40 days have passed since the death of the spiritual leader of the Bulgarian people His Holiness Patriarch Neofit. In his memory was celebrated the Archiepiscopal funeral Mass of St. A mass was celebrated at his tomb in the cathedral of St. Nedelya, a reporter of BGNES reported.
The Archbishop's funeral Mass began at 9.00 am sharp at St. Nedelya, which is also the Metropolitan Church of Sofia. Mass. It was celebrated in the presence of almost all the bishops of the Holy Synod of the BOC.
"May God forgive and rest our blessed departed First Hierarch in the settlements of the just, write him in the book of life and place him with the saints! Eternal may his holy memory abide," the Holy Synod said.
The temple was filled with people who had come to honor the memory of the beloved Patriarch Neofit, who left us on March 13 this year. All the time that the service was going on, more and more people were coming.
By 11.00 the official guests came to the church. These were the President of the National Assembly Rosen Zhelyazkov, the caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and the presidential adviser Gulub Donev.
After the service in the temple was over, the clergy and citizens left the temple and moved in front of the tomb of Patriarch Neofit. When the memorial service began, a torrential rain poured down, which ended with its conclusion and the sun came out again.
"To the angel-like man who was the Angel of our Church, eternal and blessed be his memory. May we always remember him with his kindness, mercy and love that he showed to us hierarchs and to all the people entrusted to him by God," said Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora.
BGNES reminds that the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church died at the age of 78. On 15 March the remains of Patriarch Neofit were exposed for worship in the Patriarchal Cathedral "St. Alexander Nevsky. On Saturday, a funeral Holy Mass was celebrated by Metropolitan John of Varna and Veliko Preslav, followed by an obsequies concelebrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. In a procession the mortal remains of our spiritual father were carried from the Patriarchal Cathedral "St. Alexander Nevsky" to the St. Nedelya Cathedral with the help of the same laffet, which in August 1943 carried the remains of Tsar Boris III the Unifier. Public opinion also defines Patriarch Neofit as the Unifier. The grave of Patriarch Neofit is located next to that of another great spiritual leader of the Bulgarians - Exarch Joseph I of Bulgaria. /BGNES
