On the day of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the Iversky Church in the village of Boraldai

February 22, 2024 – commemoration of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord; commemoration of the discovery of the relics of St. Innocent, Bishop of Irkutsk and St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan performed the Divine Liturgy in the church in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Boraldai, Alma-Ata region.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: dean of Almaty parishes, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, mitered archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” in the city of Alma-Ata, Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, dean of the Ili church district, Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov; rector of the Iversky Church in the village of Boraldai, hegumen Filaret (Petrochenko); rector of the Church in the name of Righteous John of Kronstadt in the village of Zhetygen, Alma-Ata region, Archpriest Vadim Alekseev, rector of the Seraphim Church in the village of Chapaevo, Priest Alexander Ageev; rector of the Elias Church in the village of Karaoi, Archpriest Georgy Lagovsky, Archpriest Pavel Krauz; head of the Metropolitan’s personal secretariat, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky); head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan's protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin; Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky; Hierodeacon Zinon (Marov), Deacon Sergius Slesarchuk.

The chants were performed by the men's choir of the Alma-Ata diocese under the direction of Deacon Alexander Pivny.

For prayerful worship and spiritual strengthening of believers, with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexander, an ark with a particle of the relics of St. Tikhon was delivered to the Constantine-Elenin Cathedral from the house Iversko-Seraphim Church of the Metropolitan Residence in Alma-Ata. The ark also contains the shrines of the holy Primate of the Russian Church - part of the patriarchal dome, part of the coffin in which he was buried and the pectoral cross that the saint wore when he was an archimandrite in America.

Residents of the village of Boraldai and surrounding settlements prayed during the service.

The sermon after the sacramental verse was delivered by Archpriest Valery Zakharov.

At the end of the service, glorification took place to the feast of the Presentation of the Lord and to St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan addressed those gathered with words of teaching, reminding those present of the significance of the approaching days of Lent.