On Saturday, the abbot of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou on Mount Athos, Archimandrite Bartholomew, accompanied by the fathers of the Monastery, and the Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saints Anargyroi Chernogorski Archimandrite Nikanoros from the Church of Bulgaria, visited the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist Bighorski on the territory of the Archdiocese of Ohrid.
There was an official reception of the Athonite escort by Bishop Parthenios of Antonia. In a touching atmosphere, speeches were delivered by the two abbots of the Holy Monasteries, guest and visitor.
“Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, following in the footsteps of the predecessors of the Holy Fathers, such as Saint Photios the Great, healed another unjust schism created by third parties within the Orthodox Church, for reasons of ethno-racial caesaropapism”, reads the announcement of the Abbot of Esphigmenou Monastery.
After the restoration of the Archdiocese of Ohrid within the Church of Christ and the restoration of Eucharistic unity, a co-liturgy of reconciliation between its hierarchs and the hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade followed on Thursday.
Yesterday, the first Athonite visit to the Archdiocese of Ohrid took place. The joy and emotion was great for everyone and the presence of the grace of the Holy Spirit was felt, because where unity and love there is Christ!
“At a time when some people are misusing a caricature of supposedly Orthodox faith for the “divide and rule” and to lead the land to a nuclear holocaust, our Holy Church unites the peoples, resists the devastation that some plan and brings peace,” the Abbot of the Esphigmenou Monastery of Mount Athos, Archimandrite Bartholomew, said in a statement.
