After the sacred night filled with prayer, psalmody, and the ineffable joy of the monastic birth of three new brothers, today the feast of the Beheading of the Honourable Head of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John, attained its most sublime and natural fulfilment—in the Holy Divine Eucharist.
For every ecclesial celebration leads towards the Eucharist and finds its fulfilment in it. All hymns, prayers and prostrations, all human joys and tears, are ultimately gathered around one Table, where Christ Himself becomes both the One Who offers and the One Who is offered, both Gift and Giver of the Gift.
From the early morning hours, the Bigorski sanctuary was once again filled with a great multitude of faithful. The pilgrims who had spent the night in Vigil were joined by new streams of believers arriving for the festal Liturgy, so that the church, the courtyard, and the Monastery guesthouses once again became one great prayerful assembly gathered around the wonderworking image of our heavenly Host.
The festal Hierarchical Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom was presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Georgij of Debar and Kičevo, concelebrating with our Elder and Abbot, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antania, the priest-monks of the Monastery, and the reverend clergy: Protopresbyters Boban Mitevski of Skopje and Goran Stavreski of Ohrid, Presbyters Pavel Krcoski of Ohrid and Mile Angelkoski of Debar, as well as Protodeacon Nikolče Gjurčinovski of Ohrid. The heavenly chanting of the two choirs—the Bigorski choir and the “Saint John Koukouzelis” choir from Tirana—which had illumined the festal night, continued today during the Holy Eucharist, lifting the hearts of those present into one common doxology to God.
Around the Sacred Table, there was visibly revealed that which the Church is in her deepest essence: an assembly in Christ. Hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and the faithful people—one Eucharistic Body, gathered to give thanks to God for all His benefactions and to glorify the one whose entire life was a testimony to Christ.
Saint John never gathers people around himself in order to keep them with himself. He always points beyond himself: “Behold the Lamb of God.” Therein lies his greatness. He is the greatest among those born of women precisely because he kept nothing for himself. He transformed his glory into testimony to Christ; his voice into a call to repentance; his life into a signpost towards the Kingdom; and in the end he even laid down his own head for the truth. For this reason, although historically his feast commemorates a martyr’s death, within the Church it does not bear a sorrow devoid of hope. There is solemnity and sacred awe within it, yet behind the severed head of the Forerunner there already shines the victory of a man who did not betray the truth. And behind his death stands the witness that one who belongs to God can never truly be conquered by the world.
On the meaning of the feast and the person of the Lord’s Forerunner, our esteemed Metropolitan Georgij addressed the faithful with an appropriate archpastoral homily, recalling the spiritual message which Saint John continues to address to every generation. In his homily, he also spoke with particular affection about the new monastic brothers, reflecting on the depth of their calling, the seriousness and beauty of the monastic struggle, and the grace-filled joy with which the Church receives those who freely offer their lives to Christ.
The Metropolitan also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to our Elder for the invitation, for his tireless care for the beauty and good order of the Holy Monastery, and for his fatherly guidance of the monastic community. With warm words he congratulated Father Dositej on the thirtieth anniversary of his monastic tonsure, and he also offered his gratitude to the Bigorski choir, and especially to the “Saint John Koukouzelis” choir from Tirana, whose truly beautiful chanting adorned the liturgical doxology and made the joy of the feast all the more complete.
This year’s celebration brought the Bigorski Monastery yet another joy which could not be concealed: today, for the first time, among the brethren at the festal Liturgy stood the monks Theodosius, Chariton, and Nikephoros, clothed in their new monastic garments. Until yesterday they were Stefan, Vladimir, and Jovan; from the sacred night onward, they are new men with new names—not because they rejected what they had been, but because they offered what they had been to Christ, that from Him they might receive it back transfigured.
How wondrous is the joy of a monastic brotherhood when it receives a new monk! The world may see a man who has renounced something. The Church, however, sees a man who has found the Pearl of great price and, for its sake, joyfully leaves all else behind. The world sees the closing of a door; the Church sees an opening towards eternity. And the spiritual father sees something that most closely resembles birth.
Therefore, today the heart of our Elder was filled with that quiet fatherly gratitude which words can scarcely express. Three of his spiritual sons, after years of formation in monastic obedience and communal life, stood as monks in the house of Saint John—three more children in the great spiritual family which the grace of God has gathered around him.
And with them the entire Monastery rejoices. The elder brothers rejoice, seeing that the monastic succession continues. The younger rejoice, receiving new fellow travellers in the ascetic struggle. The sisterhoods, spiritual children, and faithful rejoice. And, we believe, our Saint John rejoices as well, seeing that his house continues to bring forth people who desire to belong wholly to Christ.
To our beloved brothers Theodosius, Chariton, and Nikephoros, we pray that the vow they made yesterday may be renewed every morning of their lives. May they seek not great feats, but great faithfulness in small things. May they love obedience, that through it they may come to know true freedom. May they preserve prayer as the very breath of the soul. May they never lose the first love with which they set out after Christ. And when days of dryness, temptations, and weariness come, may they remember this sacred night, their vows, the fatherly gaze of their Elder, and the countenance of the Honourable Forerunner before whom they began their new life.
And may the Lord grant our beloved Elder many more spiritual children, together with the strength to bear them, form them, and lead them to Christ.
O Saint John, Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, heavenly Host of Bigorski, receive the gratitude of thy children. Guard our Metropolitan, this Holy Monastery, its Elder, its monks and nuns, all its spiritual children, and all our people. Teach us also to love the truth as thou didst, to repent sincerely, and with our whole lives to point towards Christ.
Many blessed years to the feast of our most beloved heavenly Protector! Many years to the new monks Theodosius, Chariton, and Nikephoros! And may the Holy Forerunner keep them beneath the shelter of his prayers throughout all the days of their monastic life.
With sincere gratitude, we also remember our dear Stojan Stojanovski and the team from “2S Studio”, who both yesterday during the Vigil and today at the Holy Liturgy devoted themselves wholeheartedly to providing a flawless live broadcast of the sacred services, thus enabling the prayerful joy of the feast to reach all those who were unable to be physically present with us. With gratitude, we also acknowledge Aleksandar Paunovski, Nikola Grncharov, and Jovan Angeleski, who, with love, dedication, and professional care, ensured that this spiritual celebration would be preserved in beautiful and dignified visual records.
