Funeral Service for Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy (Goroshko), Spiritual Father of the Karaganda Diocese and Disciple of St. Sebastian, Held in Karaganda

August 8, 2026. Karaganda. Following the Divine Liturgy at the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Monastery, the funeral service was held for the newly reposed Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy (Goroshko) – the oldest cleric of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, spiritual father of the Karaganda Diocese, and disciple of the Venerable Confessor Schema-Archimandrite Sebastian (Fomin).

On the eve of the burial, the faithful were given an opportunity to bid farewell to the departed pastor at the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Monastery. In accordance with the liturgical order of the Church, the Gospel was read continuously over the newly reposed Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy.

The funeral service was presided over by Archbishop Sebastian of Karaganda and Shakhtinsk.

Concelebrating with His Eminence during the burial service were: Archbishop Ipatiy of Satpayev, Vicar of the Karaganda Diocese; Bishop Maxim of Yelets and Lebedyan of the Lipetsk Metropolia; Archpriest Dimitry Patrikeyev, Secretary of the Diocesan Administration; Archpriest Alexander Ugolkov, Dean of the Karaganda Church District; Archpriest Vladimir Freygang, Dean of the Abai Church District; Hieromonk Moisey (Patrikeyev), Head of the Department for Relations between the Church and Society; and clergy who had arrived from dioceses of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Praying in the church were Hegumenia Olympiada (Salopeko), Abbess of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Convent in Karaganda, together with the sisters of the monastery, and parishioners of churches in the mining capital.

Numerous faithful from both Kazakhstan and Russia came to accompany the departed pastor on his final earthly journey.

Before the funeral service began, Archpriest Dimitry Patrikeyev, Secretary of the Diocesan Administration, read the condolence message of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

“The newly reposed pastor was granted the blessing of being the humble novice and faithful disciple of St. Sebastian of Karaganda – a ‘servant of the Holy Trinity,’ one of the last Elders of Optina, a confessor of the faith, and a heavenly patron of the land of Kazakhstan. In those distant years, when the Church of Christ endured severe persecution and oppression, the humble church in Karaganda’s Mikhaylovka district, miraculously established by St. Sebastian despite the decrees of the atheistic authorities, became a second Optina for hundreds of thousands of faithful from every region of the vast country who sought consolation and support. It was there, in the hidden monastery dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, that Father Pakhomy, whom we now accompany into eternity, began his path of service to God and His people.

The names of the disciples and fellow laborers of the Elder of Karaganda – the ever-memorable Archimandrite Anatoly (Kiselev) and Schema-Hegumenia Sevastiana (Zhukova) – are written in golden letters in the history of Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan, and today the departed pastor is numbered together with them. Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy generously shared with all who came to him seeking counsel and help the traditions of piety and spiritual experience he had received from St. Sebastian. Through his wise words, fervent prayer, and the example of his life, he kindled in human hearts the saving fire of faith in Christ and enlightened monastics and laypeople alike with ‘the knowledge of the glory of God’ (2 Cor. 4:6). The Lord granted him the strength courageously to endure the hardships of the godless era and made him a witness to and participant in the revival of the faith in Kazakhstan’s mining region and in the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the land of Karaganda,”

the Primate stated in his farewell message.

Archbishop Sebastian then addressed those gathered for the funeral service. The hierarch recalled the life and ecclesiastical labors of Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy in the land of Karaganda.

During the burial service, following the singing of the Great Doxology, the ruling hierarch of the Karaganda Diocese read the Prayer of Absolution over the departed. As the stichera “Come, brethren, let us give the final kiss to the departed…” were sung, the hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and lay faithful bid farewell to Father Pakhomy.

The funeral service concluded with the proclamation of “Memory Eternal.”

The coffin containing the body of Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy was carried in procession around the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Church to the singing of the irmos “A Helper and Protector…”

In accordance with his wishes expressed during his lifetime, Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy was buried beside the site of the original grave of St. Sebastian of Karaganda at the Staro-Mikhailovskoye Cemetery.

Before the burial, a memorial litia for the newly reposed clergyman was celebrated by Bishop Maxim of Yelets and Lebedyan, a native of Karaganda and spiritual disciple of Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy.

Memory eternal to the newly reposed Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomy (Goroshko)!