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 Christ,
According to God’s mercy, again we come together on this holy liturgical gathering, to celebrate the memory of Christ’s great shepherd and wonder-worker, saint Parthenius of Lampsacus. Surely you all know something about his life, you’ve heard something, you’ve read something. But have you ever paused in thought before the image of such a saint and allowed his presence to envelop you? Because, the saint is not just a story or an instructive tale from the past; he is a living presence, in intercession, a fiery prayer, which even now rises before the throne of God for us.
Our holy father Parthenius all his life had the image of the arch-shepherd Christ. From the Gospel however, which the deacon read a while ago – meant to be read always when we celebrate one of God’s archpriests – we heard the beautiful words of Christ our Lord, Who spoke of Himself as an Arch-shepherd. That began with the mystic and wonderous words:
“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
What is that mystical door through which we enter and exit and the pasture is located at? The Lord frequently speaks through examples of ordinary, everyday life, with metaphors, but here the metaphor surpasses the speech itself, because He Himself, in this case, is the Door to life. Because He entered because of us in the last and scariest door – the door of the grave, and He opened it from inside, with the power of His Resurrection. That scary door, which for humankind was closed from the fall of Adam, with Christ it was reopened. The doors of the graves have opened to eternity.
Apostle Paul says: “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive”. The first created Adam, with his disobedience, closed the doors for us to Heaven; the New Adam, however. Christ, did not just open them, but He Himself became the door to eternity – and there exists no person that would agree to death; death is not natural for man, it is a consequence of sin – the only way that leads through that door and again exists to life eternal is Christ God. We all want to find a way to live longer, and more – to live forever. But, the only door that we can enter and exit into eternity and to start living with His eternal life, is He Himself, Christ. Not an idea, not a moral, not a philosophy, but a Person.
Thenceforth, for that to be realized, we need to be like Him. We need to strive to become light, just like He is Light. He to be our Shepherd, and we, His sheep. In this life we need to keep trying to be merciful, and even then will we be able to enter through that eternal door, through our Beloved Christ.
The Lord wants from us to be merciful and loving. Love that acts. Remember the Gospel from last week, from the preparatory reading before Great Lent, the Lord showed us that only through compassion — through the virtue grounded in God’s love — can one enter the Kingdom of Heaven. More precisely, only through mercy will He recognize us as His own. And although that Sunday is called the Sunday of the Last Judgment, if we look carefully, there is no judgment there according to our usual understanding of the word. There is something much deeper: a wondrous revelation, an unveiling. The Lord will show everyone what kind of Christians they have been. And if He recognizes us, then we have been His. And how did He recognize those on the right hand, the saved? He says: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was hungry and you fed Me.”
Behold, this is the essence of Christianity: Christ recognizes us not by our words, nor by our titles and knowledge, but by whether our hands have been hands of service, whether our heart has burned with compassion, whether our life has been goodness and mercy. Only in this way will we be able to enter eternity and be recognized by our Christ.
Therefore, we must live in the way Christ desires. If we wish to be sanctified, as today’s glorious celebrant, Saint Parthenius was sanctified — and holiness is a calling for each one of us, according to the words of Holy Scripture: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” – then we must become conformed to Christ, who is the All-Holy One, the Holy One of Israel. Toward Him we must all strive. He is the model of what a human being truly ought to be. If the first-created one fell and ceased to be an example for humanity, because he trampled obedience to God, the New Adam is Christ, who is for all of us the example and pattern — the likeness according to whom we were created. Therefore, we should not only be named after Him and call ourselves Christians, but also live as He wills: to be merciful and virtuous.
Mercy was the main characteristic of saint Parthenius, even before he would become a priest and an arch-shepherd. According to his Life, he was an angler in the city of Melitopoly in Asia Minor, who lived in the 4th century. From what he earned by selling fish, he kept almost nothing for himself. He set aside only what was necessary for survival; everything else he distributed to the poor. For him, Christianity was not a theory, but a way of life. Everyone knew this, and everyone loved him because of it.
This saint is a shepherd of Christ in the full sense of the word. That is why today we read the Gospel of Christ the Good Shepherd, which also pertains to all shepherds who are called to be true imitators of the Arch Shepherd. For even the shepherds must take Christ as their model and, through Him, be formed and enter the Kingdom of Heaven even here, in this life. Otherwise, there is strict rebuke and dreadful words from Christ for the shepherds as well, who says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber”. Continuing: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me”.
