On the week of the Publican and the Pharisee, Metropolitan Alexander celebrated the Liturgy at the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery, celebrating the patronal feast day (+VIDEO)

February 25, 2024 – week about the publican and the Pharisee; celebration in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God; day of remembrance of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus', wonderworker.

The day before, at the all-night vigil, after the reading of the Sunday Gospel, Lenten troparia were sounded for the first time in the current church year: “Open the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life.”

In the Sophia Cathedral of the Iveron-Seraphim Convent of the city of Almaty, where the revered copy of the revealed Iveron Icon of the Mother of God resides, the festive Divine Liturgy was led by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was co-served by: Archbishop of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk Amphilohiy, vicars of the Astana diocese - the administrator of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan, Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, Bishop of Taldykorgan Claudian and Bishop of Talgar Benjamin; dean of the parishes of the southern capital, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, mitered archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the Almaty Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”, mitred Archpriest Evgeniy Vorobyov, head of the Metropolitan District Department for Public Relations, keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral, Archpriest Alexander Suvorov, acting Rector of the Alma-Ata Orthodox Theological Seminary, Archpriest Evgeny Ivanov; rector of the Epiphany Church Archpriest Valery Shavrin, keymaster of the Nativity Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, dean of the Ili church district Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov, Archpriest Alexander Sokolov, deputy keymaster of the Ascension Cathedral Priest Andrey Shklyar, vice-rector for educational work of the Alma-Ata Seminary Priest John Livinsky, 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, sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral of Alma-Ata, Priest Georgy Rublinsky, sacristan of the Adriano-Natalievsky Church, Priest John Konoplev; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon John Churkin, Deacon Bogdan Boyko, Deacon Andrey Plakhuta, Deacon Rustik Yakupov.

On the lectern in the center of the temple there was a cell image that belonged to the ever-memorable elder saint Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) - the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

The choir of the St. Sophia Cathedral monastery sang under the direction of O. Usoltseva.

In the church, together with numerous parishioners and pilgrims, they prayed: the abbess of the Iversko-Seraphim convent, Abbess Lyubov (Yakushkina) with the sisters of the monastery; Secretary of the Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; students of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, employees of the Alma-Ata Diocesan Administration, students of the monastery Sunday school, benefactors of the monastery.

The president of the Apostle public foundation, Georgy Gennadievich Sosnovsky, prayed at the Liturgy. The Foundation provides support to spiritual, educational and charitable projects of the Iversko-Seraphim Monastery.

At the funeral litany, prayers were offered for the repose of His Holiness the Patriarchs of Moscow and All Rus' - Alexy I (Simansky) and Alexy II (Ridiger). Saint Alexy of Moscow, whose memory is celebrated on this day, is the heavenly patron of the hierarchs of blessed memory.

Purely prayers were offered for the worship of the permanent Kazakhstani hierarchs: - the Archbishop of Sophonia (Sokolsky, † 1877) and Bishop Nikon (Epiphany, † 1897), buried by the altar of the Sofia Cathedral, and the ascetic of piety Metropolitan Iosif (Chernova, † 1975 .), whose tomb is in the St. Sophia Cathedral; The abbess, nuns, builders, donors and beautifiers of the monastery who reposed in the Lord were especially remembered.

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov.

The Liturgy ended with the glorification of the Most Holy Theotokos in front of Her Iveron Icon.

According to established tradition, at the tomb of the Elder Saint Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), hierarchs, clergy and believers sang “Eternal Memory”.

After the glorification, Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the archpastors, mother abbess, clergy and parishioners on the patronal feast day, Sunday, which opened the preparatory period for Lent, and addressed those gathered with a word of teaching.

At the end of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated Archbishop Amphilochius on the 12th anniversary of his archpastoral consecration.

The hierarch sprinkled holy water on numerous worshipers.

The video recording of the service was made by the Orthodox television studio “Semirechye” (director - Honored Worker of Culture V.L. Posadneva, cameraman - A. Schmidt); photographic recording was carried out by I. Burenin.

“Let us not pray like the Pharisees, brothers: for he who exalts himself will humble himself. Let us humble ourselves before God,” with this call sounded in church hymns, the preparatory period for Lent begins for you and me. Today is Sunday, which is called in the liturgical charter “The Week of the Publican and the Pharisee.” During the Liturgy, the Gospel parable is read about two people - a publican and a Pharisee, who came to pray in the temple. We remembered who publicans are last week, when we heard the story of the Apostle Luke about the meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ and the chief of the publicans of the city of Jericho, Zacchaeus. Today, a Pharisee appeared before our spiritual gaze - a man who dedicated his life to fulfilling the Law of Moses and zealously kept the commandments. We hear what these people are praying for. The Pharisee thanks God for the fact that he is constantly doing good deeds, that he is “not like other people,” and the tax collector, not daring to raise his eyes to heaven, beats his chest and whispers only one phrase: “God! be merciful to me, a sinner! The parable ends with the words that the humble prayer of the publican was pleasing to God, he received forgiveness of his sins, and the Pharisee humiliated himself before God with his arrogant, vain prayer. One of the main lessons of this short story is that the Lord is ready to forgive every sinner, no matter what serious mistakes and misdeeds he has committed. But the tragedy is that often a person does not understand that he is spiritually sick, that his soul is infected with sinful passions; he, like that Pharisee, believes that he has done a lot of good in his life, that he is “not like other people, robbers , offenders, adulterers." In order for the saving grace of God to appear in our lives, cleansing us from sin and directing us to a real virtuous life, we must humbly admit our guilt before the Lord and, like the Gospel tax collector, pray from the heart: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.