Orthodox Christians, one of the largest religious communities in the world, have existed in Kazakhstan for several hundred years over the periods of Islamic dominance, Tsarist Russia, the Soviet period, and the independence that followed. They continue to live in harmony with other religious communities in Kazakhstan that respect the principle of equality of all nations and religions. In the interview with The Astana Times, Archpriest Dmitriy Baidek, ecclesiarch at the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God, spoke about the history and holy sites of the Christian Community, and the importance of the upcoming Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

Christians in independent Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is home to some 3,834 religious associations deriving from 18 religions and confessions. Among them, Orthodox Christians are the second-largest religious group in Kazakhstan after Muslims with 345 registered organizations which constitute around nine percent, according to the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Kazakh Ministry of Information and Social Development.

Being secular country, Kazakhstan nevertheless celebrates Orthodox Christmas along with Muslim Kurban Ait (Eid al-Adha) as official days off for all citizens.

Baidek explained that the church has always been open to people. It is “supranational” as Baidek puts it.

Indeed, in the letter of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians he says “here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all,” emphasizing the unity and equality of all believers in Christ.

Describing the community of Christians in Kazakhstan, Baidek said that“the vector is shifting away from the exclusively Slavic population to a more diverse population of Christians that includes more ethnicities.”

History of Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan

The rise of Christian communities in the midst of a predominantly Muslim population is associated with the settlement of Russian Cossacks on the southern lands of Kazakhstan that were annexed to the Russian Empire around the 17th century.

On the territory of modern Kazakhstan, Russian Cossacks founded the first fortresses and built the first Orthodox churches along with them.

Last year Orthodox Christians in Kazakhstan celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkestan diocese, the first in the region. In 1871, an imperial decree approved the decision to open the Turkestan diocese and in the same year Archbishop Sophoniya Sokolsky, known for his active temper and enthusiasm, was appointed the first bishop of the Turkestan diocese.

“In his biography there are words that say he was like a young man running around the diocese preaching, doing works of mercy, opening new churches, even though he was already well into his seventies,” said Baidek. “His energy, his temperament was that of a young man. Those were such unique people, and since then Christianity, namely Orthodox Christianity, has been strengthened in those parts of Kazakhstan.”

Although the Orthodox eparchy was established in the 19th century, communities preaching the Holy Trinity have lived in the territory of Kazakhstan for many centuries back.

“There are monuments that indicate that there were settlements that professed Christianity back in the ninth and in the 13th centuries. For the most part, they were communities worshiping Nestorianism, which was rejected by the Orthodox church. Nevertheless, they were the people who revered the Trinity, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit,” said Archpriest Baidek.

The Soviet period was a period of hardship for representatives of all religions in Kazakhstan, said Baidek and the Orthodox Christians were no exception. Many in the Christian world felt humiliated by a colonial system that undermined their beliefs and religion. “Bolsheviks certainly used our land rather barbarically. In the 20s and 30s, the Bolsheviks destroyed many churches,” he said.

Kazakhstan has also been a place of exile for many people. Karlag, one of the largest labor camps in the Karagandy Region, was full of people who have been at the forefront of some of the great struggles for liberty.

Yet even amid the hardships, there were people who had not lost their faith in a better future. One of them was Sebastian, the elder of Karagandy, who had spent six years in Karlag camp. After he was released in 1939, he decided to stay and selflessly preach Christianity in the region which largely contributed to the formation of a religious community.

Despite the atheist agenda of the Soviet era, many Christians were able to preserve their religious traditions. Upon becoming an independent state, Kazakhstan gave an opportunity for many people to express their religion freely. 

“Independence caused the rising interest in religion, intellectual interest. People began to read, think, and pay attention to matters of spirituality. They wanted to answer the questions of ‘why’ and ‘for what.’ This kind of rise at least in Christianity was during the 1990s and in the early 2000s, including among the young population,” said Baidek.

Orthodox Christian sacred sites in Kazakhstan

What makes one place holy? According to Baidek, people make a place holy in honor and remembrance of the saints whose blood was shed there.

When, in 1995, Patriarch Alexy II visited the Karagandy Region, he called the land of Kazakhstan “the antimins (a piece of silk or linen cloth for liturgy rite) stretched out under the open sky” referring to the holiness of the whole Kazakh land, where many pastors, monks, and laity have been exiled from all parts of the Soviet Union. Many of them ended their lives in Kazakhstan.

