The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan made a pilgrimage to the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

November 11, 2024. Sergiev Posad. Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan made a pilgrimage to the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was accompanied on his pilgrimage by: Vice-Rector of the Alma-Ata Theological Seminary, Candidate of Theology, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Hegumen Agafangel (Gagua); the key keeper of the church of the Moscow Representative Office of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District in the name of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sophia, Hieromonk Anthony (Drobiazko); assistant S.V. Sokolov.

Upon arrival at the Lavra, the Metropolitan said a prayer before an ancient Orthodox relic – the icon of the Life-Giving Trinity, painted by St. Andrei Rublev in the first third of the 15th century, and the holy relics of the Abbot of the Russian land – St. Sergius of Radonezh, resting in the Trinity Cathedral of the monastery. The hierarch venerated numerous shrines and relics of God's saints kept in the Serapion Chamber and Nikon's Chapel, including the relics of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, the first martyr Archdeacon Stephen, a piece of the Robe of the Mother of God, the stone of the Holy Sepulcher and the head of St. Isaiah of Rostov.

Before the shrines of the monastery, the archpastor offered special prayers for the episcopate, clergy, monastics and laity of the Metropolitan District, for the peace and prosperity of Kazakhstan.

During the visit to the Lavra, Metropolitan Alexander met with a resident of the monastery - Archimandrite Makarii (Veretennikov), professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, member of the Synodal Liturgical Commission, a famous church historian.

The main topic of the meeting was the perpetuation of the memory of the confessor of faith and ascetic of piety, an outstanding church figure of the 20th century - Metropolitan Joseph (Chernov), whose name is revered by a huge number of believers in Kazakhstan, Russia and many countries of the near and far abroad. In his youth, Archimandrite Macarius, living in Karaganda, received spiritual guidance from Metropolitan Joseph and published a collection of the homiletic and epistolary heritage of the elder-hierarch, as well as his memoirs.

Metropolitan Alexander told Archimandrite Macarius (Veretennikov) about the work to create a house-museum of Metropolitan Joseph in Alma-Ata, the opening of which is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the death of the ever-memorable hierarch to the Lord, which will be celebrated in 2025.

For the museum of the Metropolitan District, Father Macarius gave Metropolitan Alexander books from the personal library of Bishop Joseph, which he carefully preserved after the death of the saint. Notes are having a special value, which were left on the endpapers of the books by the Kazakhstani elder-hierarch.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan invited Archimandrite Macarius to take part in the preparation of the celebration of the upcoming anniversary and the organization of expositions of the memorial house of Metropolitan Joseph.

For his efforts to preserve the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, the archpastor presented Archimandrite Macarius with a high church award - the Order of the Venerable Confessor Sebastian (Karaganda).

The Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius was founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1337 on Makovets Hill, 70 km northeast of Moscow. For centuries, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius has been one of the most revered pan-Orthodox shrines, the largest center of spiritual education and culture. A host of ascetics of the Russian Orthodox Church labored within its walls, including St. Nikon of Radonezh, St. Maximus the Greek and the spiritual writers St. Epiphanius the Wise and St. Pachomius Logothete. The holy archimandrites of the Lavra were the Moscow saints Philaret (Drozdov; †1867) and Innocent (Veniaminov; †1879), as well as the holy martyr Vladimir (Bogoyavlensky; †1918).
A unique library of handwritten and early printed books was collected in the Lavra for centuries. Hundreds of Russian monasteries were founded and spiritually equipped by the tonsured monks of the Lavra. In 1608-1610, the monastery withstood the siege of a thirty-thousand-strong army of Polish-Lithuanian invaders (there were about three thousand besieged in the monastery itself). Since 1688, the monastery has been stavropegic. In 1744, the monastery received the status of Lavra.
Since 1814, the territory of the Lavra has been home to the Moscow Theological Academy, the oldest higher educational institution in Russia, founded in 1685 in Moscow. Transferred to the Lavra after the fire of 1812, the academy was housed in the former Tsar's chambers of the 17th century.
In 1920, the Lavra was closed, its buildings housed the Historical and Art Museum and other institutions, and some of the buildings were occupied by housing. The revival of the monastery began in 1946.
In 1949, the Moscow Theological Academy resumed its activities within the walls of the Lavra. In 1971, 1988, 1990, Local Councils were held in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
In 1993, the architectural ensemble of the Lavra was included in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Russia.

"The Holy Trinity" was painted by the holy icon painter Andrei Rublev in the first half of the 15th century for the local row of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral at the request of St. Nikon of Radonezh, a disciple and successor of St. Sergius of Radonezh. The image became the ideal artistic expression of the Christian dogma of the Consubstantial and Triune God. Back in 1551, at the Stoglav Council convened by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the icon was recognized as a model for the depiction of the Holy Trinity. Having remained in the Trinity Cathedral for half a millennium, in 1929, by order of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, the relic was transferred to the State Tretyakov Gallery. Being a masterpiece of ancient Russian art, "The Holy Trinity" became one of the main exhibits of the museum. A copy created by restorer Nikolai Baranov was placed in the iconostasis of the temple. Almost a hundred years later, on July 17 and 18, 2022, on the day of remembrance of St. Andrei Rublev and on the 600th anniversary of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Rublev's original was brought to the Trinity Cathedral for temporary veneration. This became a significant event in the life of the Lavra.
In the summer of 2023, the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius and the State Tretyakov Gallery signed an agreement on the transfer of the Holy Trinity icon to the Lavra.