On the day of remembrance of St. Sergius of Radonezh, the Head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Almaty (+ VIDEO)

July 18, 2024 is the celebration in honor of the discovery of the honorable relics of St. Sergius, abbot of Radonezh, and the day of the martyrdom of the venerable martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth and nun Varvara.

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

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was concelebrated by: the dean of the parishes of the southern capital, the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov; Rector of the Alma-Ata Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “All Mourning Joy” by Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, Kluchar of the Christmas Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Gaichenya, Klyuchar of the Nikolsky Cathedral, Archpriest Igor Svetlichny, Rector of the Temple in the name of the Holy Arshala, Archpriest Vladimir Zhuchkov, rector churches of the Akzhar microdistrict Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov), cleric of the church of the metochion in the name of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers Hieromonk Savva (Kulbakin), vice-rector for educational work of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Priest John Livinsky, deputy chairman of the diocesan commission for social service, Priest Vyacheslav Isikov, head of the personal secretariat Metropolitan Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov, sacristan of the Holy Cross Church, Priest Roman Burdukov, sacristan of the Kazan Cathedral of Alma-Ata, Priest Georgy Rublinsky, sacristan of the Adriano-Natalievsky Church, Priest John Konoplev; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon John Churkin.

The following people prayed during the service: employees of the Alma-Ata Diocesan Administration, led by the Secretary of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov; pupils of the Central Sunday School, benefactors of the cathedral.

For the prayerful worship of believers, an icon with a particle of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh was brought to the church for the service.

The chants were performed by the choir of St. Nicholas Cathedral under the direction of O. Solomonova.

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

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, glorification of St. Sergius took place, after which Metropolitan Alexander congratulated the birthday people on the day of the angel and addressed those gathered with a sermon.

The video recording of the metropolitan service was carried out by the television studio of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District “Semirechye” (director - Honored Worker of Culture V.L. Posadneva, cameraman A. Schmidt); photographic recording by information department employee I. Burenin.

“In the words of the historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, “by creating the memory of St. Sergius, we check ourselves, review our moral stock, bequeathed to us by the great builders of our moral order...” St. Sergius is a guiding star for us, a true image of a Christian. Again and again, turning to him, we learn to correctly assess the spiritual realities of today. There is nothing valuable in the spiritual, moral and cultural life of our people that does not have its roots in the traditions laid down by St. Sergius in the Holy Trinity Monastery he founded. The personality of the prayer book and intercessor of the Orthodox world today has connected the vast expanses of Eurasia. This is deeply symbolic. After all, Saint Sergius went down in history, first of all, as a peacemaker and educator of peoples. Initially withdrawing from the world and choosing the feat of harsh desert living in deep forests, the monk very soon acquired great spiritual strength and authority among his contemporaries. Through the example of his life, the truest word of Holy Scripture came true: “You are the light of the world. A city standing on top of a mountain cannot hide. And having lit a candle, they do not put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light to everyone in the house. So let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). More than once the humble hermit had to leave his prayer retreat in order to go to various lands on a mission of reconciliation. His meek speeches humbled the warlike disposition of the princes and were filled with deep peace and tranquility. Abba Sergius remains for us “an eternal contemporary” for all centuries. By reading the lines of his life, penetrating with our mind's eye into his personality, we get rid of everything superficial, from all our delusions and crafty wisdom. Again and again, we see before us the image of the great Abbot, shining with an unearthly light, a worker who cultivates bread and builds temples and cells on a par with ordinary monks. Hegumen, who ate and dressed very modestly, but possessed great spiritual power, so that his one word was enough to work miracles and see the future. In our age, when people are looking for comfort, thirsting for profit and power, the words of the life written by the contemporary St. Sergius sound like a deep denunciation of conscience: “His virtues were as follows: spiritual and physical purity, silence of the mouth, physical labor, unfeigned humility, unceasing prayer, prudence, perfect love, poverty of clothing, remembrance of death, meekness with quietness, constant fear of God.” How important it is to remember these words and have before your eyes a clear and truthful image of the holy ascetic! A Christian is called, first of all, to take care of heavenly things, to prepare for a meeting with eternity. We must strive to acquire that love for God and our neighbors, that meekness, gentleness and hard work that were shown to us by the Reverend. His words, brought to us by pious tradition, now sound like the spiritual testament of the saint: “We will be saved by love and unity.” From the words of Metropolitan Alexander.