With the blessing of Geronta Nikodim, Father Nazari was able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the main church of the monastery.

The Sunday service was especially beautiful, as the monks continually lit more and more candles as the service progressed and the chanting grew louder and more celebratory. After the service we enjoyed coffee and a conversation with Geronta, which was filled with spiritually enriching words of wisdom. Then we were informed that inclement weather was about to move over the Theotokos’ Garden and that we would have to leave the Holy Mountain a day early. We therefore packed our bags and bid farewell to our friends at Dokhiari and set out to our final stops on this pilgrimage. Driving into Karyes we stopped at the Skete of Bourazeu, the main church of which has recently been beautified and contains some of the most beautiful recent iconography and design on the Holy Mountain. Our final stop was the Russian monastery of Saint Pantaleimon. We were delighted to hear Vespers being sung in Slavonic and prayed thankfully to the Theotokos for all she had blessed us with on this trip. As we left the Garden of the Theotokos we prayed for all those who asked for intercessions and reflected on the spiritual gifts we had received throughout the duration of our pilgrimage, thankful that we were so blessed to experience the concentrated prayerfulness of the Holy Mountain.