Balta, Ukraine, October 3, 2022
Photo: news.church.ua
A joyous celebration was held in the Balta Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Saturday, as the canonization of a 20th-century ascetic of piety who suffered under the Communist yoke was liturgically proclaimed.
On August 17, 2021, the Holy Synod of the UOC canonized five ascetics of piety as locally venerated saints, including Schema-Archimandrite Anthony of Balta (†1960).
The festive Divine Liturgy was celebrated at Holy Protection Monastery in Balta by the Chancellor of the UOC, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary, together with three other hierarchs and local and visiting clergy, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
During the rite of glorification, the Synodal decision to canonize St. Anthony and the life of the saint were read out. Then they sang the troparion, kontakion, and magnification to St. Anthony and venerated his relics and icon.
Prayers for peace were offered during the Divine Liturgy. Following the service, Met. Anthony congratulated all present and wished them peace and God’s blessing.
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Schema-Archimandrite Anthony labored in asceticism at the Holy Protection-St. Theodosius Monastery in Odessa from the age of 33. He was ordained a hieromonk 3 years later, and later appointed abbot of the monastery’s Elevation of the Cross Skete in the village of Lupolovo, where he fought the heresy of renovationism for many years. His God-pleasing labors drew the ire of the soviet authorities, and he ending up spending 6 years in the camps. With the arrival of Romanian troops, he received an appointment from the Romanian Orthodox Mission. In 1946, after 25-year forced absence from his native monastery, he was blessed to return, where he served as a father confessor until his death. He had the gift of ceaseless noetic prayer. He reposed on August 9/22, 1960, just after receiving Holy Communion.
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