Pilgrims from both sides of the line keep the Feast of St. Janyl

25 August 2026

The Feast of St. Janyl was kept on Cathedral Hill on Monday 24 August, after a night vigil in which a procession of candles climbed from the old town to the cathedral for more than three hours.

His Grace Mar Ephrem celebrated the Solemn Holy Qurbana on the esplanade at 9:00, assisted by the bishops of Talas, Nurzhan and the Chatkal Highlands and sung by the Seminary Choir. IradOne broadcast the liturgy. In his homily the Archbishop recalled that Janyl “gathered the clans not by a sword but by a road, and the road was shown to her”.

The priests then blessed the herds below the church with spring water and arsha smoke, some of them on horseback among the horses. The brothers of the Order of St. Janyl the Hermit gave out blessed kümöch until the evening. The archbishopric estimates the number of pilgrims over the two days at more than 150,000.

Riders from the tribal regions came unarmed through crossings agreed in the Joint Liaison Committee with the help of the United Nations mission. The archbishopric put up yurts below the hill for families who rode in from the Chatkal and the eastern mountains, and the Pilgrimage Hostel was full from 20 August.

The pilgrimage season continues until the Feast of the Cross on 14 September.