Sunday of Orthodoxy sees triple spiritual feast at Bulgaria’s patriarchal cathedral

St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia was home to several celebrations yesterday, including, in addition to the liturgical celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the anniversary of the electoin of His Holiness Patriarch Neofit as the primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The first Sunday of Great Lent, the glorious celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, was celebrated by His Holiness along with His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech, His Eminence Metropolitan Cyprian of Stara Zagora, His Eminence Metropolitan Daniil of Vidin (who recently returned to Bulgaria after serving the Bulgarian Church in America for several years), His Grace Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, representative of the Russian Church to Bulgaria Archimandrite Philip Vassiltsev, representative of the Romanian Church to Bulgaria Fr. Nelutz Opriya, and a number of priests and deacons.

The first Sunday of Lent glorifies the inviolable victory of the Orthodox faith’s fullness of salvation. The feast is kept in memory of the final defeat of the heresy of Iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons to the churches.

At the same time, the day marked the fifth anniversary of the election of His Holiness Neofit as the Bulgarian Patriarch. In a special speech for the occasion, Met. Gabriel emphasized Pat. Neofit’s role for the Bulgarian Church, to faithfully serve God in defending the only saving Orthodox faith through which we hope to inherit eternal salvation in Christ our Lord.

For his part, His Holiness thanked his brother bishops for all their prayerful support, and assured them of his prayers for them and the entirety of Orthodox Bulgaria, calling upon the Most Holy Theotokos and his own patron saint to protect them: “Let them all watch over us and over the entire Orthodox Bulgarian people, and protect us from all trouble and evil.”

At the end of the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the 75th birthday and his long ministry in the Church, Professor Dimitar Dimitrov, conductor of the patriarchal St. Alexander Nevsky choir for 40 years already, was awarded the title “Protopsaltis of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.” Met. Cyprian of Stara Zagora also awarded him the Order of the Holy Apostle Carpus for his decades of faithful service.

Source: OrthoChristian.com