The rector of the Assumption Church in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty has ascended one of Central Asia highest peaks – Mount Abu Ali inb Sina (formerly Lenin Peak).
The press service for the Metropolitan District in Kazakhstan reported Archpriest Aleksandr Zyryanov climbed the 7,134-meter mountain earlier this month.
Mount Abu Ali ibn Sina is located in the Pamir Mountains along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
Reports of the cleric's feat mention Father Zyryanov is an avid mountain climber who scaled the highest peak outside Almaty in 2000.
The reports noted that mountain had been named "Atheist Peak" in the 1930s, "which reflected the spirit of the times," but "70 years later it was renamed the Nativity of Christ [Peak], and on it alpinists set up a cross."
