Bulgarian Cathedral to Avoid Power Cut thanks to Donations

The electricity bill of the St. Marina metropolitan cathedral in Bulgaria's southern city of Plovdiv will be paid with donations, thereby preventing a power cut.

The board of trustees of the cathedral explained Tuesday that the electricity bill would be paid Tuesday morning with public donations.

The governing body of the Plovdiv-based cathedral made clear that the donations had started coming in shortly after power distributor EVN threatened to cut off supply over unpaid bills amounting to around BGN 3000.

The warning came after the auction for the Rolex wristwatch of metropolitan bishop Nikolay fell through.

Nikolay had vowed to sell the wristwatch to cover the unpaid electricity bills of the cathedral.

Set with a starting price of BGN 11,600, the auction collapsed on Sunday, as no bidders showed up.

The board of trustees of the cathedral, as cited by Darik radio, informed that the electricity bill for January, at BGN 2940, had been four times the bill for December.

Ongoing popular protests in Bulgaria, which toppled PM Boyko Borisov's center-right cabinet, started over growing discontent with high electricity bills and the mismanagement of Bulgaria's energy sector.