Father's Day Homily

 

Being Thirsty

[Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, John 4:5-42]

Christ is Risen!

This is one of those issues that should prove to us the fullness of the humanity of our Lord.  As God He has the authority and the ability to satisfy the needs of His physical body.  But His physical body is expressing to Him as fully God and fully Man that it is in need of water.

In Verse 7 of today’s Gospel from St. John, Jesus expresses this fact to a woman.  Give Me a drink. It is not the only time in all of scripture that this happens.  We find it also on the Cross.  It is St. John again who records, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” In the instance on the Cross, we have evidence that they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.  And when He had received the sour wine… So we know that Jesus’ request was met.

But today, at Jacob’s well, there’s no indication that our Lord’s request for water was met!

Jesus engaged the woman in conversation.  From her side, You shouldn’t be talking with me.  Why are You?  After Jesus offers her His living water, she shows her lack of understanding.  You have nothing to draw with.  Where will You get this living water?  When Jesus reveals yet more about His living water, she goes to the final step of confusion, Give me this water that I might not again thirst. 

Our Lord has led her to this point so that He can make His next request.

Call your husband and come here.  Within this request Jesus elicits from the woman a confession.  She doesn’t know it as she speaks it, but it becomes a confession.

I have no husband.  Jesus congratulates her for her honesty.  You’ve had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.  Now the woman is confused.  This Man has been trying to teach me something, and I didn’t understand.  Now He shows me His ability to know the content of my heart.  Why is He doing this?  What does He really want from me?  I should try to test His understanding of our faith.

We worship on this mountain.  The Jews say only in Jerusalem.  What do YOU say?

Jesus speaks to her of worship in spirit and truth.  In the final revelation, she speaks about the Messiah, and she confesses her belief in Him and that when He comes He will tell us all things.  Jesus ends the conversation by saying, I who speak with you am He.

The woman does not go to the man revealed in the conversation with the Lord.  She becomes an evangelist and rushes to the men in the city.  Come see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?

So, did Jesus’ plea to have His thirst satisfied go unfulfilled?  When His Apostles come, they beg Him to eat something, and He responds to their prompts I have food to eat of which you do not know.

Why is it such a stretch to understand that He also has water to drink of which we do not know?  What is this water, this living water?  The Lord drank abundantly of the repentance of the woman, who becomes St. Photini, a woman who with her children and sisters spread the water of life to all who would listen.

Christ is Risen!

The Lord's Promises

 [From the Sunday of the Paralytic, 2024, Acts 9:32-42]

In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 14, Jesus is giving His “good-bye” message to His Apostles.  In so doing, He makes a promise to them. 

Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

What is it that our Lord is saying to His Apostles, and to His Church (His bride) through them?

We are given a glimpse of one fulfillment of this promise in todays Epistle from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 9.

Therein we find St. Peter on a missionary journey (as he went through all parts of the country—V32) and was in Lydda.  While there, St. Peter heals a paralytic (that which we see our Lord doing in today’s Gospel from St. John).  Here is one instance of the promise fulfilled of the works that I do he will do also.

But at this time the people at Joppa have a need.  A beloved disciple in their community, Tabitha, has died.  And so in faith they send for St. Peter.

St. Luke records here in the Book of Acts how the people in Joppa sent two men to seek to bring St. Peter to help with the death of their beloved Tabitha.

The distance between Joppa and Lydda is about 11 miles.  So this is not a 10 minute effort.  The average running speed for a 30 year old male is about 6 miles per hour, so this is a 2 hour trip for men from Lydda to reach Joppa, then find St. Peter, then at least 2 hours back to Lydda to the upper room where Tabitha lay dead.  This is if the messengers (and St. Peter) indeed run the whole way!

Why this focus on time?  In the three accounts of our Lord’s raising people from death, we have the account of the daughter of Jairus, who had “just” in that hour died.  In the account of the son of the widow of Nain, the young man’s death would have been within that current day, likely hours before.  In the account of the Lord’s friend Lazarus, he had been dead for four days.

