Saint George Zograf: Feast of the Monastery on Mount Athos

Following an all-night vigil and a solemn Holy Liturgy, the commemoration of the autumn feast of St. George at the Bulgarian monastery "St. Great Martyr George Zograf" on Mount Athos began early this morning. The feast, dedicated to the day when the relics of the saint were transferred from the place of his martyrdom in Lydda, Asia Minor, to a newly consecrated Christian church, attracted many pilgrims and high-ranking guests.

A procession, led by the miraculous icon of St. George, opened the celebrations. The sound of church hymns echoed in the early hours as pilgrims and monks carried the icon. The atmosphere was imbued with religious reverence and solemnity.

The service was headed by Bishop Joan of Branitsa, the first vicar of the Metropolitan of Sofia and Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel, concelebrating with the Abbot of Zograf Monastery, Archimandrite Gavriil. The presence of high-ranking clergymen emphasized the importance of the feast for the Bulgarian Orthodox community.

Numerous pilgrims from Bulgaria participated in the procession, carrying the icon of St. Great Martyr George – the Arab. They passed from the monastery to the church "St. George" on the opposite hill, west of the entrance of the cloister. The place, where according to tradition the mule stopped, which brought the icon in the twelfth century, seemed to remind of the long history of the connection between this monastery and the Bulgarian people.

A representative parliamentary delegation from Bulgaria also arrived for the feast. It was led by the Deputy Chairman of the 51st National Assembly, Tsoncho Ganev, from "Vazrazhdane". The delegation also included the chairman of the parliamentary committee on human rights and religious affairs, Krasimir Sabev from GERB-SDS, the deputy chairman of the same committee, Atanas Slavov from "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria", the deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of "Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning" Stanislav Anastasov, the deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on budget and finance and secretary of the parliamentary group of "BSP - United Left" Atanas Atanasov, the parliamentary secretary and secretary of the parliamentary group of "There Is Such a People" Alexander Valchev and the MP from "Velichie" Lyubisha Blazhevski. The presence of such a representative group emphasizes the importance of the spiritual heritage and the connection of Bulgaria with Mount Athos. The delegation was accompanied by the Consul General of Bulgaria in Thessaloniki, Greece, Anton Markov, and the chief expert associate of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy, Lachezar Toshev.

The choir "St. Naum of Ohrid" from the city of Sofia, under the direction of Andrey Kasabov, performed church hymns, which filled the monastery with melody and prayerfulness.

The General Director of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), Kiril Valchev, also attended the feast. He provided the monastery's library with two volumes of archival news and photos, reflecting the history of the monastery during the 127 years of the agency. The texts, collected in a book of 127 pages, reflect all the news about the monastery, published by BTA, whose first bulletin was published in 1898. The oldest news about Mount Athos, which is preserved in BTA, is from 1935 and is taken from the French agency "Havas", which reports on the ebb and flow off the coast of Athos due to an earthquake in Greece. The second volume contains 91 photos from the BTA photo archive of Zograf Monastery, with the oldest photo dating back to 1972. The presence of these documents emphasizes the importance of archives as a monument of history and the connection between the Bulgarian community and Mount Athos. On the spring feast of St. George on May 6, Valchev promised to the newly elected Abbot Archimandrite Gavriil that he would provide copies of the news about Zograf Monastery from the BTA bulletins from 1898 to the present day, as well as copies of the photos from the monastery, which the national information agency of Bulgaria has. They were handed over on paper and electronic media for storage in the library of the holy abode.