First visit of Macedonian Orthodox bishop to Mt. Athos since Church’s return to canonical communion (+VIDEO)

Karyes, Greece, August 11, 2026

The MOC’s Bishop Partenij presided over a 12-hour vigil for the feast of St. Panteleimon. Photo: bigorski.org.mk

A bishop of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric made a pilgrimage to Mt. Athos over the weekend, marking the first visit of an MOC hierarch to the Holy Mountain since the Church’s return to canonical communion.

The MOC had been regarded as being in schism for several decades. In May 2022, the Patriarchate of Constantinople entered into communion with the MOC, and the Church then returned to communion with the rest of Orthodoxy when it reconciled with the Serbian Orthodox Church, from which it had separated in the 1960s and from which it subsequently received a tomos of autocephaly. Since then, MOC hierarchs and clergy have concelebrated with most Local Churches, but the visit of His Grace Bishop Partenij of Atania, abbot of Bigorsky Monastery, is the first by an MOC hierarch to the center of Orthodox spirituality since communion was repaired.

Bishop Partenij was joined on the pilgrimage by members of the Bigorsky brotherhood and by Bishop Athenagoras of Myra, vicar bishop of the Orthodox Metropolis of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Venezuela and Colombia under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Bigorsky Monastery reports.

The visit came at the invitation of Hierodeacon Chrysostom, abbot of the Koutloumousiou Skete of St. Panteleimon in Karyes, where Bishop Partenij was set to preside at the feast-day Vigil and Divine Liturgy for the Great Martyr and Healer St. Panteleimon.

The trip held particular significance for Bishop Partenij, as it was his first time on Mt. Athos as a bishop, and his first time serving there in 36 years. As a young novice, he had spent time at Grigoriou Monastery under the guidance of the late Elder George Kapsanis, and it was that period on Athos that helped shape the monastic revival he later led at Bigorsky.

After arriving in Karyes, the group met with the Sacred Community of Mt. Athos and its protoepistates, Elder George of Vatopedi, and venerated the wonderworking Axion Estin Icon of the Theotokos in the Protaton church. The pilgrimage then continued to a series of monasteries and sketes.

At Philotheou, they venerated the Glykophilousa Icon of the Theotokos; at Karakalou, the group venerated relics including the head of the Apostle Bartholomew; and at Iveron, they venerated the famous Portaitissa Icon of the Theotokos Portaitissa.

The group spent the first night at Vatopedi Monastery, hosted by abbot Archimandrite Ephraim. The pilgrimage also included stops at several other monasteries, sketes, and kellia.

The pilgrimage reached its liturgical high point that evening at the Koutloumousiou Skete of St. Panteleimon, where Bishop Partenij presided over a 12-hour All-Night Vigil for the feast of St. Panteleimon, joined by Bishop Athenagoras.

Following the Vigil, Bishop Partenij celebrated the Divine Liturgy, concelebrating with Bishop Athenagoras, the abbots of Esphigmenou and Koutloumousiou, and several other clergy, including Bigorsky monks. The service coincided with the 31st anniversary of Bishop Partenij’s ordination to the priesthood, which had also taken place on the feast of St. Panteleimon, in 1995.

At the meal that followed, Archimandrite Nicholas of Koutloumousiou thanked Bishop Partenij for his visit. In his own remarks, Bishop Partenij expressed gratitude to Patriarch Bartholomew for the blessing to make the journey, and to the Koutloumousiou brotherhood for its hospitality.

Hierodeacon Chrysostom presented Bishop Partenij with an icon of St. Panteleimon to be placed at Bigorsky Monastery as a token of the renewed spiritual ties between the two communities. In turn, Bishop Partenij gave the skete his episcopal mitre and presented Bishop Athenagoras with an episcopal Panagia bearing an image of the Theotokos Enthroned.

The entire 12-hour Vigil can be viewed on YouTube:

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