November 10, 2024 – 20th Sunday after Pentecost; the Feast of Saint Paraskevi of Rome, Saint Demetrius of Rostov, and Saint Job of Pochaev.
On this Sunday, marked by the commemoration of beloved Orthodox saints, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Charity, and their Mother Sophia at the Patriarchal Representation of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan in Moscow.
The church on Miusskaya Street houses an exact replica of the miraculous Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God. In the 13th century, this sacred image was used by Grand Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich to bless his son, Prince Alexander Nevsky, for marriage. In memory of this event, the icon’s reverse side was painted with an image of the heavenly patroness of his bride, Saint Paraskevi of Rome. Following the Metropolitan’s blessing, a similar depiction of Saint Paraskevi was painted on the reverse of the icon replica created by the distinguished iconographer and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, Sergey Sokolov.
The church also houses an icon of Saint Job of Pochaev, which contains a relic of his holy remains—a gift from the Dormition Pochaev Lavra.
Metropolitan Alexander was accompanied in serving by the rector of the church, Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko); Doctor of Medicine, Professor and Candidate of Theology, Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua); Protopriest Pavel Vishnevsky; the rector of the Nikolskaya house church at the Clinical and Scientific Center for Otorhinolaryngology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Protopriest Lev Aznovaryan; Protopriest Oleg Kalmykov from the Church of Saint John of Kronstadt in Lisakovsk; Hieromonk Daniel (Makagon); Deacon Anatoly Ledenev and Deacon Roman Frolov.
The church choir, led by Anna Rozhnova, sang the hymns of the service.
Following the reading of the communion verse, Protopriest Lev Aznovaryan delivered the sermon.
The Divine Liturgy concluded with hymns honoring Saint Paraskevi of Rome, Saint Demetrius of Rostov, and Saint Job of Pochaev.
Metropolitan Alexander warmly congratulated Deacon Anatoly Ledenev on the 10th anniversary of his ordination, wishing him the mercy of the Lord, strength, and many years of faithful service to Christ’s Church.
In his homily, the Metropolitan spoke to the faithful about the special veneration of Saint Paraskevi in the Zailiysky region and the pious traditions associated with her.
According to ancient traditions, the apparition of the image of Saint Paraskevi and the miraculous appearance of a healing spring took place in the area where the present “Life-Giving Spring” Church is situated, near Almaty, in the 19th century. Pre-revolutionary times saw large processions to this holy site. Through her intercession in 1864, an infestation of locusts devastating the Zailiysky region and Sofiyskaya Stanitsa (now Talgar) was miraculously halted. In 1908, a branch of the Iveron-Seraphim convent was established near the spring with a church dedicated to the “Life-Giving Spring” icon of the Mother of God, which began its restoration in 2003.
Metropolitan Alexander recounted a story: “Once, an elderly man visited me and shared how, as a young boy, he accompanied his grandmother to the holy spring. ‘Pilgrims traditionally tossed small coins—kopecks—into the water near the spring,’ he recalled. ‘They glistened in the sunlight at the bottom of the sacred well. I couldn’t resist and secretly kept one of these coins,’ he confessed. ‘I cherished it as a memory of my homeland and childhood.’ After recounting this, he presented the coin bearing the two-headed eagle for the church museum.”
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