everything we know about Her is worthy of our imitation.”

From the homily of Metropolitan Alexander.