Stefanis adds Bigorski as his 21st beloved monastery

BIGORSKI, North Macedonia | Alkiviadis Stefanis, the civil governor of Mount Athos, symbolically added the Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner, Bigorski, to his list of beloved monasteries while attending the historic monastery’s feast, in a visit that underscored Bigorski’s ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Greece and Mount Athos.

The visit carries particular ecclesiastical interest because Bigorski was the first monastery of the Archdiocese of Ohrid to maintain close relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Greece and Mount Athos, even during the years of ecclesiastical isolation.

Those relations had developed before the May 9, 2022, decision of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which received the Church of North Macedonia into