Source: Anadolu Ajansı by Ihvan Radoykov Teaching of religion is instrumental in prevention of violence, spiritual-moral training of students, says church SOFIA, Bulgaria – The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has demanded that religious education be made compulsory in school curriculums, saying it will be beneficial to students. The ruling body of the church, the Synod, sent a written request saying that compulsory religious education is important in “the prevention of violence, the spiritual-moral training of the students, and the raising of the nation’s spirituality.” The Bulgarian Constitution recognizes Orthodox Christianity as the official religion of the country, stating that “Eastern Orthodox Christianity…
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Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Albania on February 24 issued a communique relating to the Orthodox church in North Macedonia. https://orthodoxalbania.org/2020/en/2023/02/24/communique-the-holy-synod-orthodox-autocephalous-church-of-albania/ The official English translation is as follows: The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania, during her session of February 23, 2023, under the presidency of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios, reiterated that she gladly welcomes the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, of last May 2022, that “She accepts into Eucharistic communion the Hierarchy, the clergy, and laity of the Church under Archbishop Stefan… She recognizes as…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle, WA USA Pope Francis has just completed his first day in Sofia, Bulgaria. In reviewing the reports in major Bulgarian newspapers and the comments by top government officials, it appears that the visit so far has been very well received. The Pope’s humble approach seems to win hearts. There has been considerable coverage of the visit in the Western media both before the Pope’s arrival in Sofia and afterwards. One very important aspect of the visit is the Pope’s contact with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. With respect to that aspect, several items today caught my…
Source: Pravoslavie.ru The Muslim community in a Bulgarian village have raised funds and contributed their labour to restore a century-old Orthodox Christian church. For the first time in decades, the bell of the small church in the village of Kozlets, in the southern Bulgarian province of Haskovo which borders Greece and Turkey, will peal again. The restoration of the bell tower cost 2000 leva (about 1000 euro). “It was possible that it would fall and bring down the roof with it. This very much worried the Christians in the village. So we decided to raise money,” village mayor Kadir Beynur…
Source: MYSTAGOGY On Sunday, July 6th, the youngest Bishop in the Orthodox Church was ordained in the Sacred Church of Saint Marina in Bulgaria. Archimandrite Arsenios was elected Bishop of Znepol, an assistant to Metropolitan Nicholas of Philippopolis (Plovdiv), by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria on Wednesday 2 July. Bishop Arsenios of Znepol became the youngest Bishop in the Orthodox Church at just 28 years of age, after a special setting in the Charter of the Church of Bulgaria. Bishop Arsenios was born in 1986 in Stara Zagora. He was tonsured a monk on 11 August 2008…
Source: FOCUS Information Agency Sofia. Patriarch Neophyte, head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, is in good health and complies successfully with his obligations. The press centre of the Holy Synod announced the news in connection with rumours concerning his health, which was said to have deteriorated. Yesterday Radio Darik reported he fainted away at the altar of a church in Istanbul while a divine liturgy, which closed the meeting of the heads of the local Orthodox Churches, was being served. [subscribe2]
Source: The Sofia Globe Members of Bulgaria’s parliamentary committee on religious affairs are proposing for the first time to include the Roman Catholic church in the country in the list of religious bodies to receive state subsidies. This emerged after a meeting between the chairperson of the committee, Plamen Slavov, and the head of the bishops’ conference of the Roman Catholic church in Bulgaria, Hristo Proykov. “So far, we have been self-supporting, and if we get this grant, it would be a good helping hand for us,” local media quoted Proykov as saying. Slavov said that the committee supported the…
Source: Sofia Globe by The Sofia Globe staff The Bulgarian Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Sliven, Yoanikii, has issued a statement objecting to reported plans for a monument to Roman Catholic Pope John XXIII in the seaside town of Nessebur, saying that John XXIII did not deserve this and the move would create tensions between Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics. John XXIII, Pope from October 1958 to June 1963, was Papal Nuncio to Bulgaria from 1925 to 1935. The plan for a statue of him to be erected at the isthmus of the town was inspired, according to the municipality, by him…
Source: Humans are Free 98 year old Dobri Dobrev, a man who lost most of his hearing in the second world war, has traveled 25 kilometers every day for decades from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia – a trip he made by foot until recently – where he spends the day begging for money. Though a well recognized fixture around several of the city’s churches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000…
Source: International Business Times By Palash R. Ghosh The president of Bulgaria has called on the nation to pray for peace, health and prosperity following a wave of suicides in the country believed to have been prompted by deepening poverty and resentment over state corruption. The Sofia News Agency reported that all churches of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church will conduct such prayers starting this Friday through Sunday. On Thursday, President Rosen Plevneliev met with leaders of the country’s various religious communities — including Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Evangelists, the Armenian Apostolic Church as well as the dominant Orthodox Church, to encourage an…
Source: The Sofia Globe Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neofit is to lead a “prayer for the reconciliation of the Bulgarian people” on March 10 in response to the current turbulent social, political and economic situation facing the country, the Holy Synod said. Neofit was elected Patriarch on February 24, taking office amid a series of nationwide protests and political upheaval as Bulgaria heads for early national parliamentary elections on May 12. Of Bulgaria’s population of 7.3 million, according to the February 2011 census, 76 per cent declared themselves to be Orthodox Christians. The Holy Synod said that all “Orthodox Christians…
Source: Sofia News Agency The Sofia Bishopric has labeled the Friday refusal of the Diocesan Council of prelates and vicars to sign the list of representatives from the Sofia Diocese to elect a new patriarch a “sabotage.” The list was prepared by interim Patriarch and Sofia Metropolitan Kiril. The Bishopric admits that there have been disagreements in the process of preparing the list, but their escalation, they say, was a clear sign that the story aims at sabotaging the election. The statement, issued Saturday, further stresses that such act is unacceptable in the light of clerical discipline and canonical spirit.…