Metropolitan Antony of Kiev and Galicia (1863-1936)

[Ako-Heka]

http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/metantny.htm

1935 saw Metropolitan Antony’s jubilee, fifty years of service in the clergy. There was a great celebration, present were Russian bishops, the Serbian Patriarch and Metropolitan Elias of Mt Lebanon from the Patriarchate of Antioch. By this time the Metropolitan was no longer able to walk and used a wheelchair. His conversation was centred on spiritual matters, on the heart which acquires the Holy Spirit, on the joy of the Resurrection, on Communion, repentance and tears. On 15/28 July 1936, weeping he gave his last sermon. In it he said that only tears of repentance could return the crucified homeland. On 8 August (new style) the Metropolitan received the sacrament of holy unction. Two days later he reposed, at 9.20 in the evening of 28 July/10 August 1936.

The funeral took place on 13 August in the Cathedral of St Michael in Belgrade. Patriarch Barnabas, six bishops and dozens of priests concelebrated. In his funeral oration the Patriarch again compared the Metropolitan to the great bishops of the first centuries. The body of the Metropolitan was laid to rest beneath the Iveron chapel in a new cemetery, where the Metropolitan had some years before prepared his place. Here his earthly remains rest to this day.

Afterword