This would appear to be (in terms of equivalence) similar to our Lord’s raising of the son of the widow of Nain.

St. John Chrysostom writes of this event with these words.

St. Peter sends all those in the upper room out, imitating his Master in this also (Mk 5:40).  For where tears are—or rather where miracles are, there tears have no place.  Certainly not in the celebration of such a mystery.

In the case of our dead, a great mystery is celebrating likewise.  Angels are present, commissioned from heaven… sent from the King Himself to call their fellow servant, and I ask you, ‘Do you weep’?  Do you not know what a mystery it is that is taking place, how awful, how dread, and worthy indeed of hymns and lauds?  For it is a very great mystery of the Wisdom of God.  As if leaving the dwelling, the soul goes forth, speeding on her way to her own Lord, and do you mourn?  Why then you should do this on the birth of a child: for this in fact is also a birth, and better than that…

For as the sun arises, clear and bright, so the soul leaving the body with a clear conscience, shines joyously… Think what the soul must then be, in what amazement, what wonder, what delight!

Christ is Risen!

Indeed He is Risen!

I Can't Wait

 It’s an expression we often use when we’re excited about something.  Maybe it’s anticipation waiting for a movie to be released.  Maybe it’s for buying the first local grown corn for the season.  Sometimes for me it the desire to go out cruising with the top down for the first time.  We all have things that we look forward to.

But that’s NOT the perspective we find within the Myrrhbearing women today.  They indeed “can’t wait,” but it’s NOT for a task they ever wanted to do.  In fact, it’s probably the thing they least wanted to ever have to consider doing—going to anoint the decaying body of their executed Lord.

But even in being something that they didn’t want to have to do, they couldn’t wait to go.

In today’s Gospel from St. Mark, at the end of Chapter 16 he carefully records for us how St. Joseph of Arimathea lovingly buried the body of our Lord.  That account ends with these words: And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid. 

Note their careful observance of where to find the Lord’s body when they would return.  We know that Joseph and Nikodemus lovingly prepared the body, which means that it took time!  Who knows when they finished with the strips of linen and the spices?  One estimate places the cost of the spices used (100 pounds according to St. John (Jn 19:39) at between $100,000-200,000!  But the women were there, to see where He was laid!

St. Theophan writes of this day, saying this:

The tireless women!  They would not give sleep to their eyes nor slumber to their eyelids (Ps 131:4) until they found their Lord!  But the men dragged their feet.  They went to the tomb, saw it empty, and remained in confusion about what it could mean because they did not see Him. 

Does this mean that they had less love than the women?  No, here was a reasoning love which feared making a mistake due to the high price of this love and its Object.  When they too saw and touched Him, then each of them, not with his tongue like Thomas, but with his heart confessed, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn 20:28), and no longer could anything separate them from the Lord.

The Myrrhbearers and the Apostles are an image of the two sides of our life: feeling and reasoning.  Without feeling life is not life.  Without reasoning life is blind, it offers little sound fruit, and much is wasted.  We must combine both.  Let feeling go forward and arouse; let reason determine the time, place, method, and, in general, the practical arrangement of what the heart suggests for us to do.

“Myrrhbearers” Joseph and Nikodemus gave absolutely no consideration to cost.  The “new tomb” itself had to be incredibly expensive.  And the spices according to one source were sufficient to embalm 100 men.  It didn’t matter to them.  The Man whom they at first honored secretly, now they honor Him openly, and unlike His Apostles, show no fear in asking for His body, and caring for Him with such great love.

There was no less love in the women.  For their faithfulness, they were rewarded to be the first among all to see the Lord resurrected.  And they became the first evangelists!

All became witnesses to that once in eternity event of God working our salvation, once for all of humanity, once for all time.

Christ is Risen!

Indeed, He is Risen!

Unbelief

Christ is Risen!

We are really very strange people.  When something SHOULD be believed, we don’t.  When something should NOT be believed, we do.

