On the First Sunday of the Dormition Fast, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrates the Liturgy at the Annunciation Cathedral in Pavlodar

August 16, 2026 – the 11th Sunday after Pentecost; commemoration of Venerable Anthony the Roman, Wonderworker of Novgorod.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Annunciation Cathedral in Pavlodar.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: Archbishop Amphilochius of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk; Archimandrite Joseph (Yeremenko), Head of the Diocesan Department for the Canonization of Saints; Archpriest Igor Popov, Dean of the Ekibastuz Church District; Archpriest Konstantin Kutasevich, cleric of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Pavlodar; Hieromonk Dimitry (Baidek), Personal Secretary to the Head of the Metropolitan District; Archpriest Alexey Stepanov, Secretary of the Pavlodar Diocesan Administration and Dean of the Pavlodar Church District; Priest Georgy Sidorov, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District; Priest Alexy Gmyza, Sacristan of the Annunciation Cathedral; Priest Andrey Andreev, Rector of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in the village of Irtyshsk; Priest Vasily Tkachuk, Rector of the Church of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land in the settlement of Solnechny; Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Head of the Metropolitan’s Protocol Service; Deacon Ilya Kvan, Secretary of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Diocese; Deacon Ambrose Taukenov; Deacon Artemy Neustruev.

An icon of the Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ containing a great Gospel relic – a particle of the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross – was brought to the cathedral for the prayerful veneration and spiritual strengthening of the faithful, together with a reliquary containing a portion of the relics of the Holy Archdeacon Stephen and a stone from the place of the martyrdom of the sufferer for Christ.

Praying at the divine service were: O.N. Ovchinnikov, Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan and Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation; Nun Seraphima (Bolibok), Superior of the Sts. Peter and Paul Convent in Pavlodar, with the sisters of the monastery; Cossacks, students of Sunday schools, parishioners of the churches of Pavlodar, and pilgrims from nearby settlements.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Annunciation Cathedral under the direction of Elena Yusupzhanova.

The sermon following the Communion verse was delivered by Archimandrite Joseph (Yeremenko).

The Liturgy concluded with a glorification before the Cross of the Lord and the relics of the Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen.

Following the dismissal of the divine service, Many Years was proclaimed to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’; the Head and episcopate of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; the President, authorities, armed forces, and all the people of Kazakhstan.

Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the clergy and laity on Sunday – the Little Pascha – and delivered a word of instruction.

“Today, in the Sunday Gospel reading, we heard the Savior’s parable of the two debtors, through which Christ teaches us to forgive our neighbors from the depths of our hearts for their debts – that is, for the grief, offenses, and vexations they have caused us. Whatever we may do and whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in, it is always important to remember what matters most – love constitutes the highest good and the very essence of Christian life. The labors of abstinence, the work of prayer, the reading of Holy Scripture, and other righteous deeds and actions have no value in the sight of God if they are not joined with love for one’s neighbor. The first step toward acquiring this chief virtue is reconciliation with the people around us. Each of us, following the Gospel exhortation, ‘forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses’ (Mark 11:25), must remember those whom we have offended, whom we have grieved, and whom we failed to help in a difficult moment of life, and must ask their forgiveness not formally, but from the depths of our hearts; and we ourselves must sincerely forgive our neighbor. This commandment of the Lord must be fulfilled not only during the days of fasting, not only when approaching the Sacraments of Confession and Communion, but constantly, and sometimes even daily. By acting in this way, we put into practice the apostolic instruction: ‘forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you’ (Eph. 4:32). Venerable Ephrem the Syrian warns: ‘If you, O man, do not forgive everyone who has sinned against you, then do not trouble yourself with fasting and prayer: God will not accept you.’ I wish all of us, during the remaining time of the Dormition Fast and throughout all the days of our lives, ‘righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Rom. 14:17). May our prayers and labors, imbued with all-forgiving love for our neighbor, become a ladder leading us from earth to our Heavenly Homeland.” From a sermon by Metropolitan Alexander.