The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will travel to the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 16, 2024, to preside over the funeral service of the late Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, which will take place in the Holy Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky, and to personally express the Mother Church’s sympathy and condolences to the Holy Hierarchs, clergy, monks and nuns, authorities and faithful people of the country.
The Ecumenical Patriarch will be accompanied by Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon and Metropolitan Stephanos of Kallioupolis and Madytos, the Grand Ecclesiarch and Director of the Private Patriarchal Office Archimandrite Aetios Nikiforos, Defterevon Kallinikos and the Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne, Charalambos Nichev. Also accompanying them will be Boris Gurov, Archon of the Great Church of Christ, Nikolaos-Georgios Papachristou, Director of the Press and Communications Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and Petros Bazgarlos, one of the Secretaries of the Patriarchate. The delegation will return to Constantinople on the same day.
Today, Friday, the Ecumenical Patriarch sent the following message of condolence to the mourning Church of Bulgaria:
To His Eminence Metropolitan John of Varna and Veliki Preslav,
Vice-President of the Holy Synod
of the Holy Church of Bulgaria,
In Sofia.Sympathizing with the Most Holy Church of Bulgaria on the death of its Blessed Primate, Patriarch Neophyte, our venerable brother, we pray wholeheartedly for the repose of his soul and that our Lord Jesus Christ, will appoint a worthy successor. May his memory be eternal!
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou