Bulgarian Orthodox delegation in Rome for the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius

On 23 May, on the occasion of the Bulgarian National Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the new Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU), H.E. Archbishop Flavio Pace, participated in the Divine Liturgy in the Basilica of St. Clement, celebrated by Metropolitan Antonii, Metropolitan of Western Europe of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria, in charge of the Bulgarian Orthodox communities in Italy and Malta. At the end of the ceremony, Archbishop Pace, greeted the Bulgarian delegation, led by the President of the Republic, Mr. Rumen Radev, and conveyed the greetings of the Dicastery’s Prefect, Cardinal Kurt Koch, assuring the visitors of his prayers for the election of the new Bulgarian Patriarch, and hoping that the gifts of reconciliation and peace may be known in a world marked by war.

The previous day, 22 May, Archbishop Alfonso V. Amarante, C.Ss.R., Rector of the Lateran University, Metropolitan Antonii and Mr Rumen Radev inaugurated an exhibition in the atrium of the Lateran University, entitled "Athos in Images and Photography".

On 24 May , on the occasion of the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Metropolitan Antonii and Revd Ivan Ivanov, together with a number of faithful, prayed a Moleben in St. Peter's Basilica, in the Chapel of the Patron Saints of Europe.

The delegation was accompanied throughout its stay in Rome by Revd Jaromír Zádrapa, who works in the Eastern Section of the DPCU.