For the first time in thirty-six years, Bishop Parthenius of Antania, abbot of the Bigorski Monastery, served on Mount Athos. The last time he was there he was a young theology student and novice at the Gregoriou monastery, under the spiritual guidance of Elder George Kapsanis. He has now returned as a bishop.

He served on the feast of St. Panteleimon, at the Koutloumousiou skete, together with Bishop Athenagoras, auxiliary bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. That is the detail that makes this more than a pilgrimage.

Why one concelebration is politics

This is the first hierarchical concelebration by a representative of the Macedonian Orthodox Church - Ohrid Archbishopric on Mount Athos under the new church circumstances - the ones created after 2022, when the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognised the canonical status of the Macedonian Orthodox Church after 55 years of non-recognition.

Mount Athos is not an ordinary place for that kind of gesture. Services there follow strict order, and who stands with whom before the altar is not chance but a statement. Because in Orthodox tradition concelebration is the very definition of recognition: you do not concelebrate with someone whose status is disputed.

So this liturgy says more than any press conference about relations between Skopje and the Phanar.

What is still unresolved

But before anyone declares the dispute over, it is worth recalling what still stands between the two sides. The question of the Tomos of autocephaly remains open, and the demands coming from the Ecumenical Patriarchate - among them giving up the name „Macedonian Orthodox Church” and jurisdiction over believers outside the country - have so far been judged unacceptable.

Which means we have a recognised canonical status but not a finished job. The church is in a position where it can concelebrate but cannot obtain the document that would close the story.

Symbol or step

The statement from the Bigorski Monastery emphasises the personal dimension: a man who once arrived there as a timid novice returns „as a monk, priest and bishop”. It is a fine sentence and most likely a sincere one.

But for those following church relations, the other side is what matters. Symbols on Mount Athos are rarely accidental, and this symbol is worth exactly as much as whatever follows it. If a few months pass with no new step toward the Tomos, then this was a nice photograph. If there is one - then it is worth remembering as the first.