In the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated Great Vespers with the Rite of Forgiveness

On 22 February 2026, on the eve of Great Lent, in the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Almaty, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated Great Vespers with the Rite of Forgiveness.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: the vicars of the Astana diocese – Managing Director of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen and Bishop Klavdian of Taldykorgan; the dean of the parishes of the Southern capital, rector of St Nicholas Cathedral Archpriest Valery Zakharov; the confessor of the Almaty diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), the sacristan of the Ascension Cathedral, head of the Department for Public Relations of the Metropolitan District Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, and the cathedral clergy.

Praying at the service were: clergy of the churches of the city of Almaty and the Almaty region, Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) of the Iveron-Seraphim Convent with the sisters of the monastery, staff of the Almaty diocesan administration, administrators, teachers and students of the Almaty Theological Seminary.

According to established tradition, parishioners of the churches of the Southern capital came to receive the archpastoral blessing for the observance of Great Lent.

For the spiritual consolation and strengthening of the faithful, a shrine was present in the cathedral – an image of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord created with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, with the saints standing before it: Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir and Great Princess Olga, the Right-Believing Great Prince Alexander Nevsky and Venerable Alexander of Svir.

After the chanting of the Great Prokeimenon “Turn not Thy face from Thy servant, for I am afflicted” and the closing of the Royal Doors, the clergy vested in Lenten black vestments; the Holy Table and the Table of Oblation in the sanctuary were covered in dark cloths. At the Litany of Supplication, the petitions “Lord, have mercy” and “Grant this, O Lord” were heard for the first time in the Lenten chant.

The Address of the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District before the beginning of Great Lent was proclaimed by Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov.

At the conclusion of Vespers, Metropolitan Alexander read the prayers for the beginning of Holy Forty Days to those gathered, delivered words of instruction and, making a prostration, was the first to ask forgiveness of the archpastors, clergy and Orthodox flock of the city.

“‘If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you’ (Matt. 6:14) – such words, beloved in Christ Your Graces, all-honourable fathers, brothers and sisters, we hear today from the Holy Gospel. With such words our Lord Jesus Christ addresses us as we stand on the threshold of Holy Forty Days. The Savior helps a person overcome every obstacle if only he strives for good. Our Heavenly Father forgives us and desires that we also forgive. Whoever wishes to be worthy of God’s love, let him show his love for people and embody it in deeds. Let us be filled with love for our neighbours, remember those who have caused us offense, harm or grief and those whom we have offended, and be mutually reconciled with God and through Him with those around us – in the family, at work, in society. On this sacred evening granted to us by God, when we have gathered in the church to ask His blessing and to forgive one another, at the command of my conscience I bow the knees of my heart before you and from my whole soul humbly ask forgiveness for all my voluntary and involuntary sins, committed in deed, in word and in thought. I feel my guilt before you, because I have not fully fulfilled what I ought to do by God’s command – I have not worthily shown you the image of an archpastor of Christ’s Church, I have been negligent, I have not shown due love to those who turned to me, I have not been able to help everyone as I should. I, by the mercy of God, your archpastor and father, who dare to call you all to peace, love and mutual reconciliation, first need your condescension and forgiveness, your love and prayers. Entering Great Lent, I ask the Creator and Giver of all good things for all of you His mercy, heavenly blessing and forgiveness,’” said Metropolitan Alexander in particular.

During the chanting of penitential stichera and troparia, as well as the traditionally sung stichera of Holy Pascha, clergy and laity asked forgiveness of the metropolitan, the bishops and one another.

Great Vespers marked the beginning of the series of Lenten services with the use of dark vestments, the making of prostrations with the reading of the prayer of Venerable Ephraim the Syrian and special compunctionate Lenten chants.

At Great Compline on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the first week of Great Lent, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan will read the Great Penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete in the Ascension Cathedral of the city of Almaty. The services begin at 6:00 p.m.

On the official channel of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District on the video hosting platform YouTube – Semirechie, a live broadcast of the reading of the Great Penitential Canon will be carried out.

“Passing through the arena of Great Lent, exercising ourselves in abstinence, prayer and good deeds, it is important to remember the most essential – love constitutes the highest good of Christian life. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we hear the voice of those who murmur against God: ‘Why have we fasted, and Thou seest not? We have humbled our souls, and Thou takest no knowledge?’ And the Lord answers: ‘Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure and exact all your labours. Behold, you fast for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness’ (Isa. 58:3–4). Prayers, asceticism and labours will have no value before the eyes of God if they are not united with love for one’s neighbour. The first step toward acquiring this chief virtue and, at the same time, a necessary condition for entering the time of fasting is our reconciliation with those around us. Therefore the Sunday that begins Holy Forty Days is called Forgiveness Sunday. Each of us, following the evangelical call ‘forgive, if you have ought against any, that your Heavenly Father may also forgive you your trespasses’ (Mark 11:25), must remember those whom he has offended, whom he has saddened, whom he has not helped in a difficult moment of life, and not formally but from the heart ask forgiveness, and himself sincerely forgive his neighbour.” From the instruction of Metropolitan Alexander.