"Catholics in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, are united."José Luis MumbielaThe face of the Church in Kazakhstan is changing".Pope begins visit to KazakhstanOn Tuesday, January 7, 2025, young Maxim Permin and Serguey Sudak were ordained deacons in an exciting celebration in Almaty, becoming the first two deacons, and future priests, ordained for pastoral service in this city, located in the south of Kazakhstan, which was the capital of the country until 1997. The diocese of Almaty has an area of 711,000 km² and 11 parishes.
Maxim Pernim, a journalist by profession, is a student at the Karaganda interdiocesan seminary, established in that central city in 1998. The seminary in Karaganda, located 1,000 km from Almaty, brings together young people from several Central Asian and Caucasus countries. Serguey Sudak, a primary school teacher from Kostanay, in the north of the country, is completing his priestly studies at the St. Petersburg seminary in Russia.
A hopeful ordination
This pastoral ordination is probably the first in the history of this young diocese, formed after the fall of the Soviet Union, although its roots go back to the 14th century with the diocese of Almalyk, established on the Silk Road. Missionaries such as Richard of Burgundy and Paschal of Vitoria, now in the process of beatification, brought Christianity to the region under the protection of Chagatai, son of Genghis Khan. However, after his death, the missionaries were martyred when the area fell under Muslim rule. After centuries of Catholic absence, the present diocese of Almaty takes up their legacy with hope, ordaining young men from the country.
Although ordinations in the country, considered a mission country, have been growing in recent years, their frequency is far from being similar to that of countries with a Catholic tradition. On September 12, 2021, Father Evgeniy Zinkovskiy, today auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, was ordained bishop. Years earlier, on June 29, 2008, the first ethnic Kazakh priest, Ruslan Rakhimberlinov, current rector of the Karaganda seminary, was ordained. The two young men ordained this January, although of Slavic descent, speak the Kazakh language fluently (in addition to Russian, their native language), which makes them particularly well suited for the indispensable task of serving a community that is working to inculturate itself and become natural for those of Kazakh origin.
This is therefore good news for the Church in the country and in the city, which three years after suffering from some altercations that threatened to destroy years of peaceful coexistence and harmony, has demonstrated its resilience, showing again its best face of multiethnicity and religious variety.
