On 2 June 2021 the only cathedral in Uzbekistan dedicated to St. Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, the Wonderworker, which by God's providence stands in Samarkand, celebrated its patronal feast. On this day the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, celebrated the Divine Liturgy during his archpastoral visit to the parishes of the Samarkand Deanery.
Concelebrating with His Eminence were: the dean of the Samarkand Deanery, Archpriest Roman Zagrebelny; the rector of Saint Alexius Cathedral, Priest Igor Babakov; Priest Timofey Fishelev; Priest Vladimir Matveev; Priest Alexander Tereshchenko; Priest Oleg Lin; Deacon Mikhail Mezhovikov; and Deacon Fortunat Turniyazov.
After the Liturgy the traditional procession of the cross around the church was held in honor of the patronal feast, and then Metropolitan Vikenty addressed the worshippers with an archpastoral word, congratulating everyone on the radiant feast of Christ's Pascha and on the patronal feast, and placing particular emphasis on the need to fulfill the will of God:
"Christ the Savior showed us by His example that we must serve the one and only God when the devil came to Him and offered Him all the good things of the earth. We, too, are offered all the good things of the earth: pleasures, delights, comforts. And we take them without asking whether this is pleasing to God. They are offered to us, we take them, and we do not even stop to consider whether this pleases God... Why do we so easily give ourselves into the hands of the devil and accept all his offers?
Holy Scripture says that all that is in the world is "the lust of the eyes and the pride of life." We need to look at what our pride of life is. What moves us to do not the will of God but the will of the devil? Our pride. We want to live like everyone else. That is our pride. A man cannot serve both God and the devil. We must serve the one God devotedly, firmly, uncompromisingly, clearly and plainly.
Christ said: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." All these things means work, money, material goods: everything will come. This is the word of Christ. All the people who have lived and live this way tell us that it truly is so: everything works out when they live for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. This, too, is our faith, our trust in God. Our whole problem is also that we do not trust God; we trust only ourselves. "I will do it the way I need to." Then we immediately fall into a trap: this does not work out, that does not go right, something else stands still... because the way to the Kingdom of Heaven has not been opened. Once we open the Kingdom of Heaven for ourselves, everything will go right for us. Here is the secret of our success: to follow Christ and to seek the Kingdom of God."
In his words of greeting in response, the rector of Saint Alexius Cathedral, Fr. Igor, thanked Metropolitan Vikenty for his archpastoral Paschal visit and for the shared joy of prayerful communion with the clergy and parishioners.
