Head of the Metropolitan District Visits the Old Mikhailovka Cemetery in Karaganda and Offers a Litiya for the Late Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomius (Goroshko)

September 21, 2026. Karaganda. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan visited the original burial place of St. Sebastian of Karaganda at the Old Mikhailovka Cemetery, where, in accordance with his wish expressed during his lifetime, the late Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomius (Goroshko) was buried.

The spiritual child and disciple of the holy elder reposed in the Lord on August 6 of this year.

Upon his arrival, the Head of the Metropolitan District offered a memorial litiya for the late Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomius.

Praying at the memorial service were: Archbishop Sebastian of Karaganda and Shakhtinsk; Archbishop Ipatii of Satpayev, Vicar of the Karaganda Diocese; Archpriest Alexander Ugolkov, Dean of the Karaganda Church District; Hieromonk Moses (Patrikeyev), Head of the Karaganda Diocese Department for Public Relations; Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service; clergy of the Karaganda Diocese; and Abbess Olympiada (Salopeko), Superior of the Nativity of the Theotokos Convent in Karaganda, together with the sisters of the monastery.

Before the beginning of the service, Metropolitan Alexander addressed those present with words of instruction, gratefully recalling the labors and life of the late spiritual father of the Karaganda Diocese.

“Father Pakhomius was blessed to be a humble novice and faithful disciple of St. Sebastian of Karaganda – ‘a servant of the Holy Trinity,’ one of the last Optina Elders, a confessor of the faith and heavenly patron of the land of Kazakhstan.

In those distant years, when the Church of Christ endured the harshest conditions of persecution and oppression, the modest church in Mikhailovka, Karaganda, miraculously established by St. Sebastian in defiance of the decrees of the godless authorities, became a second Optina for hundreds of thousands of believers from all regions of the vast country who sought consolation and support.

It was then, in the secret monastic community dedicated to the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, that Father Pakhomius began his path of service to God and to people. The names of the disciples and fellow laborers of the Elder of Karaganda – the late Archimandrite Anatoly (Kiselev) and Schema-Abbess Sevastiana (Zhukova) – are inscribed in golden letters in the history of Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan, and the late pastor now takes his place alongside them.

Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomius generously shared with all who came to him for counsel and help the traditions of piety and spiritual experience he had received from St. Sebastian. May the memory of all who knew the departed be filled with sincere prayer that his soul may be numbered among the righteous in the heavenly dwellings.

We believe that his spiritual precepts will remain a sure guide for Orthodox Christians in Kazakhstan, helping us all to preserve ‘the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Eph. 4:3).”

During the memorial service, the late disciples and fellow laborers of St. Sebastian of Karaganda – Archimandrite Anatoly (Kiselev) and Schema-Abbess Sevastiana (Zhukova) – were also prayerfully commemorated.

At the conclusion of the litiya, the hierarchs, clergy and faithful sang Memory Eternal, after which Metropolitan Alexander laid flowers at the grave of the late Schema-Archimandrite Pakhomius.