Examples?

When you SHOULD believe:  Put a WET PAINT sign on a public bench, then monitor the location with video.  Too many people who pass by feel the need to “test the sign” and reach out to touch and see if the paint’s truly wet.

When you SHOULDN’T believe:  Carl Sagan wrote a book titled Cosmos back in 1980.  To quantify creation (he would NOT use that word—it’s editorializing) he claimed in the book that there are 100 billion galaxies each with 100 billion stars.  And—people just believe him.  I mean, who counted?

Knowing these things about human nature, it’s not surprising therefore to find in the Gospel from Agape Vespers the interplay between the ten Apostles who were in the room when the Lord entered through closed doors and Thomas, who was NOT there.  John 20:24-25 says this:

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.”  But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and place my fingers in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.”

The “wet paint” analogy is appropriate here.  “I’ve just got to touch it—I don’t believe it’s not wet.  I want—no, I NEED proof!”  And the only ‘test’ that satisfies the need for proof is that of touching.

We perhaps shouldn’t be so hard on poor Thomas.  He’s apparently not the only one who found himself in this state.  In Mat 28:17 we’re told, When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted…  So even in the state of SEEING the risen Lord, there remained some doubt among those who knew Jesus.

Thomas, for his part, held this position for another full week.  By this time, many people must have offered to him their words telling of their own encounters with the risen Lord.  But lack of belief remained, until…

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them.

Jesus waits, even after His Resurrection, for the EXACT right time to accomplish His purpose.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

Take careful note—’peace’ is the first ‘gift’ of the Risen Lord to those He loves!  He knows that their hearts (and minds) remain in turmoil.  His presence is a gift given to dispel all doubt and worry.

Jesus immediately addresses Thomas, and invites him to “touch”.  His words remain consoling.  Do not be unbelieving, but believing.

St. John doesn’t record IF St. Thomas actually reached out to complete this touch.  There’s wonderful iconography which implies that he did.  But whether he did or not is irrelevant.  What IS relevant is Thomas’ response to the invitation:  My Lord and my God!

Jesus gives a blessing to all who will come after the Apostles who will believe without needing to “touch the paint”, but who will believe because His Apostles, His followers, His Saints, His priests would tell others of His Resurrection, and these would believe.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit continues to move in the Lord’s Church.  He continues to permit lowly people like us to share the glorious news of His Resurrection with all who the Holy Spirit moves to open their hearts to receive and to embrace the message.

It was a simple message then.  It remains a simple message today.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!

Is It Really That Difficult?

 In so many instances our Lord approaches His Apostles with the message of His impending Passion, death and Resurrection.

But they never seem to get it!

In the Gospel of St. Mark, Chapter 9 we encounter Jesus on Mount Tabor, showing His glory to Peter, James and John as far as they could bear it.  Within that passage, St. Mark records, Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  St. Mark then continues to tell us, So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.

After they met the other nine at the foot of the mountain (last week’s Gospel), and after the Lord heals the son of the man of too little faith, Jesus now teaches the whole ensemble of Apostles about that which is coming.

The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.  And after He is killed, He will rise on the third day.

And again, St. Mark records, But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

In today’s Gospel (Mark 10:32-45), Jesus gets much more direct with His message, providing yet more detail.

We are taught, They were on the road to Jerusalem, and, Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed.  You see, at least some of them understood the danger that lay ahead in Jerusalem.  In John 11:8 we find The disciples said to Him, ‘Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are you going there again?’

It is into this tense environment that we find here in today’s Gospel Jesus speaking plainly.

We go to Jerusalem.  The Son of Man will be betrayed (one of you will turn on Me!) to the chief priests and scribes.  They will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles.  They will mock Him, scourge Him, spit upon Him, and kill Him.  And on the third day He will rise again.

Hear the detail in our Lord’s words to His Apostles!  He describes exactly what is about to transpire in just a few days.

And what is the response of those closest to Him to this devastating news?

Lord, grant us a place next to You in Heaven.

