A Meeting took place between Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk and the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria

DECR Communication Service, 23.11.2024.

On November 22, 2024, at the conclusion of their visit to Bulgaria, a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, which had arrived to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the Alexander Nevsky Patriarchal Cathedral in Sofia, visited the Embassy of the Russian Federation.

The delegation, led by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, included Patriarchal Advisor Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Deputy Chairman of the DECR Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, and Assistant to the Chairman of the DECR Priest Alexander Ershov. The visit was made with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and at the invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria and the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

At the Embassy building, Metropolitan Anthony held a meeting with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Bulgaria, E.V. Mitrofanova. The meeting was also attended by members of the delegation and the representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' to the Patriarch of Bulgaria, Rector of the Patriarchal Metochion in Sofia, Archpriest Vladimir Tyshchuk.

During their stay in Sofia, Metropolitan Anthony and the members of the official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church laid flowers at the monument to the medical officers who died in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, located in the center of the Bulgarian capital. They also visited the Russian House in Sofia, where they viewed the exhibition "By the Power of Christ," and the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church – the Church of St. Nicholas on Tsar the Liberator Boulevard, where they prayed in the crypt at the tomb of St. Seraphim (Sobolev) of Boguchar.

While visiting the Cathedral of the Sofia Metropolis, dedicated to the Holy Martyr Nedelya, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk conducted a memorial service at the grave of His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria (1945–2024).

On the same day, the Chairman of the DECR, together with the Secretary-General of the Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, held a solemn thanksgiving service in the Alexander Nevsky Patriarchal Cathedral in honor of the centenary of the church's consecration.

At the building of the Holy Synod, His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria received Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk and the delegation accompanying him.

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A Meeting took place between Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk and the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria

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