NEWS

Mount Athos has had a beneficial impact on the Orthodox community centuries on end and I hope that its relations with Bulgaria will continue to develop and deepen. This is what Head of State Rumen Radev said at a meeting with Protepistate Hieromonk Symeon and the Holy Community of Mount Athos  - the Holy Koinotita, comprised of representatives of each one of the 20 Orthodox monasteries. The Bulgarian President is visiting Mount Athos to take part in the celebrations of the feast the Bulgarian Orthodox St. George the Zograf Monastery – 16 November.

 

Rumen Radev toured the administrative center Karyes and emphasized that Mount Athos is place saturated with history, where the Orthodox peoples have their representatives, living in peace and harmony, based on the common history and orthodox faith. “The Bulgarian rulers, and also the rulers of other Orthodox countries have made their contribution to the establishment, strengthening and maintenance of the Mount Athos Monasteries,” the Head of State said. The representatives of the Monastery confraternities, for their part, have conducted their enlightenment and apostolic mission in the hardest for the Orthodox peoples times, supporting their Orthodox brothers with faith, word and deed.

 

In the President’s words, Mount Athos’ more than a thousand years’ existence as a consolidated Orthodox community is attributed to the harmonious combination of the government autonomy of each of the monasteries with the rules for coordination and agreement on common decisions, beneficial to the whole Orthodox Christianity in Southeastern Europe.   

 

Protepistate Hieromonk Symeon and the representatives of the Holy Community  solemnly welcomed Rumen Radev as Head of State in front of the central church “Protaton” in Karyes.  Protepistate Hieromonk Symeon{C}{C}{C}{C}emphasized the deep historical and spiritual ties between Mount Athos and Bulgaria and also the contribution of the many Bulgarian clerics and martyrs to Orthodox faith, who have lived studied and worked in Mount Athos, contributing to our common spiritual heritage. They are “the spiritual candle the Bulgarian people hold in the face of the Holy Theotokos,” Hieromonk Symeon

The Presidents of Bulgaria and Hungary Rumen Radev and Janos Ader discussed in a telephone conversation the measures adopted to more quickly tackle the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus. The Bulgarian Head of State reiterated the invitation to his Hungarian counterpart to visit our country in the autumn of 2020, the time when Bulgaria and Hungary will together mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations.

The creation of a Bulgarian-Chinese innovations hub in Sofia was agreed upon during the Bulgarian Head of State’s visit to the People’s Republic of China and his meeting with President Xi Jinping in July 2019. The St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia is ready to provide a terrain for creating the hub, it emerged at the meeting.

The most important lessons we have learned from the current crisis are that the restrictive measures must not violate fundamental human rights, the social measures must help those that are most in need and the financial measures must be targeted at those who will be the driving force of a fast recovery. This is what President Rumen Radev said in the statement he made at the high-level event on financing for development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond, which was held through a video-conference connection

Head of State Rumen Radev held a meeting with US Ambassador to Bulgaria Herro Mustafa at 2 Dondukov street today. The prospects for the development of the bilateral strategic partnership, promoting US investments in Bulgaria’s economy, the modernization of the Bulgarian Armed Forces and the cooperation in the energy sphere were among the highlights of the meeting.