Sofia, July 27, 2017
Photo: afonit.info On July 26, with the blessing of the Holy Kinot of Mt. Athos, the honorable head of the Great Martyr Panteleimon was delivered from the Russian St. Panteleimon’s Monastery on the Holy Mountain to the canonical territory of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, reports Russian Athos.
This great Athonite relic is being accompanied by the abbot of St. Panteleimon’s Archimandrite Evlogy, along with Hieromonks Seraphim and Nicholas.
The head of the great saint was greeted at noon as it crossed the Greek-Bulgarian border by Metropolitan Seraphim (Dinkov) of Nevrokop and Bishop Gerasim (Georgiev) of Melnik, the head secretary of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The gathered hierarchs and clergy prayed before the relic, after which it was venerated by the border guards and taken to the capital city of Sofia.
Photo: afonit.info The relic was greeted on July 27, the commemoration day of St. Panteleimon on the New Calendar, by His Holiness Patriarch Neofit of Sofia in the Sofia Cathedral of the Seven Saints, named for Sts. Cyril and Methodios and five of their followers, who are celebrated the same day in the Bulgarian Church. After ceremoniously greeting the sacred object, the Divine Liturgy was served by Pat. Neofit along with several other bishops and clergy of the Bulgarian Church, and the abbot and accompanying brothers of St. Panteleimon’s Monastery.
The relic will remain in the church for two days for the faithful to venerate.
Photo: afonit.info It will then be moved to Holy Resurrection Cathedral on July 29, and to the St. Nicholas Russian podvoriye church in Sofia on July 31. On August 1, the venerable head of St. Panteleimon will arrive at the ancient Bulgarian town of Vratsa in northwest Bulgaria, where His Holiness and the Athonite delegation will meet Metropolitan Gregory (Tsvetkov) of Vratsa and local cathedral clergy under the solemn ringing of the city’s church bells. The Divine Liturgy will then be celebrated in the diocesan cathedral in the presence of the sacred relic.
Met. Gregory will again serve the Liturgy in the cathedral the next day, August 2, after which the relic will be taken to the city’s central medical complex, where a moleben will be celebrated in the yard, and the foundation stone of a new church in honor of the Great Martyr Panteleimon will be laid.
The sacred head of St. Panteleimon will then be carried back to Mt. Athos the same day by Archimandrite Evlogy and the fathers of St. Panteleimon’s Monastery.
