Metropolitan Alexander Prays at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra

September 4, 2026. St. Petersburg, Russia. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan visited the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the first and largest monastery of Russia’s Northern Capital, founded by Emperor Peter the Great in 1710.

Before the relics of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, enshrined in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated a moleben, during which prayers were offered for the hierarchs, clergy, monastics and faithful of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. The Metropolitan also prayed for peace and prosperity in Kazakhstan, and for the President, the authorities, the armed forces and the people of the country.

The Head of the Metropolitan District then celebrated a memorial service for Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod, one of the most distinguished hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century. September 5 marks the 48th anniversary of the ever-memorable hierarch’s repose in the Lord.

Praying at the memorial service were clergy of the St. Petersburg Metropolia; O.N. Ovchinnikov, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, Honored Art Worker of Russia; P.V. Sokolov, Personal Secretary to Metropolitan Alexander; pilgrims; and parishioners.

In Holy Trinity Cathedral, Metropolitan Alexander also venerated one of St. Petersburg’s principal shrines – the wonderworking icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, the “Nevskaya Skoroposlushnitsa” (“Quick to Hearken”).

The wonderworking “Nevskaya Skoroposlushnitsa” is a specially venerated copy of the Athonite wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, “Quick to Hearken.” The original icon is preserved at the Monastery of Dochiariou on Mount Athos. The St. Petersburg copy differs in iconography, depicting the Mother of God with her right hand extended in prayer and without the Christ Child. It was painted at the Russian Monastery of St. Panteleimon on Mount Athos and brought to Russia in 1877 by the Russian hieromonks Athanasius and Barsanuphius. During the Great Patriotic War, the Siege of Leningrad and the city’s time of suffering, countless residents found consolation before this sacred image. Its very title – “Quick to Hearken,” meaning swift in hearing prayer – became a source of hope for those who no longer had the strength for prolonged supplication.

On October 18, 2019, Metropolitan Alexander consecrated at the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra a full-size copy of this wonderworking icon for the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. The icon now resides in the Ascension Cathedral of Alma-Ata.