“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”
—1 Corinthians 4:15
With spiritual joy and reverent devotion, our sacred monastery resounded over the past vigil-day with praise and glorification unto the holy, glorious, and all-laudable chief apostles Peter and Paul – those pillars of the Church, who by their word, martyrdom, and love established the Body of Christ upon the earth. On the eve of the feast, as befits such a great day, a vigil was served in the Forerunner’s church, during which our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antania, with compunction and inspiration, led the prayerful gathering of the brotherhood and the faithful toward spiritual enlightenment drawn from the life and struggles of these two great men of Christ.
And today, on the very day of the celebration, the Divine and Holy Eucharist crowned the apostolic glory, offered by our Elder in concelebration with the brotherhood of clergy.
After the reading of the Holy Gospel, His Grace Bishop Partenij addressed those present with a voice full of inspiration and sobriety of mind, guiding them into the depths of the apostolic calling – that miracle of transformation, when ordinary people, with weaknesses and infirmities, become vessels of Divine grace. Saint Peter the fisherman became the cornerstone of the Church, and Saint Paul the persecutor was transformed into the greatest preacher of the Gospel of Christ. They, who bore within themselves the frailty of human nature, found in Christ the strength of deification and conveyed it to the whole world.
Today’s feast holds an additional deep spiritual significance for the Bigorski Monastery. Namely, today marks five years since the episcopal ordination of our beloved Elder, Bishop Partenij. With gratitude to the Giver of all good things, we recall these past five years of apostolic ministry – the quiet and tireless care for the monks and nuns, for the people of God, for all those who seek God in our holy places. Five episcopal years filled with prayer, teaching, consolation, and service in the spirit of the holy apostles; five years in which he, as a caring spiritual father, continued to bear our infirmities, to embrace our wounds, to lead us with the grace-filled stillness of the Gospel and the power of the Spirit.
May our Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of His holy Apostles, keep our Elder, strengthen him, and grant him many more blessed years of apostolic service – to the joy of the Church, to the salvation of the people, and to the glory of the Thrice-Holy God!
Many years, our beloved holy Vladyka!
