On Sunday, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the main church of the southern capital

February 18, 2024 - the 37th week after Pentecost, the after-feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the day of remembrance of St. Theodosius, Archbishop of Chernigov, the celebration in honor of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Recovery of the Lost.”

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: Archbishop Varnava of Pavlodar and Ekibastuz, Archbishop Sevastian of Karaganda and Shakhty, Archbishop Serapion of Kokshetau and Akmola, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, administrator of the affairs of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan; Bishop of Aktobe and Kyzylorda Ignatius, vicars of the Astana diocese - Bishop of Taldykorgan Claudian and Bishop of Talgar Benjamin; Bishop of Ural and Atyrau Vianor, dean of the parishes of the southern capital, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; dean of the Astana church district Archimandrite Sergius (Karamyshev), rector of the temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, confessor of the Alma-Ata diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), head of the department of education and catechesis of the Metropolitan District, rector of the Intercession Church and temple in honor of the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos in Almaty, Archpriest Evgeniy Bobylev; clergyman of the Cathedral in the name of Archangel Michael in the city of Uralsk, Archimandrite Feodosius (Kuryanov), secretary of the Kostanay diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burdyuzha), rectors of churches and clergy of the Alma-Ata diocese; clergy who arrived with the archpastor guests; The diaconal rank was headed by Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich.

The chants were performed by the choir of the Metropolitan District (regent - Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov, choirmaster - V. Dudareva) and the choir of the Ascension Cathedral (regent - N. Zubrevich).

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan offered prayers for the increase of love and the eradication of all hatred and malice.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Rublinsky.

At the end of the Liturgy, the glorification of the Presentation of the Lord took place: the archpastors, clergy, choir and believers performed the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the holiday.

At the end of the service, Bishop Metropolitan congratulated the hierarchs, clergy and laity on Sunday - Little Easter - and delivered a word of teaching.

“The fact that some Orthodox Christians have cooled off their zeal for visiting the temple of God, especially on the eve of Sundays and great holidays is worthy of deep regret. There are many reasons cited to justify this - work, chores and physical fatigue. But if we are impartial to ourselves and count how much time most of us devote per week to God and our immortal soul, we will get a very small number of hours and minutes. Indeed, the rhythm of life today is very different from the past or the centuries before last, vanity has intensified, the number of worries has increased and time has seemed to have shortened, but St. John Chrysostom suggests taking a different look at this problem, seeing its true causes: “That is why much in public and in private affairs it is not according to our wishes that we do not worry about spiritual things in advance, but about everyday things.” The Lord Himself commanded us: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” at the same time promised that everything connected with the earthly aspect of our existence will be added to us. St. Augustine interpreted this Gospel verse this way: “If God is in the first place, then everything else will be in its own place.” We all need to truly realize that our life with its joys and experiences, its spiritual and material components is exclusively in the hands of God, because He is the Almighty, the Creator of the visible and invisible. One of the main tasks of the feats of fasting is to return to our minds and hearts the awareness of these great and sublime truths.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.