The Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary hosted the I International Student Conference “Orthodoxy on the Silk Road”

9 March 2026. Alma-Ata. With the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary hosted the I International academic conference for undergraduate students “Orthodoxy on the Silk Road”.

The purpose of the conference – to provide students of theological and secular higher educational institutions with an opportunity to present the main provisions of their research work, establish friendly contacts and outline promising directions of research.

The organizer of the academic forum – the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary.

The event was held within the framework of cooperation of the theological school in the Southern capital with the Kazan, Saratov, Kuzbass and Orenburg theological seminaries.

On behalf of the rector of the Alma-Ata Seminary, the vice-rector for academic work A.P. Solovyov addressed the participants of the conference with welcoming remarks. In his speech opening the academic forum, he emphasized the importance of scholarly work for young researchers, noting that modern Kazakhstan, the heir of the historical traditions of the Great Silk Road, continues to remain a space of dialogue where Orthodox theology sounds and develops in a multicultural world.

After the ceremonial opening, the work of the conference continued in three thematic sections, the moderators of which were the heads of departments of the Alma-Ata Seminary.

Section “Church History” (moderator – Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya):

“Emperor Nero and the First Great Persecution of Christians” – Daniil Emelyanov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year);

“The Legal Basis of the Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire” – Roman Geinits (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year);

“The Role of the Kazan Metropolitans Ephraim and Matthew in Overcoming the Time of Troubles in the Volga Region” – Deacon Ioann Matveenko (Russia, Kazan OTS);

“The Kyrgyz Spiritual Mission, assessment of activity and outstanding missionaries” – Antoniy Serebryakov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year);

“The Political Position of the Church Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Civil War” – Yaroslav Romanov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year);

“The Renovationist Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church during the Patriarchate of Saint Tikhon” – Alexander Kapliy (Russia, Saratov OTS, 3rd year);

“Memorialization of places of memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Kuznetsk land glorified in the rank of saints” – Ekaterina Shamkova, Anton Luchezarov (Russia, Kuzbass OTS, 1st year);

“Hieromartyr Uar (Shmarin), Bishop of Lipetsk” – Nikita Lyapustin (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year);

“The Question of the Legalization of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USSR” – Mikhail Stepanov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 1st year).

Section “Church-Practical Studies” (moderator – Priest Vladislav Pashkov):

“Methods of Logotherapy and Orthodox Pastoral Care: comparative analysis” – Vladislav Platonov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 4th year);

“The Formation of the Concept of the Pentarchy in the Eastern Christian Tradition of the VI–X centuries” – Dmitry Yadrushkin (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 3rd year);

“The Evolution of Russian Church Preaching of the XIX century: from classicism to spiritual and moral realism (on the example of the preaching heritage of Archbishop Sofonia Sokolsky and Saint Philaret of Moscow)” – Iosif Lopatin (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 2nd year);

“The History of the reasons for the consolidation of cell rules in the daily cycles” – Gleb Bogdanov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 2nd year);

“The Teaching on Fasting in the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament” – Rustik Gappasov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 3rd year).

Section “Theology” (moderator – Priest Oleg Lisin):

“The Problem of Understanding Friendship in the Christian Tradition” – Anton Borkov (Russia, Orenburg OTS, 4th year);

“The Risks of the use of artificial intelligence: Orthodox evaluation” – Yaroslav Makarchuk (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 4th year);

“The Similarity and difference between man and animal from the standpoint of philosophy and Orthodoxy” – Alexander Parkhomenko (Russia, Saratov OTS, 2nd year);

“Evil will in the works of Blessed Augustine as an anthropological and soteriological category” – Daniil Ordiichuk (Russia, Orenburg OTS, 4th year);

“The Essence of the transcendental argument in favor of the existence of God” – Alexey Tatarinov (Russia, Kuzbass OTS, 3rd year);

“The Concept of God in the philosophy of René Descartes” – Anastasiy Freygang (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 3rd year);

“Forms of the acculturation of Christianity in South Korea of the late XIX – early XX centuries” – Alexandra Zakharova (Russia, Kazan Federal University, Department of Religious Studies, 3rd year);

“Orthodox evaluation of the doctrine of the Vissarion sect” – Stepan Ivanov (Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata OTS, 2nd year).

At the conclusion of the presentations, the speakers were presented with certificates of participants of the I International academic conference for undergraduate students “Orthodoxy on the Silk Road”.

At the end of the event, those present discussed the presented reports and summarized