Celebration of the Nativity of Christ. The head of the Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the Akzhar microdistrict

January 13, 2024 – commemoration of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ; Memorial Day of St. Paisius the Holy Mountain.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan performed the Divine Liturgy at the church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Akzhar microdistrict of Almaty.

Concelebrating with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were: the dean of the parishes of Almaty, the 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; rector of the Epiphany Church Archpriest Valery Shavrin, dean of the Ili church district Archpriest Alexander Zyryanov, rector of the Nativity of the Mother of God Church of the Akzhar microdistrict Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov), head of the personal secretariat of the Metropolitan Hieromonk Prokhor (Endovitsky), head of the administrative secretariat of the Head of the Metropolitan District Priest Georgy Sidorov; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan's protocol service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon John Churkin.

The chants were performed by the choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior under the direction of E. Skorova.

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

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, before the icon of the holiday, the clergy, choir and believers sang the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the Nativity of Christ.

His Eminence congratulated the clergy and parishioners on the celebration of the coming of God the Word into the world and addressed those gathered with a sermon.

Metropolitan Alexander presented the Order “Yntaly Kyzmeti Ushin” (“For Diligent Service”) to the rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov). Having congratulated the awardee, the bishop wished him God's help in his further work for the benefit of the Church of Christ on Kazakhstani soil.
In consideration of the work and assistance in the construction of the temple, church awards of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan were awarded to: A.S. Prokopets – Order “For Merit to the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan”; V.S. Serebryakov, D.L. Kolesnikov – Order “Enbek Ushin” (For Labor); T.G. Urkenova - the order of the holy martyrs Faith, Nadezhda, Lyubov and Sophia.

At the end of the service, the Head of the Metropolitan District consecrated the newly built church buildings - the chapel in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “Life-Giving Source” and the nursing home in the name of St. Luke of Crimea, located on the territory of the church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Bishop read a prayer and sprinkled the buildings with holy water, after which he addressed those present with words of congratulations on the appearance of new places for prayer and helping those in need in the Southern capital.

As a blessing to the parish boarding house, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan gave an icon with a particle of the relics of St. Luke, the Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea. Hieromonk Alexy (Cherevtsov) gratefully accepted the sacred gift from the hands of Metropolitan Alexander.

“The celebration of the holiday in Orthodox worship is the last day of the post-celebration of the great Twelfth Feast. For the last time this year, during a solemn service, we heard prayers and chants of the holiday of peace and God’s love for people, telling about the coming of Christ the Giver of Life into the world. A believer always awaits the bright holiday of the Nativity of Christ with trepidation, greets it with joy, with gratitude to God, sees it off. Being God, the Lord Jesus Christ became a man and appeared to us to give us His strength and gracious help, to save us from sin and its consequences - troubles and sorrows. And this is the spiritual height, the incomprehensibility of God’s love, the ineffability of His mercy and compassion for humanity. Christmas, as we sing in the festive troparion, “has shone upon the world the light of reason” - the light of true knowledge about God, about man, about the path of salvation. The miracle of the Incarnation gives us the joy of adoption to God and the hope of eternal life. As we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of Christ, we once again turn to the “great mystery of piety” - the mystery of the unity of God with man. Having become incarnate, Christ remained among us forever. He is with us in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, in prayer and pious works, in the temple and on all paths of life: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.