Easter All Souls Day. The head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the southern capital

May 14, 2024 – Tuesday of the 2nd week of Easter – Radonitsa. The Orthodox Church, according to ancient tradition, performs a special Easter commemoration of the departed on the ninth day after the Holy Resurrection of Christ.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Almaty.

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 Almaty Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow” Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, keymaster of the Nativity Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, Priest Peter Andrusenko, 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, Priest Maxim Bely, Priest Maxim Idrisov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Hierodeacon Innokenty (Strunov), chief physician of the Orthodox Medical Center named after St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) Deacon Alexander Jojua, Hierodeacon Stefan (Popov), Deacon John Churkin, deacon Bohdan Boyko, Deacon Sergiy Slesarchuk.

The choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Almaty sang under the direction of E. Skorova.

During the Liturgy, all “Orthodox Christians who have passed away from this century to this day” were remembered; special prayers were offered for the ever-memorable Kazakh hierarchs, for the deceased clergy and monastics who labored in Kazakhstan; leaders and warriors on the battlefield were remembered who laid down their lives for faith and the Fatherland, all “in the time of fierce persecution from the atheists, tortured and killed, who died from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses and backbreaking work, and all Orthodox Christians in the land of Kazakhstan in the faith and lived in piety."

Using the communion verse, Priest Georgy Sidorov read out the Easter message of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, the glorification of Christ's Easter and a litany for the departed took place.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', for his diligent service to the Holy Church, Metropolitan Alexander awarded the cleric of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Priest Peter Andrusenko, the right to carry a club for the holiday of Holy Easter.

At the request of believers, clergy performed funeral litias in city and rural cemeteries.

“On the ninth day after the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ, you and I, according to a pious, time-honored tradition, perform the Easter commemoration of the departed. The Resurrection of Christ opened the way to Heaven for us, and the Church now sings in the Easter canon: “For from death to life and from earth to heaven, Christ God has led us.” Easter assures us of the forgiveness that has shone upon humanity from the Life-Giving Tomb, and affirms the hope for a future general resurrection. “Let no one fear death,” we hear the words of St. John Chrysostom on Easter night, “for the death of the Savior has freed us. Christ is risen and life is restored; Christ has risen, and there is not one dead in the tomb.” From the moment of the Resurrection of our Lord, death for man became only a dream, a dormition, it turned into a temporary separation, after which the day will come for all believers when, as the Apostle John the Theologian testifies in the book “Revelation”: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness." From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.