It’s yet another study in human nature.  These men have traveled with Jesus for three years.  They have been witnesses to countless healings, deliverance from demons, raisings from the dead.  In every instance when Jesus healed, He did so selflessly.  He routinely instructed those blessed with His intervention to tell no one.  Yet these same Apostles don’t seem to even hear His words about what is to happen next—even as the aforementioned Gospel of St. John reveals that they did have a rudimentary understanding.

Still being the Loving Lord that He is, He speaks gently to them.  Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  The Lord never says that which He does not back up with action, and He proves this saying when He girds Himself with a towel and washes the feet of His Apostles before the Last Supper (John 13:1-17).

We are not unlike these same Apostles.  We too don’t understand what God has exposed in simplicity.  He should say to us as well, Seeing you do not see, and hearing you do not understand.  In this passage from St. John, Jesus says plainly the hearts of this people have grown dull.

Lord, open our hearts to receive Your words.  Help us to hear your loving voice guiding us toward that place where we may be forever near to You.

It's Not My Fault

 Isn’t it funny how human nature is so very predictable?  When we find ourselves guilty of something, we obfuscate, we deny, we cover.

Today (Mark 9:17-31) we find Jesus returning from Mount Tabor with Peter, James and John after He permits them to witness His Transfiguration.

But as they descend from the mountain, there is trouble brewing.  St. Mark records when He came to the disciples (the remaining nine), He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.  Jesus immediately rushes to the defense of His own and asks the scribes, What are you discussing with them? 

It is at this point that a man from the crowd speaks.  Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.  And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid.  So I spoke with Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

There are so very many things wrong with what this man just said! 

First, he opens calling the Lord Teacher.  In this there is no recognition of authority over evil spirits.  Being taught something doesn’t heal.  Why does the man not go immediately to Lord if he intends to show such faith?

Next, I brought You my son.  Remember the healing of the servant of the Centurion?  There was faith that was commended by our Lord.  ‘You don’t need to come to my home.  I’m not worthy.  Just say the word….’  No, here the man complains.  ‘I brought You my son—YOU weren’t here, so I tried the next best thing, asking Your disciples to help, but…. they couldn’t.’  Notice, it’s now the fault of the disciples that his son hasn’t received miraculous healing.

What is our Lord’s response to this assignment of blame?

O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? 

The word translated ‘faithless’ is the Greek apistos, which carries a much stronger meaning than ‘just’ unbelieving—it goes to calling the man a heathen.

Having said all of this, Jesus does not send the man away unfulfilled.  Bring him to Me.

In the interplay that follows, the man still, however, displays less faith than we might expect if he hoped to achieve his initial goal of the healing of his son.  If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

There’s an important word we just used—compassion!  Mercy!  The cry of the man has finally become Lord, have mercy!

Jesus does not yet immediately heal, but instead attempts to coax more faith from one who seems to be withholding it.  If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.

There it is:  belief!  This is what’s missing.  Had this kind of belief been present when you came to My disciples, perhaps your plea could have been answered then.  How many times has Jesus said Your faith has made you well!? 

Now the man understands.  Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!

Suddenly Jesus is no longer “Teacher”, now Jesus is “Lord!”  Now there is no blame of anyone else.  Now there is recognition that my faith is not all it needs to be.  Now there is an understanding that You love me and want fully to give to me the heartfelt request made for my child.  Now I will stop blaming others.  Now I will take that blame on myself, and with the most sincere heart and spoken plea, ask the blessing of Your healing ME (Help MY unbelief!), so that my prayer for my son can and will be heard.

There’s a lesson in here for all of us.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Words Have Meaning

 I know—I use this expression all the time.  But it’s a good expression.  It leads us to be inquisitive.  If we don’t fully understand a word, we should research and learn.  If we think we understand a word, we should dig deeper to see if there are other potential meanings that can teach us even more.

