Today, the Elder Simeon comes forth to receive the fulfillment of the promise given to him from eternity; today, his eyes, which have witnessed human suffering and the darkness of affliction, behold the Light that has illumined and delivered the new Israel; today, the frailty of Simeon’s aged and fading years receives in his trembling hands the eternal youth of Christ, and in a mysterious perfection, the two are united; today, the Most Holy Theotokos, from the warmth of her motherly embrace, hands over her Divine Infant into the arms of the righteous elder, to whom it had been revealed that he would not see death until the words of the Lord had come to pass.
This historical scene moves the soul, inspires awe, and fills the heart with joy, for at last, the long-awaited hope of mankind becomes a reality.
And indeed, is not our life a constant expectation? Are not our days filled with countless hopes that we might finally be delivered from the afflictions that suffocate us like the very air we breathe? Each day, we bear witness to our own weakness; each day, we sigh to the Lord of Hosts, pleading for Him to come and strengthen our faith. We ask Him for grace, we long to encounter Him within our hearts, that our righteous yearning may become a reality and that quiet joy may shape our lives.
For we know that to live means to wait patiently, but not to wait for something fleeting and perishable, rather, to await eternity, to long for the fulfillment of the fullness of life. And the encounter with Beauty, the entrusting of ourselves into the embrace of Truth, the meeting of our soul with the God of love, with the One Who is our life and incorruptibility—this is the most wondrous encounter that can take place in our earthly existence.
For this very reason, the encounter with the one who has led us to Christ, through whom we have been reconciled with God, is always an encounter with the hope that never fails, with a living faith in which all our longings find their meaning.
It is an encounter from which, time and time again, springs forth the much-desired peace, through which our hearts are quietly and mysteriously filled with joy.
Truly, the meeting with our Elder, Bishop Parthenius of Antania, is an inexhaustible source of spiritual joy, and his fatherly blessing—a strength without which our most fervent desires cannot be fulfilled.
For this reason, many of his spiritual children gathered today at the glorious Monastery of the Most Pure Mother of God above Kichevo, where, with the blessing of our esteemed and Most Blessed Archbishop Stephen of Ohrid and Macedonia, a solemn liturgical assembly was held in honor of the historic encounter of Elder Simeon with Christ the Lord.
Indeed, the Liturgy in the Holy Monastery of the Most Pure Theotokos was a true Meeting with Christ—a grace-filled convergence of all our hope, longing, and love for the One Who is Life and Light.
It was a sacred encounter of the human soul with God, an encounter in which time and eternity intertwined in the liturgical reality, granting us yet another opportunity to be filled with the joy of salvation.
Everyone who approached this blessed feast with faith felt, with contrite hearts, the heavenly peace that visits those souls who long for Christ’s presence.
In that spiritual atmosphere, filled with awe and divine beauty, we all turned our souls attentively toward the pastoral words of our beloved Elder, Bishop Parthenius, who, as a caring spiritual father, once again imparted to us wisdom and consolation, born from his deep, living, and experiential relationship with the Truth—Christ our God
