Glorious Feast of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin in Asten, Hollandtranslated

The feast of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Asten, the Netherlands, was celebrated on Saturday, September 5, 2026, with particular splendor and deep spiritual rapture, gathering a large number of believers.

The solemn Divine Liturgy was presided over by the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Belgium, Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Mr. Athenagoras, co-celebrant of the Theophilist Bishop of Apollonia, Mr. Joakim. It was attended by a multitude of priests from the Netherlands and Belgium, who came to celebrate the feast of the Virgin.

The sacred hymns were rendered in the Greek and Dutch languages, according to the traditional monastic style, creating an atmosphere of rapture and spiritual upliftment, which characterized the entire sacred sequence. The participation of the faithful was particularly moving, as a large number of people came reverently not only from the wider Benelux region, but also from neighboring Germany, demonstrating the important role of the Holy Monastery as a spiritual oasis of Orthodoxy in the heart of Europe.

Before the Divine Liturgy, His Holiness performed the ordination of Mr. Jesse Wortman, a young man from the parish of Kampen, Holland, as a reader.

After the…