Easter Monday in Bulgaria: Tradition and Family Visits
Orthodox Easter Monday is the day following Easter Sunday and is observed across Bulgaria as part of the wider Easter celebration within the Orthodox Christian tradition
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Patriarch Neofit leading Easter Mass at Sofia's St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Sunday. Photo by DarikNews.bg
Bulgarian Patriarch Neofit served the second Easter Mass at the Sveta Sofiya Cathedral in Bulgarian capital Sofia Sunday.
The service, which is also called "Second Resurrection" is the second festive Christian Orthodox mass for Easter, after the Resurrection of Christ is celebrated after midnight Saturday.
Excerpts from the New Testament representing the life of Jesus are read out in different languages.
"The resurrection of Christ is a triumph of life and the greates gift to man," stated Patriarch Neofit.
The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church read out a message to the congregation and the hole Bulgarian people signed by all metropolitan bishops in the church.
"At the holy day of the Resurretion of Christ we fatherly wish you, faithful children of our Orthodox Church, both in our homeland and away, spiritual peace and plentiful Paschal joy," stated the bishops.
In the first Easter Mass in the small hours Sunday, Patriarch Neofit stressed on the life of Christ as setting an example for the lives of all of us.
"Faith is not fiction, nor is it only an emotion or conviction. Through faith, God's grace touches humans, fortifies their spiritual power and gives them wisdom and resolution to stride the road drawn by our Lord Jesus Christ," said Neofit.
The Bulgarian Patriarch wished that people strengthen their faith and be more sensitive to the needs and hardships of others.
"Then our lives and the life of our society will be a better one, and Christ will be with us," said Neofit.
Easter is the most important religious holiday in the Orthodox Christian calendar and is widely celebrated across Bulgaria. It marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ and follows the completion of Holy Week, which includes Good Friday and Holy Saturday
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