A couple of weeks ago we did Forgiveness Sunday Vespers, and in it we sang the Prokeimenon:

Turn not away from Your face from Your child, for I am afflicted.  Hear me speedily, draw near unto my soul, and deliver it!

Once upon a time I was participating in a combined Lenten Sunday Vespers choir rehearsal, and as we practiced this hymn, one of the men standing near me said, “I don’t like that!”  Asking what he meant, he replied, “It’s just not right to demand that God listens NOW.”

The quote may cause some to reflect on his concern, it may cause others to laugh.  If we pay attention to the hymns we offer during Divine services, we come to an understanding about such an issue.

At every Divine Liturgy, at the Anaphora, when your gifts are being offered to the Lord and just before we call upon the Holy Spirit to come and change these offerings into the very Body and Blood of our Lord, we sing a hymn that we’ll repeat on Palm Sunday that uses the word Hosanna! 

What does this word mean?  If we research the word in our Bible study tools, we find it to be of Hebrew origin, a compound word from the two: yasha and na, which mean save and now.

Here then we find that same “immediacy” as offered in the aforementioned Prokeimenon, hear me speedily. 

But the same urgency is applied in other prayers within the Church.  In one of the most beautiful hymns to the Mother of God we find the phrase make haste, for we all perish.  The words are preceded in the hymn with a plea for the Theotokos to have compassion on us, and they are followed by the recognition that we ask for her expeditious answer because of our many sins.

Are we placing too human demands for immediacy on God by praying in this way?

What does “haste” mean to the Timeless One?  Haste only has meaning to those bound by time.  It’s meaningless to God.

The prayers of this Great Fast season are crafted by the Church to help us understand the need for us to feel God’s presence near to us at all times.  They’re intended to open our minds to things we have within our grasp to change, so that we may more closely conform to the plans of the Lord for us.  I don’t know of a more positive message than this.  I can become closer to what God created me to be, if only….  If only I can hold my tongue.  If only I can hold my judgment.  If only I can release what I perceive to be my money, which was never mine in the first place.  If only I can love unconditionally.  If only I can see Christ in others.  If only I can forgive.  If only I can seek forgiveness, not sarcastically, but with all righteousness. 

There are too many if only’s to detail here.  I know too few of my own.  I’m not here to point out yours, for to do so would be judgmental on my part.  But I am here to encourage us—you, me, all of us– to listen to what the Church is telling us, and to try with all our being to understand her message.  Then, we will be filled with all the joy that this season was meant to bring to us, if only we were paying attention and using the opportunity to learn—from Her (the Church’s) words, and to ask for our Lord's help - NOW!

Simple Invitations

 In today’s Gospel reading (John 1:43-51), we learn a lot about how our Lord “grew” His Church, via the calling of the Apostles.

We as Orthodox Christians speak often about how it is that we might share this faith with others.  Some speak of plans to go outside the building with outreach programs.  Some speak about garnering attention via news articles or advertisements.  Some propose “door-to-door” evangelism.

While there’s nothing wrong with any plan to engage others in our faith, it’s most often the personal testimony of one of us whose faith has changed our life that speaks to someone who is seeking a change in their life.

In the verses preceding today’s Gospel, we find Jesus receiving baptism from St. John, who testifies, “This is the Son of God.”  From this, the Forerunner speaks with his disciples (these were John and Andrew) and says to them, Behold the Lamb of God.  St. John records this:  They heard him (St. John) speak, and they followed Jesus.  Our Lord confronts the two, asking What do you seek?  They don’t answer the question directly, but ask only, Rabbi, where are You staying?  And the first invitation from our Lord is given—Come and see.

As a result of this encounter with the Lord, Andrew goes to his brother Peter and testifies, We have found the Messiah!  John records that Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, who calls him by name and then gives him the new name, Cephas, or “a rock.”

On the following day Jesus goes to Galilee and finds Philip, to whom He issues a second invitation, Follow Me.  Philip then goes and finds Nathaniel, giving him essentially the same message that Andrew gave to Peter.  We know Nathaniel’s famous saying, Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  Now, it is Philip who issues the invitation, Come and see.

