Defense of Final Qualification Papers Held at the Almaty Theological Seminary

June 20, 2025. Almaty. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, the defense of final qualification papers by fourth-year students of both full-time and part-time departments took place at the Almaty Theological Seminary.

The final attestation commission was headed by Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan, Vicar of the Astana Diocese.

The working group included: Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary Protopriest Evgeny Ivanov; Vice-Rector for Educational Work Priest Ioann Livinsky; Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Priest Petr Bakhtiyarov; Vice-Rector for Research, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences A.P. Solovyov; Head of the Biblical and Theological Department, Candidate of Theology Priest Oleg Lisin; Head of the Church History Department Protopriest Alexander Gaichenya; Head of the Church Practice Department, Candidate of Theology Reader V.P. Pashkov; Head of the Public Relations Department of the Metropolis, Dean of the Ascension Cathedral, and Researcher at the Almaty Theological Seminary Protopriest Alexander Suvorov; Secretary of the Church History Department and Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolis Priest Georgy Sidorov; Head of the Part-Time Department Priest Daniil Bobylev; Head of the Seminary Chancellery Priest Alexander Shishlov; Lecturer of the Church Practice Department Hieromonk Isaak (Istelyuev); Lecturer of the Church History Department Priest Kirill Freygang; Researcher of the Church History Department Priest Mikhail Berezin; Lecturer of the Church Practice Department of the Almaty Theological Seminary Deacon Ioann Churkin; Honored Cultural Worker of the Russian Federation, Head of the Cultural Department of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan L.E. Goricheva.

The participants offered prayers at the beginning of the good work, after which Bishop Klavdian greeted the teaching staff and students and conveyed the blessing of the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.

After the students’ presentations, a meeting of the attestation commission was held, and the results of the defense were announced. The faculty noted the high quality of the theses presented and their relevance in the current stage of church development.

Rector of the Almaty Seminary Protopriest Evgeny Ivanov, on behalf of the members present, thanked the faculty for their work and congratulated the graduates and their academic advisors on the successful defense.

Video recording of the event was carried out by the television studio of the Metropolis of Kazakhstan “Semirechye” (Director – Honored Cultural Worker V.L. Posadneva, Operator – A. Schmidt) and staff of the YouTube channel “Protoimage” with the support of the public foundation “ELEOS-MEIRIM” (Head – V.M. Kapsamun); photo documentation was done by A. Khalin.