There are many holy sites in East Kazakhstan, Karagandy, and around the Zhetisu Regions. Of particular interest is the Aksai Seraphim-Feognost skit, which is located on the territory of Ile-Alatau national park near Almaty at an altitude of 1,850 meters above sea level.

More than 100 years ago the place was occupied by monks-priests Seraphim Bogoslovsky and Feognost Pivovarov, who renounced a comfortable life to serve God in solitude among the mountains.

But the two saints could not enjoy their peaceful solitude for long, for in 1921, the Red army soldiers came. The monks received them with gratitude, fed them, and gave them tea, however, the soldiers then brutally murdered the monks the next morning.

In 2000, Seraphim and Feognost were consecrated to the list of saints for general church veneration. Many people visit the skit every year to honor the martyrs.

The importance of the seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions

As an Orthodox Church representative, Archpriest Baidek said that Kazakhstan sets a good example for the region by declaring its peacekeeping mission through the seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions that it will host on Sept. 14-15. 

“The uniqueness of this congress is that it has been raised to a level where spiritual leaders and leaders of traditional religions are brought together directly by the state, and therefore the dialogue is conducted on a high level. And any dialogue always serves the good,” said Baidek.

“The human mind is built so that we are afraid of what we do not know, what we do not understand. Our fears, our fantasies, are born of ignorance. When we get to know a person better, they cease to be scary to us. They may be interesting, they may not be interesting, but they are not scary,” he added, highlighting the importance of bringing together the representatives of diverse religions.

Source : Astana Times

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For more than 1,000 years, Islam has influenced the history and culture of Kazakhstan far more than one might expect – from the first alphabet to the language, customs, and literature. The traditional form of Islam developed along with the national customs molding into a regional form of the religion, adapted to local traditions.

Seven plus decades of an atheist legacy under the Soviet Union also left its mark on how Islam is viewed among the Kazakh Muslim population today, which makes the history and evolution of Islam in the region as a worth exploring topic.

Muslim population in Kazakhstan

The Muslim population makes up a large percentage of the Kazakh people. According to the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan, out of 3,834 religious entities registered in Kazakhstan, 2,695 or 70 percent are Islamic entities, belonging mainly to the Sunni branch.

The 2009 Kazakh census data also showed that 70 percent of the 16 million people in Kazakhstan considered themselves Muslim.

Being the majority in Kazakhstan, Muslims live in harmony with representatives of other religions. The upcoming seventh Congress of Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions that is going to take place on Sept. 14-15 in Nur-Sultan, shows how interreligious dialogue and peace was always a priority for Kazakhstan.

A Brief history of Islam in Kazakhstan

The presence of Islam in the territory of Kazakhstan dates back to the 10th-century Karakhanids, a fiefdom that ruled Central Asia from the 10th to the 13th century. During the Karakhanid dynasty, Islam acquired the status of the state religion.

Before Islam spread to the southern sedentary regions of present-day Kazakhstan, the population followed other religions, including Tengrism and Zoroastrianism, which featured elements of shamanism and ancestor worship. 

A great contribution to the spread of Islam among the nomadic population of South Kazakhstan was made by Khoja Akhmet Yassawi, an 11th-century Sufi poet and mystic, who wrote his famous work “Diwani Hikmet” (Divine Wisdom) as a journey to the light of knowledge, diligence, upholding the truth, honesty, and virtue:

“Be gentle and polite wherever you go,

Be a confidant to those in need,

Be close to God on the day of Mahshar (Judgement Day).

I ran away from arrogant people” (the author’s translation),

Yassawi described the importance of having a virtuous character along with the faith in God.

One of the first codes of law, Zheti Zhargy (Seven Charters), adopted by Tauke Khan in the 18th century was a significant step towards the introduction of Islam into public life and legal practice. The norms of administrative, criminal, and civil law recorded in this document were largely based on the provisions of Islamic Shariah law.

In the 19th-20th century, reading and writing among the Kazakh population was mostly taught by mullahs. The Russian empire also contributed to the increase in literacy by sending Tatar mullahs into the northern parts of Kazakhstan.

Arabic script was the major writing script of many prominent Kazakh writers and poets. The first Kazakh alphabet, which was systematized by Kazakh scholar Akhmet Baitursynuly in 1912, was based on Arabic letters.

Up to this day the Kazakh saying “knows alif as a wand” is used to refer to an illiterate or uneducated person (alif is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet that looks like a wand).

The Islamic legacy and practice were largely forgotten during the Soviet period when an atheist agenda was spread.

