On November 21, 2024, at the invitation of Holy Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria and the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, an official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church headed by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk arrived in Sofia for the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the Patriarchal Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk.
The delegation included Counselor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Protopriest Nikolai Balashov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church Protopriest Igor Yakimchuk, and Assistant to the Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church, Priest Alexander Ershov.
The delegation also included Priest Alexander Ershov.
The guests were met at the airport by Bishop Gerasim of Melnish, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and Archpriest Vladimir Tyshchuk, Rector of the Foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia.
In the morning of November 22, members of the delegation laid flowers at the monument to the medical personnel who died in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 (the so-called Doctor's Monument) located in the center of the Bulgarian capital. monument). The event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Bulgaria E.V. Mitrofanova, representatives of the Bulgarian public.
The guests from the Russian Orthodox Church also visited the Russian House in Sofia, where they familiarized themselves with the exhibition «By the Power of Christ», which presents icon-painting images and items of arts and crafts by Russian icon-painter Ekaterina Titova.
The members of the delegation were welcomed with joy and warmth by the clergy and believers of St. Nicholas Church on Tsar Liberator Boulevard, the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia. Proceeding to the crypt where the tomb of St. Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk is located, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk and his companions offered a prayer to the saint at his tomb.
At the entrance to the Cathedral of the Metropolis of Sofia in honor of the Martyr of the Week, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk and his accompanying clergy were met by the rector of the cathedral Archimandrite Vasily (Savov). After visiting the cathedral and worshipping its sacred objects, the members of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation, headed by the chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church Central Committee, proceeded to the tomb of Holy Patriarch Neophytos of Bulgaria (1945-2024), where Metropolitan Anthony performed the following ceremony a requiem liturgy.
EVCS Communication Service/Patriarchy.ru
