Monastery News
With great sadness but also with joyful faith in the Resurrection of our Lord, we announce the repose of our beloved father in Christ, Schema-Archimandrite Panteleimon (Voepel). He fell asleep in the Lord early this morning, April 24th, just before 3am. He died peacefully at home, in the kellia where he has welcomed monks, clergy, and pilgrims for many years, surrounded by his devoted spiritual children. As he was nearing the end, his cell attendant read the Canon for the Departure of the Soul, and at the conclusion of the final prayer, Fr. Panteleimon quietly gave his soul back into God's hands.
I wholeheartedly greet all of you, God-loving archpastors and pastors, devout monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters, on our greatest Christian Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ!
The Resurrection of Christ is a most glorious, sacred event, through which God returned the lost Paradise to mankind; it is the event through which the Love of God destroyed hell and deprived death of its power. Through His Resurrection, Christ the Savior again bestowed upon mankind the lost gift of eternal life and bliss.
With God's help, we safely crossed the sea of Great Lent and reached the bright days of the Lord's Pascha. May the present celebration, for which we have been preparing with prayer and fasting, renew the right spirit, that is, a healthy spirit, in our hearts, in order to understand the mystery of Christ's Resurrection, to enjoy the "riches of goodness" of which Chrysostom writes, and to anticipate "eternal joy"! Let us give praise to the Savior as the destroyer of Hell and death, and, embracing one another with holy kisses, let us be comforted by the common spiritual joy in Him, in accordance with the Apostle's admonition: "Rejoice, be perfected, be comforted, be of one mind, be peaceable, and the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:11).
It is not fortuitous that church tradition calls this day the “feast of feasts” and the
“triumph of triumphs”, for Christ’s Resurrection is the solid foundation of our faith and
hope. At the heart of it we find the transformation and renewal of every human being,
the light of life everlasting and the fount of constant joy. Christ’s Resurrection has
vanquished the most terrible enemies of the human race, which are sin and death, it has
torn down the barrier between God and people and delivered us from the power of evil.