In a few brief and simple encounters, we find Peter, John, Andrew, and Nathaniel gathered into the fold of the ranks of the Apostles, all by two or three word invitations!  They come not by command, but voluntarily.  They come not coerced by things of the world, but by heartfelt longing for God to fulfill His promise to His people, a longing founded in their own pursuit of understanding Holy Scripture.

Note that these first five Apostles become bonded to our Lord not by door-to-door efforts, nor by advertising, nor by things worldly.  They come by personal testimony—first of the Forerunner, then of those sent by him, a founding that is confirmed by our Lord’s two invitation phrases: Follow Me and Come and see.

As we encounter people who need to find our Lord in their lives, what better pattern to adopt that that which is shown us by our Lord and His closest Apostles?

Jesus seals the attachment of Nathaniel when, brought by Philip to see the Lord, He says to Nathaniel, Behold, and Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.  Nathaniel is confused about how Jesus knows him, to which the Lord replies, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.  Nathaniel knowing where he was and how impossible it is that Jesus should know this confesses, Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!  It is a confession of faith not yet firmly rooted, which teaches us that in coming to the faith, there is no “instant formula” for accepting Holy Orthodoxy.  It takes Peter three more years with the Lord to confess, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, a confession similar to Nathaniel’s, but at that time one more firmly rooted in a faith that has been established on the rock of what has been witnessed about truly Who Jesus is.

Let us be inviting to all who seek to find their path to salvation in Holy Orthodoxy.  And let us offer to them the same heartfelt invitations.  Follow Him as we attempt to do.  And, with us, Come and see.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Remembering His Holiness Patriarch Neofit

 After a long illness, His Holiness Patriarch Neofit fell asleep in the Lord this past Wednesday, 13Mar24.  May his memory be eternal!  Bog da Prosti!

The Holy Synod published the following statement:  “We call on all Orthodox Christians to address their sincere prayer together with the holy Orthodox Church to the all-merciful God to put to rest the soul of our dear Patriarch in the kingdom of God—in the celestial spheres of the righteous and place him among the chosen ones on the right, where with the heavenly hosts he will praise God in eternity with a pleasant voice.”

His Holiness’ health worsened late last year and he remained under medical care at the Military Medical Academy.  All who were familiar with his condition continued to pray for his health until this news shook us all.

Born Simeon Nikolov in Sofia on 15Oct45, His Holiness graduated from the Theological Seminary in Sofia.  His theological specialty (church singing) developed at the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he returned in 1973 when he taught and became conductor of the student choir at the Academy.

He was tonsured a monk in 1975 and given the name Neophyte by His Holiness Patriarch Maxim (of blessed memory) at the Troyan Monastery.

In 1989 he became rector of the Theological Academy, and two years later he became the first dean of the restored Theological Faculty at Sofia University, St. Kliment Ohridski.  Later he became the chief secretary of the Holy Synod and chairman of the board of trustees of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

In 1994 he was canonically confirmed as Metropolitan of the Dorostol-Cherven Diocese.  When the diocese was divided in half, he headed the Ruse Diocese.

In 2008 he was bestowed the title “doctor honoris causa” of the Sofia University for overall contribution to the development of spirituality at Sofia University and for his active participation in the restoration of the Faculty of Theology.  Two years later he was awarded by the President of Bulgaria the “Order of St. Cyril and Methodius”, the award stating that is was given “for his particularly significant merits for the development of the Theological Academy “St. Kliment Ohridski”, for his contribution to the development of scientific and educational ties and relationships between Eastern and Western Christians and on the occasion of his 65th birthday.”

On 24Feb13, Neophyte was elected Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia, and was enthroned on that same day in St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

During his lifetime, His Holiness was known for being a tolerant and calm leader, and a zealous defender of Christian values, as well as for being an advocate for the introduction of “religion” in Bulgarian schools.

May His Holiness’ memory be eternal!  Bog da Prosti!