Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan to Deliver an Open Lecture as Part of the Historical-Theological Academic Seminar “Orthodoxy on the Silk Road: Past, Present, Future”

On April 14, 2025, an open lecture will be held in Almaty by Professor of Church History at the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, and Honorary Doctor of the Russian State Social University, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan. The topic of the lecture is: “The Life and Labors of Saint Sophonius, the First Hierarch of the Kazakh Land, Apostle of the Great Steppe.”

The lecture will take place in the throne hall of the Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) Spiritual, Cultural, and Administrative Center, within the framework of the academic seminar and lecture series “Orthodoxy on the Silk Road: Past, Present, Future,” which has been operating at the Almaty Orthodox Theological Seminary since 2023. The lecture will begin at 14:00.

The presentation by the Head of the Metropolitan District is dedicated to the 225th anniversary of the birth of the first hierarch of the Kazakh land – Archbishop Sophonius (Sokolsky).

Metropolitan Alexander will share the results of the current stage of scholarly research into the life and missionary labors of the Apostle of Central Asia, based on newly discovered archival documents.

Throughout the work of the seminar-lecture series, it has hosted many prominent contemporary scholars, historians, theologians, and field experts, such as:

– Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities, T.N. Rezvykh (Moscow, Russia);

– Chief Archivist of the Central State Archive of Saint Petersburg, Professor of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, Doctor of Historical Sciences, M.V. Shkarovsky (Saint Petersburg, Russia);

– Specialist in the ancient and modern state of the Eastern Churches, K. Chaillot (Lausanne, Switzerland);

– Deputy Head of the Missionary Department of the Kazan Diocese, Lecturer in Religious Studies at Kazan Federal University, Priest Alexander Danilov (Kazan, Russia);

– Candidate of Economic Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Economic Policy (Moscow, Russia), Professor at Narxoz University (Almaty, Kazakhstan), researcher of Islamic fundamentalism and the processes of radicalization in Muslim communities of the North Caucasus and Central Asian countries (Almaty, Kazakhstan).

All those interested in the history of Orthodoxy in Central Asia are invited to attend. Admission is free.