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Our father among the [[saint]]s, '''Nicholas (Mogilevsky) of Alma-ata Ata and Kazakhstan''' was the first [[Metropolitan]] of the Eparchy of [[Eparchy of Astana and Almaty|Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan]] of the [[Church of Russia]], today the Eparchy of Astana and Almaty. His [[feast day]] is [[October 25]]. He is commemorated also with the New [[Martyr]]s and [[Confessor]]s of Russia on the first Sunday after [[January 25]].
==Life==
When he revived, Abp. Nicholas found himself in a clean bed, in a clean room in a hospital. As he slowly recovered, those who helped him came to love the "old man" in the hospital. But, as the day approached that he would again be homeless he prayed to the Lord, giving himself up to His will. As he was preparing to leave the hospital, the Tatar who had brought him to the hospital and sent him packages during his convalescence, arrived to take the "old man" under his wing. Explaining that God had directed him to save the "old man", the Tatar took over his care. Thus, began a quiet phase in Abp. Nicholas' life as the Tatar, with his contacts, carefully nursed Abp. Nicholas back to health and united him with spiritual daughter, Vera Afanasievna Fomushkina.
After a request by Abp. Nicholas of [[October 10]], 1944 to the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs of the USSR, he was released from his status of 'voluntary exile' on [[May 19]], 1945. On [[July 5]], 1945, the [[Holy Synod]] of the Church of Russia established the Diocese of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan and appointed Abp. Nicholas its first ruling hierarch. He arrived in Alma-Ata, now AstanaAlmaty, on [[October 26]], 1945, the feast of the [[Panagia Portaitissa|Iveron Icon of the Mother of God]].
Upon his arrival in Alma-Ata, Abp. Nicholas began serving in the small Kazan Church in the center of town that had re-opened just a few months earlier. He celebrated the Divine services reverently with unusual zeal and never rushed, with a closeness to monastic services as could be had in a [[parish]]. In his seventieth year at that time, he not only demanded strict fulfillment of the rule, but always explained the meaning of the services, why they needed to sing or read one way and not another. He prayed with tears, especially when he served the [[Divine Liturgy]], and when ”We praise Thee, we bless Thee…” was sung he always wept. During the days of [[Pascha]] and the [[Nativity of Christ]], the doors of his house were never closed. All would greet each other with the Paschal kiss and all would glorify the Lord.
==External link==
*[http://www.nikolay.orthodoxy.ru/saints/nikolay/ Saint Nicholas Cathedral] In Russian
Correction: This appears to be a link to St Nicholas of Tokyo.
[[Category: Bishops]]
[[Category: Bishops of Staridub]]
