On 18 December 2015, the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, as part of his archpastoral visit to the Samarkand Deanery, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Samarkand Cathedral of St. Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow. On this day the Holy Orthodox Church commemorated Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified, the founder of the Jerusalem monastic typikon.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: the dean of the Samarkand Deanery, Archpriest Roman Zagrebelny; Priest Igor Babakov; Priest Timofey Sirodzhev; Hierodeacon Spiridon (Pozdeev); Hierodeacon Mikhail (Stolyarov); and Deacon Oleg Lin.

During the Liturgy the archpastor prayed for peace in Ukraine.

After Holy Communion and the dismissal, Metropolitan Vikenty offered a prayer to Venerable Sabbas the Sanctified.

In his customary archpastoral sermon, His Eminence briefly told the faithful about the life and labors of Venerable Sabbas, emphasizing what we can take for ourselves from the example of this saint's life:

"In Venerable Sabbas we see one who, at the age of eight, came to understand the meaning of life in a mature, spiritual, divine way: that this earthly life is temporary, that there is eternal life, and that we must strive toward it and attain it. He lived quite a long time — over 90 years. And from the age of 8 to 94 he took upon himself the labor of living in the desert. He founded monasteries. Many people settled around him and, under his guidance, lived for the Kingdom of God, renouncing everything temporary and fleeting in this life, its pleasures and delights. He guided them so that they could stand firm amid the temptations of this world, overcome their passions and their attachments to earthly things, and draw near to the heavenly and eternal.

We pray to him that he might give us at least a little of that zeal for our salvation, zeal for God's righteousness."

Metropolitan Vikenty also reminded the faithful that we are now passing through the course of the Nativity Fast, and gave instructions on what is needed in these days. Particular attention was given to the point that spouses, even those in a lawful and church-blessed marriage, should abstain from conjugal relations during the days of the fast.