On 9 June of this year, with the blessing of her Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antania, Nun Efimija of the Monastery of “Saint George the Victorious” in Rajčica successfully defended her second master’s thesis, this time at the Orthodox Theological Faculty “Saint Clement of Ohrid” in Skopje. The thesis is entitled: “Religious Education…
On 2 June, at the Theological Faculty in Lefkosia, Cyprus, the Tenth International Congress of the Society of Oriental Liturgy was solemnly opened. This prestigious event brought together some of the most eminent liturgical scholars from around the world, whose presentations covered a broad spectrum of topics related to the various liturgical traditions: The Cypriot…
In the quiet and compunctionate eve of Pentecost, when all creation seems to stand in reverent trembling before the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Church lovingly calls us to remember those who before us have crossed the threshold of time and entered into the mystery of eternity. The Soul Saturday before Pentecost is…
Today, the Queen of all cities lays down the crown of the earthly kingdom, offered to torment, the gift of Constantine is purified by fire, the City of the Mother of God, and from the hands of the Creator of ages, receives a radiant crown of eternal glory, the house of the saints and the…
In the blessed beauty of May, as the Sacred Bigorski Monastery breathes in the calm of prayerful silence, this year once again the Monastery of the Honourable Forerunner, with the blessing of our venerable Elder and Abbot, Bishop Partenij of Antania, became a home of youthful joy, of colour, line, form, and the pure wonder…
The Ascension of Christ is a feast of ineffable joy and hope, a day on which the Church contemplates the glorified Lord, Who, by His Ascension, did not withdraw Himself from the world, but raised our human nature into heavenly glory. In the Person of the God-man Christ, man for the first time sat at…
Today, on the joyful Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antanis, celebrated a hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the ancient Church of the Holy Apostle James (Chiesa di San Jacopo Soprarno), located in the very heart of Florence, on the banks of the River Arno. Concelebrating with His…
Yesterday, on April 25, our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antaniа, together with members of the brotherhood, was granted the blessing of a cordial reception by His Eminence Metropolitan Polykarpos of Italy and Southern Europe. The meeting took place at the offices of his seat at the Orthodox Cathedral Church in Venice, dedicated…
On the occasion of the radiant Paschal celebrations, with the blessing of our Elder, His Grace Bishop Parthenius of Antania, today our brother, Archimandrite Dositheus, visited our dear friends and fellow citizens of Debar, bringing them a Paschal egg — a symbol of life, victory, and the hope that the Resurrection of Christ bestows upon…
Today the Lord enters Jerusalem – Life among mortals – humbly mounted upon a donkey, while the people receive Him with palm branches and cries: “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord!” And this entrance – humble, meek, upon a creature that no one would imagine bearing the immortal King…
If the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, showed us that, through the Incarnation, God became visible and that His image can be depicted in an icon, then the second Sunday reveals something even deeper: that this same God not only became visible, but that His uncreated light is also accessible, tangible,…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxnFwYjPDk There is something profoundly consoling in the fact that the first week of Great Lent ends with a miracle. Not with some poor human achievement, not with some negligible merit of our own, but with the miracle of a Saint who, even after death, cares for the people of God. The Saturday of Saint…
When, in the Friday twilight silence of the church at Bigorski Monastery, the final echo of penitential Clean Friday faded away, another hymn took its place – more solemn, fresher, filled with pure thanksgiving and filial trust. The brethren and the faithful stood upright with dignity, for this is precisely what the Akathist signifies: not…
Friday. The end of the first week. And when this evening the sun sets behind Mount Bistra, we shall be able to say: we have passed through. With God’s help, with prayer, with intense struggle and patience. The first week of Great Lent – the strictest and most demanding – is behind us. Yet not…
The fourth day. The body has already grown accustomed to hunger, but the soul – she is only now beginning to awaken and to blossom spiritually. For fasting has its hidden laws: the first days are struggle, and then, little by little, something opens within, something quiet and deep, like a spring in the midst…
The blessed three-day absolute fast. Three days of total abstinence, of prayer, of silence, of intense struggle and inward peace. And today, on Clean Wednesday, that unique three-day ascetical labor received its crown: the first Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in this Great Lent, served as a sacred seal upon the first steps of the…
When yesterday, on Clean Monday, we opened the gates of Great Lent, we in truth opened the gates of our own soul. Today, on the second day of the Fast, that opening deepens. For one day of abstinence is only a beginning, but two days are already a step upon the way. And the way…
Today, when the wooden semantron of Bigorski sent forth its call through the forest stillness of Mount Bistra, it did not merely announce the dawn of a new day. It proclaimed the beginning of a new life. For Clean Monday is no ordinary day; it is a holy threshold, a hidden passage, the soul’s first…
Let us embrace the fast that sets us aright, pleasing to the Lord – a true, righteous, and pure fast: estrangement from evil, restraint of the tongue, the casting away of anger, separation from passions… And together let us cry out: O Christ God, raise us up from our fall, for You are the Lover…
A sermon by His Eminence Bishop Partheniυs of Antania, delivered after the reading of the Holy Gospel, at the Divine Eucharist in honor of the memory of our holy father Parthenius of Lampsacus, on February 7/20, 2026 the year of our Lord Venerable and Honorable Fathers, Venerable Monks and Nuns, Beloved Brothers and Sisters in…
