Newly Crafted Reliquary for the Relics of the Heavenly Patrons of the Monastery Installed at the Seraphim-Feognost Hermitage

August 10, 2026. Alma-Ata Region. On the eve of the commemoration of the martyrdom of the heavenly patrons of Kazakhstan – Hieromonks Seraphim (Bogoslovsky) and Feognost (Pivovarov), who suffered for Christ in the Aksai Hermitage – a newly crafted reliquary (tomb) was delivered to the Seraphim-Feognost Monastery to house their precious relics.

This year, the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan is marking the 25th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of the Aksai martyrs. Especially for this commemorative date, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan and with the support of the Eleos-Meirim Public Foundation (President – V.M. Kapsamun), a new reliquary was created to house the relics of the Hieromartyrs Seraphim and Feognost.

The new tomb was crafted from natural oak and adorned with precious metals at the diocesan woodworking workshop named after the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates, under the direction of L.K. Ryabov, according to designs by Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District. Work on a canopy for the reliquary is currently continuing at the workshop.

The newly crafted reliquary will be consecrated by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan on the feast day itself, August 11, before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy at the Seraphim-Feognost Skete.