Mount Athos has had a beneficial impact on the Orthodox community centuries on end and I hope that its relations with Bulgaria will continue to develop and deepen. This is what Head of State Rumen Radev said at a meeting with Protepistate Hieromonk Stephen and the Holy Community of Mount Athos – the Holy Koinotita, comprised of representatives of each one of the 20 Orthodox monasteries. The Bulgarian President is visiting Mount Athos to take part in the celebrations of the feast the Bulgarian Orthodox St. George the Zograf Monastery – 16 November.
Rumen Radev toured the administrative center Karyes and emphasized that Mount Athos is place saturated with history, where the Orthodox peoples have their representatives, living in peace and harmony, based on the common history and orthodox faith. “The Bulgarian rulers, and also the rulers of other Orthodox countries have made their contribution to the establishment, strengthening and maintenance of the Mount Athos Monasteries,” the Head of State said. The representatives of the Monastery confraternities, for their part, have conducted their enlightenment and apostolic mission in the hardest for the Orthodox peoples times, supporting their Orthodox brothers with faith, word and deed.
In the President’s words, Mount Athos’ more than a thousand years’ existence as a consolidated Orthodox community is attributed to the harmonious combination of the government autonomy of each of the monasteries with the rules for coordination and agreement on common decisions, beneficial to the whole Orthodox Christianity in Southeastern Europe.
Protepistate Hieromonk Stephen and the representatives of the Holy Community solemnly welcomed Rumen Radev as Head of State in front of the central church “Protaton” in Karyes. Protepistate Hieromonk Stephen emphasized the deep historical and spiritual ties between Mount Athos and Bulgaria and also the contribution of the many Bulgarian clerics and martyrs to Orthodox faith, who have lived studied and worked in Mount Athos, contributing to our common spiritual heritage. They are “the spiritual candle the Bulgarian people hold in the face of the Holy Theotokos,” Hieromonk Stephen said. He voiced conviction that the strong spiritual ties with our country will continue to deepen in the future and the Orthodox faith in Bulgaria will be preserved and developed with the help of the Holy Theotokos.
President Radev’s visit to Mount Athos will continue with a visit to the Bulgarian spiritual and national sacred place – St. George the Zograf Monastery.
— Source: president.bg | Photos: Rafail Georgiadis