Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy in the home church of the residence of the Head of the Metropolitan District in the Southern capital

February 10, 2024 is the day of remembrance of St. Ephraim the Syrian and St. Isaac the Syrian.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Iveron-Seraphim home church of the metropolitan residence in Almaty.

The Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: the head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), the head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky and Deacon Sergiy Slesarchuk.

The men's choir of the Alma-Ata diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Pivny sang.

Praying during the service were: Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Church Singing, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; acting rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, head of the information and publishing department of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; employees of the Alma-Ata diocesan administration and the metropolitan residence.

At the end of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District performed a funeral litany for the newly departed: the abbess of the monastery in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Recovery of the Lost,” Abbess Raphaila (Vasilenko), nun Antonia (Grozny) and those killed as a result of a landslide in the Medeu district of the southern capital. Prayers were offered for the ever-memorable servant of God Marina, the grandmother of the secretary of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, regent of the choir of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, member of the Patriarchal Council for the Development of Russian Church Singing O.N. Ovchinnikov.

At the end of the funeral service, the hierarch addressed those present with words of archpastoral teaching.