Bulgarian Orthodox Church

An international conference about the contribution of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to the rescue of Bulgarian Jews is taking place in Sofia, Focus News Agency reported.

Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world, including in Bulgaria, are celebrating the greatest Christian holiday, Easter, the resurrection of Christ. Orthodox Christians traditionally mark Easter on a Sunday between April 04 and May 08.

Bulgarian worshippers flocked to churches Saturday night to hear the Holy Mass that celebrates the coming of Easter.

On Palm Sunday 120 people took part in the blood donation campaign, organized by the Bulgarian Red Cross, according to BNR.

 The campaign was also supported by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Hospitals in Sofia need more that 100 liters of blood daily and that is why regular blood donation is of great importance, doctors say.  

Today, on April 8th  the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates the traditional St. Lazar's Day, known here as Lazarovden.

 The holiday is celebrated each year on the eight day (last Saturday) before Easter with typical ceremonies called Lazaruvane. The day is a festival devoted to young girls, pastures, fields and woods.

With a campaign on April 9, the day of the big Christian holiday Palm Sunday (Tsvetnitsa), the spring campaign for voluntary blood donation continues throughout Bulgaria, the press centre of the Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) announced.

Bulgaria and Israel should concentrate on those domains of cooperation they need for the twenty-first century, Israel's Ambassador to Bulgaria, H.E. Irit Lillian, has told Novinite.

Ms Lillian is among the nominees in our annual Personality in the News poll where voting will continue until February 20.

The Bulgarian Parliament declared October 19 day of Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship. The decision was adopted unanimously with 130 votes "for".

On October 19, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates St Ioan Rilski whose holy relics were transported from Sredets to the then-Hungarian capital Esztergom in 1183 and then returned.

After an extraordinary meeting on Monday, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople called on all autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council which is scheduled to take place in Crete from June 16 to 26.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks Saturday the traditional St. Lazar's Day, known here as Lazarovden.

The holiday is celebrated each year on the eight day (last Saturday) before Easter with typical ceremonies called Lazaruvane. The day is a festival devoted to young girls, pastures, fields and woods.

The Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, arrived in Bulgaria on Sunday as Catholics around the world are celebrating Palm Sunday.

Cardinal Parolin will be on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria on Sunday and Monday on the invitation of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the Catholic Church in Bulgaria.