Nun Macaria (Pucheglazova), a Resident of the Monastery of the Icon of the Theotokos “Seeker of the Lost” in Astana, Reposed in the Lord

October 5, 2024. Astana. At the age of 76, Nun Macaria (Pucheglazova), a resident of the Monastery of the Icon of the Theotokos “Seeker of the Lost,” reposed in the Lord.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan served a memorial litany for the departed nun at the Alexander Nevsky Chapel in the spiritual, cultural, and administrative center of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, named after Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), in Almaty.

The burial service for the reposed nun will be led by the Dean of Astana parishes, Archimandrite Sergius (Karamyshev), with the blessing of the Head of the Metropolitan District. The funeral will take place on October 6 at the Alexander Nevsky Church of the monastery, following the Divine Liturgy.

Nun Macaria (in the world — Nina Nikolaevna Pucheglazova) was born on January 1, 1949, in the village of Glubokoye, East Kazakhstan region. Her father, Nikolai Svyatoslavovich, worked at the Irtysh Copper Smelting Plant, and her mother, Ekaterina Sidorovna (later, Nun Seraphima), was a primary school teacher. In 1968, Nina Pucheglazova graduated from the Ust-Kamenogorsk Pedagogical College and worked as a schoolteacher. In the 1980s, she, along with her family, consciously embraced the Orthodox faith, was baptized, and became an active parishioner of the Holy Trinity Church in Ust-Kamenogorsk. She began working in the church, singing and reading on the kliros.

In 1999, she became a resident of the Peter and Paul Abalak-Znamensky Monastery in Semipalatinsk. In 2000, she was tonsured as a rasophore nun with the name Sophronia, and in 2002, she was tonsured into the lesser schema with the name Sampson. In the monastery, she served on the kliros and taught at the Sunday school. In 2006, she was appointed the abbess of the Peter and Paul Monastery in Pavlodar. Since 2011, she had been a resident of the Monastery of the Icon of the Theotokos “Seeker of the Lost” in Astana. In 2023, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, she was tonsured into the great schema with the name Macaria. She endured her severe physical illness with patience and humility. Nun Macaria was known for her modesty, diligence, love for worship, and kind attitude towards people.