On the day of remembrance of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District celebrated the Liturgy at the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty

February 4, 2024 – 35th week of Pentecost; celebration in honor of the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.

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

The Primate of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan was co-served by: vicars of the Astana diocese - Bishop Claudian of Taldykorgan and Bishop Benjamin of Talgar; dean of the parishes of the southern capital, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, mitered archpriest Valery Zakharov; rector of the Alma-Ata Church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" mitred Archpriest Evgeny Vorobyov, confessor of the Alma-Ata diocese Archimandrite John (Sazonov), Archpriest Vyacheslav Churbanov, head of the Metropolitan District's public relations department, cleric of the Ascension Cathedral Archpriest Alexander Suvorov , Hegumen Philip (Moiseev), sergeant of the Peter and Paul Church of Alma-Ata, Archpriest Kirill Shklyar, head of the information and publishing department of the Metropolitan District, Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov, 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, sacristan of Kazan of the Alma-Ata Cathedral, priest Georgy Rublinsky; Protodeacon Nikolai Grinkevich, head of the Metropolitan Protocol Service, Protodeacon Roman Golovin, Protodeacon Vladimir Syrovatsky, Deacon Vitaly Bystrushkin, Deacon John Churkin, Deacon Alexander Piven, Deacon Sergius Slesarchuk.

The chants of the festive service were performed by the choir of the Metropolitan District under the direction of the Honored Artist of Russia O.N. Ovchinnikov and the choir of the Ascension Cathedral under the direction of N. Zubrevich.

For spiritual consolation and strengthening of believers, shrines kept in the house Iveron-Seraphim Church of the Metropolitan Residence in Alma-Ata were brought to the cathedral: an ark with the relics of the new martyrs and confessors of Kazakhstan, an ark with a stone from the execution room of the house of the merchant Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, where the Tsar’s wife suffered family, and an ark with a particle of the relics of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia. The ark also contains the shrines of the Patriarch-Confessor - part of the patriarchal dome, part of the coffin in which he was buried and the pectoral cross that the saint wore when he was an archimandrite in America.

During the Liturgy, intense prayers were offered for the repose of hierarchs, clergy, monastics and all Orthodox Christians “in a time of fierce persecution from the atheists who were tortured and killed, from hunger, cold, wounds, illnesses and backbreaking labor in camps, in prisons and in chains who died.”

The sermon on the sacramental verse was delivered by Archpriest Evgeniy Ivanov.

At the end of the Liturgy, glorification of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church took place.

Then the Head of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District congratulated the clergy and laity on Sunday and the celebration in honor of the saints of the Orthodox Church, who shone with the exploits of martyrdom and confession in the twentieth century and addressed those gathered with a word of teaching.

“For every Orthodox Christian, for every faithful child of the Church of Christ, the day of remembrance of martyrs and confessors is always an important spiritual event, strengthening faith, inspiring new works in the name of God and for the good of one’s neighbor. It was about the martyrs that the holy Apostle Paul wrote: “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” (Heb. 13:7). The first Christian saints were martyrs. The word "martyr" in Greek means "witness." They testified to a world mired in vice and godlessness about the power of their Christian hope, about the eternal, enduring values of the Gospel. And the world obeyed this testimony. “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity,” said the church writer Tertullian in the third century. When we talk about the suffering deeds of archpastors, clergy, monks and laity in the twentieth century, we must understand that such martyrdom has not been known in the thousand-year history of the Russian Orthodox Church, nor has the ancient world seen such cruelty at the dawn of the Christian era. We believe in the miraculous intercession of our saints before the Throne of God. Through their prayers, a grace-filled change in our life occurs - victory over sin, acquisition of virtues, confirmation in the commandments; through their intercession the revival of native Orthodoxy is carried out. Today no one threatens us with death, torture, prison, or exile for our faith in Christ. But the tragedy is that now, without any coercion, some people stop living a spiritual life and renounce their faith. Others viciously attack the Church in which they were baptized and raised, meticulously look for existing shortcomings and more often, simply use outright lies. The prophetic word of the Gospel is coming true: Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). Indeed, this holy feeling towards both God and neighbor is becoming scarce in people. What can save our society from all these temptations and delusions? Of course, strong faith, the memory of the new martyrs and confessors, who, even under the threat of death, did not renounce God, did not leave the saving church fence. They went to God, their names are already part of history, but this entire host of sufferers lives and continues to carry out their high mission. The new martyrs and confessors became sources of blessed light for our people, glory and adornment of the Church. Those who suffered for Christ are the pillar of today, for we believe and know that they, all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today(Deut. 4:4). They were killed, but remained invincible, suffered humiliation, but gained eternal glory, buried in obscurity, but triumph in Heaven, standing before the Throne of God and interceding for you and me, who call on them in prayer. Through their intercession, the Orthodox faith is preserved on this land, which His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of blessed memory called “an antimension spread out in the open sky.” Let's try to learn moral lessons from the past. The new martyrs of the 20th century should become an example to us, people living in the 21st century - an example of firmness in faith, in love for Christ, in strict adherence to the truths of the Holy Gospel, in a merciful attitude towards others, in devotion to our native Orthodoxy.” From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.