On February 27, Friday of the first week of Great Lent, the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was celebrated at the historic Church of Saint Sophia in the Bulgarian capital.
The service was presided over by Bishop John of Branitsa, First Vicar of the Metropolitan of Sofia, concelebrating with Stavrophore Economos Kiril Didov, Chairman of the Church Board; Stavrophore Economos Nikolay Georgiev and Economos Lachezar Popov of the parish clergy; Economos Vasil Tanev, Chairman of the Church of St Menas; and Deacon Nikolay Dimitrov.
Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria, prayerfully participated in the Lenten service. The liturgical hymns were chanted by Hieromonk Pimen and the chanters’ choir under the direction of Prof. Ivan Zhelev.
At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Bishop John delivered a sermon to the faithful, reflecting on the beginning of Great Lent and the liturgical hymns of the season, particularly the Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
“We may ask ourselves what repentance, about which we hear throughout this week in the church, has to do with the purity of heart to which God calls us,” the Bishop said. Recalling the words of King David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 50:12), he emphasized that the beginning of purity lies in honest self-examination.
“The beginning of this purity in our heart is to turn toward it and see that it is filled with cunning, with impurity, with everything that separates us from God,” he explained. “This happens through perseverance in prayer, which becomes a mirror reflecting our true moral and spiritual state.”
Despite this reality, Bishop John stressed that God calls every believer to cleanse the heart through repentance, prayer, and fasting, so as to be united with Him in the Holy Eucharist and to prepare for the eternal encounter with Him by keeping His commandments and seeking His holy will in daily life.
Marking the final day of strict fasting during the first week of the Forty Days, Bishop John reminded the faithful that the easing of physical rigor must not mean spiritual relaxation. “This does not mean that we should weaken our efforts in prayer or in reading the Holy Scriptures — it is in this way that God sanctifies our soul,” he said.
Quoting the liturgical exclamation, “The Light of Christ enlightens all,” he concluded by emphasizing that Christ’s light illumines all who desire to be enlightened by it, encouraging the faithful to continue their Lenten struggle with renewed zeal and spiritual vigilance.
Text and photos: Plamen Mihaylov
