Address by Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan at the Assumption Cathedral in Astana. September 29, 2024

Your Eminences and Graces!
Venerable Fathers, dear brothers and sisters!

I heartily congratulate you on these special sacred celebrations! We continue to honor the honest and life-giving Cross of the Lord - the Altar of God's love and are filled with spiritual joy from the arrival in the capital of Kazakhstan of the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow - a saint whose name is revered by a huge number of people around the world.

“The Cross is raised up today, and the world is sanctified,” the Holy Church sings, calling us to bow our hearts and knees before the life-giving Tree of the Cross. When we look at the image of the Crucifixion of Christ, a great saving truth appears before our mind's eye - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Through the Cross, the Lord granted people forgiveness of sins, adopted the human race to God the Father. Everyone who touches the Cross Tree with sincere faith and prayerful hope receives healing from illnesses and liberation from passions, finds consolation and is strengthened in a virtuous life.

Blessed Elder Matrona visits the blessed land of Kazakhstan during the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross. The ark with her relics is in the center of the temple next to the honest Cross Tree. This is deeply symbolic, because her whole life was a humble bearing of the cross of life's sorrows and sufferings. Saint Matrona fully fulfilled the command of Christ the Savior, Who says: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34). Having fulfilled the Lord's commandment, she became a source of healings and miracles, a warm prayer book and intercessor for everyone who turns to her with prayer. We will worship the Life-Giving Tree and kiss the honest relics of Blessed Matrona, asking the Lord for forgiveness of sins, strengthening of our weak spiritual and physical strength, enlightenment of hearts, so that we can worthily and righteously bear our life's cross.

A person, coming to a shrine, often expects miracles. I would like to tell you an old instructive story. One venerable father had a spiritual son who thought that if he saw the great miracles of God and heavenly signs, he would certainly be strengthened in faith and find salvation. The elder objected, but the young man was adamant in his desire to see miracles, and with this goal in mind he set out on a journey to distant lands. He traveled everywhere: in waterless deserts, in impenetrable forests, and in the raging sea. He endured cold and heat, suffered from hunger and thirst, and fled from robbers and wild animals. The young man returned to the holy father and, deeply saddened, said that not once in all his long wanderings had he seen any miracles of God. To which the elder sternly replied: “Oh, ungrateful one! The fact that you returned alive and unharmed from a distant journey, is this not a great miracle of God? Hasn’t the Lord been saving you from death all this time, hasn’t He helped you in trials, hasn’t He delivered you from troubles?” Rebuked by the saint, the young man realized that God’s miracles were indeed always nearby, but he hadn’t noticed them. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, try to see in our lives the wise and good Providence of God and be grateful to the Creator. In the words of Saint John Chrysostom: “Nothing is so pleasing to God as a grateful and thankful soul.”
Today, with great emotion, I recall a special event for me - 35 years ago, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross, the Lord granted me the opportunity to enter a high level of church work - to receive the rank of bishop. The archpastoral consecration, with the blessing of the ever-memorable His Holiness Patriarch Pimen, took place in the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral in Yelokhovo in Moscow. For me, this day was filled with fervent prayers, intense reflections on the upcoming service and awe before the apostolic grace. To be an archpastor is not a privilege, but a heavy cross. To be a bishop means to become the first in prayer, in service, in responsibility before the Lord not only for oneself, but also for the flock and the pastors. To be a hierarch means to be, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, "an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity" (1 Tim. 4:12), "to be all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22).

The Cross of Christ sanctifies my church life - on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, my archpastoral ordination took place, and on the eve of the week of the Veneration of the Cross, I received the Patriarchal Decree on my appointment as the Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan. In this significant coincidence, I see God's sign and an indication from Above about patiently and humbly bearing the cross of serving God and people.

I would like to cite another ancient story for edification. In one monastic community, a skilled and experienced icon painter lived and worked for many years. One day, his students found him in tears. "Father, why are you crying?" they asked. - I have finished my work, but I do not see any flaws in it, - he answered.
- That is good! - the students were surprised.
- If I have stopped seeing the shortcomings in my work, it means that my talent has become depleted, - the great icon painter answered.
The same is true in our lives: if we stop seeing mistakes in our work and do not notice this or that imperfection in the results, if we become self-confident and complacent, it means that the talents of our souls have seriously depleted, we have stopped following the path of salvation. It is always necessary, in all circumstances, to look at yourself and everything you do only in the light of the Gospel truth, and invariably “at all times and at every hour” to call upon God's blessing on all good plans and intentions. I wish this for myself and for all of you.

I offer heartfelt gratitude to all of you who prayerfully share the celebration with me today, who remember me in your prayers, who work with me for the good of Orthodoxy in the land of Kazakhstan. I am deeply grateful to our great lord and father, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', who sent me a greeting. I always feel the spiritual support of His Holiness. Our Primate gives all of us – archpastors, clergy and laity – wonderful examples of ascetic service and inspires us to active church work.

Celebrating the Divine Liturgy today in the main church of Kazakhstan – the Assumption Cathedral in Astana – I would like to once again testify to all of you my archpastoral love. I pray to the All-good Lord that He will judge me, His humble servant, my life and my deeds, performed here, on the blessed land of Kazakhstan, washed by the blood of new martyrs and adorned with the exploits of confessors of the twentieth century, with His merciful judgment.

I ask for your holy prayers and I myself, to the best of my ability, call upon the Creator and Giver of all good things, God, for the peace and prosperity of all of you, Most Reverend Lords, most honorable pastors, dear brothers and sisters!

May the Savior strengthen us with the power of His honest and life-giving Cross, which is “the guardian of the whole universe, the beauty of the Church, the power of kings, the confirmation of the faithful, the glory of angels” and bless the land of Kazakhstan with the prayers of the blessed old woman Matrona of Moscow.