Muslim revival in independent Kazakhstan

Since gaining independence many Muslims in Kazakhstan are gradually reviving the religious practices, the five pillars of Islam, which start with a declaration of faith, followed by daily prayers, charity, fasting, and performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca if physically and financially capable.

Dana Yespenbetova, a woman whose grandparents and parents witnessed the Soviet period, says the Soviet Union legacy affected how religion was viewed. “It was all mixed up,” she said, referring to the fact that there was a disparity between what the ancestors have taught her family and the state agenda.

According to her, now she has a chance to revive what was forgotten and as an adult to “reintroduce herself” to religion.

“Even though I had all the pillars of religion introduced to me as a child, at some point in my life I had to study in depth more about my own religion, so I would say that I ‘converted back’ to Islam once I learned about it more. It has been a couple of years since I took religion more seriously and tried to practice it because I understand the benefits it brings to my life,” she said.

Yespenbetova is part of the younger generation of Kazakhs who are making a conscious decision to be Muslim, and not just because it is part of the Kazakh heritage.

“I struggled to pray consistently,” said Yespenbetova talking about the second pillar of Islam. “But I am learning Arabic, and that helps me to understand the verses of the Quran that I recite during the prayers. So it is not just about memorizing the verses, but understanding them by heart.”

Сharity, the third pillar of Islam, is one of the most widespread religious practices in Kazakhstan.

Islam distinguishes between obligatory alms, which is called zakat, and other voluntary forms of charity or as locals call it – sadaka. Zakat is calculated as a percentage of a person’s total net worth. 

According to Nazerke Token, a 28-year-old mother of three, who has been practicing Islam for many years, sadaka is the easiest way to get involved with Islam. “It is done out of good heart, help each other, be kind to each other. No matter if you make prayers or not, you can always express your kindness through donations,” she said.

“This year I donated zakat. Previously, I used to give weekly sadaka to low-income families and various charity organizations and funds. I still try to donate weekly even small amounts of my income,” she added.

She also highlighted the generosity of the Muslim people around her. “I saw a lot of generous people in our country. Aid funds for millions of tenge are collected and closed rather quickly,” she said.

Though Islam’s fourth pillar, fasting, can be exceedingly hard for people, Yespenbetova and her family fast during the month of Ramadan. “My father and I have been fasting for over a decade now,” she said. 

The last pillar – pilgrimage or hajj – is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.

There are records of Kazakh Muslims that performed pilgrimages as early as the 19th century traveling on horses and camels. Kunanbay, the father of Abai Kunanbaiuly, one of Kazakhstan’s greatest poets, is said to have performed a pilgrimage to Mecca, which took him two years, back in the 19th century. He also built a house in Mecca with his own funds.

Abai wrote about his father’s trip in the following verses:

“Built a waqf (meant for donation) house in Mecca,

He lit the house with a candle.

To the path of one God,

He spent the cattle ruthlessly,” (the author’s translation)

This year, some 4,000 Kazakh citizens attended Mecca for the first time after the pandemic to perform the Hajj in July.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also performed an umrah (a lesser pilgrimage) in Mecca and was honored to enter the Kaaba (a holy shrine) as part of his official visit to Saudi Arabia in July of 2022. 

The imprint of Islam in language and customs can still be seen today. There are many common words, some relate to education, others to culture, for example, kitap (book), ustaz (teacher) and adebiyet (literature).

During early childhood, Kazakh men undergo the tradition of circumcision, which also has Islamic roots. In general, the majority of Kazakh families adhere to Islamic traditions in marriage and burial ceremonies.

Disparity between culture and religion sometimes creates a vision that one can be “too religious” if they practice pillars of Islam that are not a part of Kazakh culture.

Yespenbetova shared her own experience with that. “Some families take it as an extreme concern if any of their kids start praying five times or learning about Islam or girls decide to cover their heads, which is quite confusing to the younger generation and to everyone who wants to practice it the right way. Islam does not accept changes, but somehow our society tends to pick whatever is convenient for them,” she said.

Despite that, Yespenbetova carries on with her practices. “I guess it is a journey of each person and it is only between the person and God,” she concluded.

Kazakhstan is a secular country, where people have the freedom to choose a religion and practice it. According to the Committee on Religious Affairs, there are 2,693 mosques in the country. On Aug. 12, an opening of the Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in Central Asia that can accommodate 30,000 people, took place in Nur-Sultan and was attended by First President Nazarbayev.

Source : Astana Times

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