Nursultan Nazarbayev donates old icon to Kazakhstan's Orthodox Christians
The Head of State handed over the Tikhvin icon of the Mother of God (the early 18th century) to Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan as a gift to all Orthodox Christians of Kazakhstan on the occasion of the upcoming Easter holiday. The presentation was held in the Ascension Cathedral in Almaty on April 6.
Metropolitan Alexander said that meeting with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on January 24, 2018, in Akorda, the Head of State bestowed high praise upon the Orthodox Church's activities for maintaining peace and reconciliation in the Kazakhstani society.
Now the icon is in the Ascension Cathedral of Almaty, where the Metropolitan presented it personally.
The icon was made by Aaron, a monk of the Tikhvin Assumption Monastery, in 1706. Since the middle of the 18th century, the icon has been revered as wonderworking.
The frame of the icon was made by one of the prominent silversmiths of Novgorod, Russia, in 1741. It is one of the few original frames of that size survived to this day.