It is very important even here that in this life to be recognized as His own and we to recognize Him. I.e. to be His friends. That is sainthood. Not a distant goal, but a deep knowing with Christ, alive and every day.
Let us try this, my dear ones. We have many saints who even today testify that to us. Apostle Paul says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”. There exist many normal Christians, who are humble and kind and who are a pathfinder towards the Kingdom of Heaven. The saints, however, are those who help us find that path. Today’s great celebrant, saint Parthenius, who shows it to us through the ages, and shows it here too, through us the unworthy, for, behold, because I, a sinner, began to bear that holy name, we have begun to celebrate it here even more. Indeed, due to the tradition of names in this monastery, I was given this name thirty years ago, and I believe that Saint Parthenius has worked great miracles here.
And yesterday, when I spoke at Vespers, and whenever I remember this, I am filled with awe. On this day, always—even when we were not yet recognized—representatives from other jurisdictions of the one Holy Orthodox Church would come to us. Behold, even this year saint Parthenius has honored us with brothers from the Church of Greece, from the distant city of Volos, with the blessing of their esteemed bishop, His Eminence Metropolitan Mr. Ignatios. These brothers are led by Archimandrite sir Ambrosius, our longtime friend and true brother in the Lord. He is the man who, at the commemoration of Saint Parthenius in 2017, requested the relics for us from the saint and graciously gave them to us. To my surprise at that time, I had been informed beforehand that some hierarch would come from the Church of Greece. I truly thought it might be a friend of mine, but I wondered who it could be, as we have many brothers and friends there. So all the brothers came out, and we prepared for the customary reception of the bishop. And indeed, in an extraordinary way, came my greatest friend among the bishops, the one whose name I bear with joy. So, this is the portion of the honorable relics of Saint Parthenius that you see and venerate. When we received it at the monastery gates, father Ambrosius said unto me, “We did not know what greater gift to bring you than the relics of your heavenly patron.” And undoubtedly, that is true, for which I remain endlessly grateful to this day! He is also the father who, after our acceptance by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was the first to invite us to serve in Thessaloniki, in the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos—Panagouda—where he once served as elder. Therefore, my gratitude to him and to his honorable synod—Fathers Stavros and Eleftherios—is immense for being here today, together with us around the Lord’s table.
Also, to our great honor and immeasurable joy, fathers and brothers from the Church of our neighboring country, Serbia, came to us: the Most Reverend Archimandrite Mr. Dositej, a respected spiritual father from Serbia who holds a special love for our people. It is worth emphasizing and praising that this man, even while our Church was in schism, cared for us with great love, came to us, cherished us, praying and interceding for the overcoming of that division. And behold, for the second time, Saint Parthenius grants us the blessing to serve together; he was here on this day two years ago, and this year again honored our monastery with his precious presence, together with two other priests, Fathers Lucian and Alexander from the Eparchy of Srem.
Yesterday, we truly had a great number of people. I could not sleep all night because I thanked God that the monastery was so filled; seeing all your beloved faces, with whom we constantly share companionship in Christ—in joy and in sorrow, in good and in bad—and knowing that this monastery, by God’s mercy, has become a common home for so many.
This is what the Church is meant to be: a home. That is why the Lord established it—to be our home. And all that God has done for the salvation of humanity is, theologically, called economy (Greek: οἰκονομία); the entire world that God created, He ordered, placing man as His most beloved creation in that universe. All creation, all that order, all the events for our salvation in the Church are called the divine economy. God prepared a home for man, because man is a child of God. Christ, in turn, is our Master of the House and our Shepherd.
I thank you all immeasurably and at the same time ask your forgiveness in advance, if we do not manage to meet with someone on Sunday, for the greatest, most beautiful, and holiest fast of the year will begin for us, as preparation for the radiant Resurrection—Holy Pascha.
May this fast, as Saint John Chrysostom says, be not merely abstinence from food, but abstinence from harshness, from judgment, from indifference and envy, from hatred and every sin. May our eyes seek Christ, our hands serve in mercy, our hearts expand in love! And may the prayers of Saint Parthenius of Lampsakos, today’s great celebrant, accompany us on this salvific path! Once again, I thank you with all my heart for wishing to meet and share fellowship in Christ together today.
Many years to you all!
