The head of the Metropolitan District performed ordination for senior students as readers at the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary

On February 12, 2024, on the day of the celebration of the Council of Ecumenical Teachers and Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Matroninsky Church of the Iversko-Seraphim Convent of the city of Alma-Ata - the house church of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary.

Before the start of the service, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan performed ordination for the readers of senior students of the theological school: Georgy Tkachenko, Alexander Goncharov, Mikhail Kalmykov, Vladimir Yudin, Ilya Vorobyov, Nikolai Tolmachev, Daniil Pasyuk, Vladislav Platonov.

At the end of the ceremony, the Head of the Metropolitan District addressed the newly ordained with parting words.

“You are future shepherds and what our Church will become after some time depends on each of you. St. John Chrysostom owns majestic, deep and strong words that each of us should know and pastors should carry in their hearts: “A priest should be an adornment of the Church, a reliable support for his own and an insurmountable barrier for strangers.” To become a worthy shepherd, it is not enough to master theological terminology or memorize a list of events in church history. “Audience number one” in theological schools is called the temple. Anyone wishing to receive holy orders must make prayer, standing before God and participating in the sacraments of Confession and Communion an integral part of his existence. “A theologian is one who prays a lot,” said the holy fathers. The acquired theory is not enough for a clergyman and here we can recall the words of St. Gregory the Theologian, who warns: “Before teaching others, it is important to learn yourself; before enlightening others, it is important to enlighten yourself; before healing other people’s illnesses, you must become healthy yourself.”

Reader is the first rank of the Orthodox clergy, the lowest degree of clergyman. A bishop ordains a reader through ordination - a sacred act performed by the bishop's blessing and laying on of hands. Reading in church has always been an integral part of the worship of the Church of God. In the New Testament, the reading in the temple was sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when “he came out... on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom” (Luke 4:16). In the first centuries of the Christian Church, all believers could read in church. Subsequently, this service was assigned to persons especially skilled in reading - readers. The title of reader in the Ancient Church was highly respected; it was given as a reward for special dignity and firm confession of the faith of Christ. In ancient times, many outstanding figures and fathers of the Church began their ministry as readers - Saints Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom.