Day of Remembrance of the Prophet of God Elijah. The Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy in the Petropavlovsk Church of the Southern Capital

August 2, 2024 – celebration of the memory of the holy prophet of God Elijah.

Since the day of the fiery ascension of the prophet Elijah to Heaven, his veneration by the faithful has never been interrupted. The Russian Orthodox Church especially honors the "heavenly" prophet. The first church built in Kyiv under Prince Igor was consecrated in the name of the prophet Elijah. After receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga built the Ilyinsky Church in her homeland, in the village of Vybuty.

Metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan Alexander celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Petropavlovsk Church of the Southern Capital.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was assisted by: the dean of the churches of Almaty, the rector of the Nikolsky Cathedral, Archpriest Valery Zakharov, the rector of the Almaty church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, the rector of the Peter and Paul Church, Archpriest Vladimir Shklyar, the rector of the Epiphany Church, Archpriest Valery Shavrin, the secretary of the Kostanay diocese, Hieromonk Gennady (Burduzha), the key keeper of the Peter and Paul Church, Archpriest Kirill Shklyar, the deputy key keeper of the Ascension Cathedral, Priest Andrei Shklyar, the head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan, Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), the head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District, Priest Georgy Sidorov, the key keeper of the Kazan Cathedral of Almaty, Priest Georgy Rublinsky, Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan's protocol service Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Hierodeacon Afanasy (Kozel), Deacon John Churkin.

The choir of the Peter and Paul Church sang under the direction of I.N. Korovina.

The hierarch offered prayers for the increase of love and the eradication of all hatred and malice.

During the Liturgy, funeral prayers were offered for Metropolitan Chrysanthus (Chepil) of Vyatka and the ever-memorable Kazakh hierarchs, including the confessor of the faith Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov) and the apostle of the Great Steppe Archbishop Sophony (Sokolsky), and for all those who labored for the sake of the establishment of Orthodoxy in Kazakhstan. Also commemorated were the deceased spiritual mentors of Metropolitan Alexander - Archbishop of Tikhvin Meliton (Solovyov), Vyatka pastors - the rector of the Trinity Church in the village of Volkovo, Archpriest John Evdokimov, and the rector of the Trinity Church in the village of Bystritsa, Archpriest Konstantin Gulin.
The sermon after the communion verse was delivered by Priest Georgy Sidorov.

At the end of the Liturgy, a glorification took place before the icon of the Prophet Elijah.

According to an ancient tradition associated with Elijah's Day, the Metropolitan performed the rite of blessing the fruits of the new harvest - he read the prayer "On those who bring the first fruits of vegetables": "Master Lord our God, who commanded that each one bring You what is of Yours according to his offering..." and sprinkled the vegetables and fruits with holy water.

While singing the troparion and the glorification of the prophet Elijah, the Metropolitan sprinkled the assembled people with holy water.

A long life was proclaimed to His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'; the Head and Most Reverend Archpastors of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District; the President of the country K.-Zh.K. Tokayev; the authorities, the army and all the people of Kazakhstan.

August 2 marked the 41st anniversary of the priestly ordination of Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan. In 1983, on the feast of the Prophet Elijah, in the Trinity Church of the village of Volkovo in the Kirov Region, the ever-memorable Archbishop Chrysanthus (Chepil; †2011, later Metropolitan of Vyatka and Slobodskoy) ordained his secretary, Deacon Alexander Mogilev, to the rank of priest.

Archpriest Valery Zakharov congratulated the head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan on the memorable date of his priestly ordination.

In his response, Metropolitan Alexander cordially thanked the clergy and all participants of the Liturgy for their good wishes and asked those present in the church for special prayers for the sending of God's strengthening and gracious help in his archpastoral service.

“The prophetic feat of Saint Elijah is completely permeated with an extraordinary fiery zeal for God – this is the main feature of his service. In the Holy Scriptures we hear the words of the Psalmist David: “Zeal for Your house has consumed me” (Psalm 68:10). Elijah was literally burning with this fire of faith, jealous for the glory of God. When God turned to him with the question: “…what are you doing here, Elijah? He replied: I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.” (1 Kings 19:9-10). Elijah could not look with indifference at how Israel prayed not to the true God, but to the soulless idol Baal. Elijah bitterly complained that there was no one to preach the word of the Lord to the ignorant people, for the prophets of the Living God had been killed and in their place the false prophets of Baal taught pagan superstitions. Elijah was mortally tormented in his soul over the desecrated glory of the Creator, over the temple that was in desolation. He did not want to live in this world if the name of the Lord was no longer exalted, if the will of the Creator was not carried out on earth. With his zeal for the glory of God, the prophet teaches us to always remember our calling - to be true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, strict executors of His holy will. We must accustom ourselves to the obligatory and unswerving fulfillment of the commandments of God. It is necessary to cultivate in ourselves such a state of mind, in which our life and the life of our relatives and friends away from God is simply unthinkable. From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.