August 11, 2025, on the feast day of the heavenly patrons of Kazakhstan – the Holy Martyrs Seraphim and Feognost of Almaty, spiritual celebrations took place at the Seraphim-Feognost Monastery in the Aksai Gorge – the site of the monastic labors and martyrdom of the holy hieromonks.
With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, participants of the 10th Congress of Orthodox Youth of Kazakhstan undertook a pilgrimage to the monastery.
The pilgrimage group was led by the Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Metropolis, Priest Georgy Rublinsky.
Upon arrival, the pilgrims took part in the Divine Liturgy, which was presided over by Bishop Ignaty of Aktobe and Kyzylorda, Chairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Metropolis, who was in the Southern capital at the invitation of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan.
The early Divine Liturgy, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, was celebrated by Bishop Veniamin of Talgar, Vicar of the Astana Diocese.
The liturgical hymns were performed by the men’s choir of the Almaty Diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Piven.
At the memorial litany, fervent prayers were offered for the departed hierarchs and clergy of Kazakhstan, and for all those “innocently tortured and killed during the years of godless persecutions, who perished from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses, and hard labor”; Orthodox Christians innocently killed in the Aksai Gorge in 2012 were also remembered.
More than 350 people partook of the life-giving Holy Mysteries of Christ.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a glorification was offered to the Holy Martyrs Seraphim and Feognost.
Bishop Ignaty congratulated the faithful on the feast day of the righteous of Aksai – the protectors of the land of Kazakhstan – and delivered a homily about their lives and martyrdom.
At the site of the monastic labors and martyrdom of the heavenly patrons of the Southern capital and Semirechye – the Holy Martyrs Seraphim and Feognost – an excursion was organized for the pilgrimage group.
The young representatives venerated the reliquary containing the relics of the Holy Martyrs Seraphim and Feognost, bowed at the grave of the martyrs of Christ marked by a memorial cross, spoke with the monks of the monastery, visited the cells, and viewed the household buildings, grounds, and lands of the skete.
The pilgrimage was organized by the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Kazakhstan Metropolis and the Orthodox Youth Movement of the Almaty Diocese, with the support of the public foundation “ELEOS-MEIRIM” (director – V.M. Kapsamun).
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