Paschal Funeral Served for Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon
On Bright Saturday, April 26, 2025, the special Bright Week funeral service for a monastic was served for the newly reposed abbot of Holy Cross Monastery, Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon (Voepel). The service was held in the new monastery church immediately after a Paschal Divine Liturgy – the first Divine Liturgy to be served in the new church.
Archimandrite John (Townsend), abbot of Optina Elders Skete in Roswell, GA officiated the service. Concelebrating were Igumen Gabriel, abbot-elect of Holy Cross Monastery, along with over twenty other local and visiting clergy. Hundreds of faithful were also in attendance, praying fervently for the repose of Fr. Panteleimon during the funeral and burial. Among those praying in the nave were Abbess Christophora and Sister Sarah from the Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City; the monastic unity and fellowship which they offered, along with that of the holy fathers from the Optina Elders Skete, was a source of tremendous consolation to the brotherhood.
Igumen Gabriel delivered the eulogy, in which he spoke of Fr. Panteleimon’s legacy and spiritual testament: in a word, his lifelong desire to share the love of Christ with absolutely everyone around him.
After bidding farewell and giving the last kiss to the departed, the coffin containing Fr. Panteleimon’s body was solemnly carried to the monastic cemetery outside the church as the clergy and faithful sang “Christ is Risen.” A brief graveside service was then served with singing and prayers, and the casket was lowered into the ground.
During the memorial meal which followed, condolences on the repose of Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon were relayed from His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, as well as other hierarchs including Metropolitan Jonah, Archbishop Gabriel, and Bishop Thomas of the Antiochian Archdiocese.
Memory Eternal to the newly departed Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon!
(For a detailed and beautiful description of the day, please read a reflection by one of Fr. Panteleimon’s spiritual daughters.)
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