“The Zograf Monastery is one of the brightest and most important spiritual centers of the Bulgarian people, not only because of the preserved invaluable manuscripts, icons and artifacts, but also because it has been defending the Bulgarian faith, spirituality, memory and language for more than  a thousand years.” This is what President Rumen Radev said today at his visit to the Bulgarian spiritual and national sacred place the Orthodox St. George the Zograf Monastery in Mount Athos. The Head of State together with hundreds of pilgrims from our country and the whole region took part in the solemn celebration of the feast of the monastery.

The President recalled the rich history of the Zograf Monastery, in which Theodosius of Tarnovo, Patriarch Euthymius , Kozma Zograf and many other have left traces. “It is namely here that father Paisius finished the sacred for every Bulgarian “Slav-Bulgarian History”, which ignited the spark of our Revival, so that it could blaze up in the fierce fire of the Bulgarian Enlightenment and the struggles for national liberation from which Bulgaria revived,” Rumen Radev emphasized.

The Head of State awarded the Abbot of the monastery Archimandrite Ambrosius the Stara Planina first class order for his contribution to strengthening the Orthodox clergy in Mount Athos and the development of the relations between Bulgaria and Greece.  Archimandrite Ambrosius has been Abbot since 1997 and has a considerable contribution to preserving the Bulgarian character of the St. George the Zograf Monastery, the renovation of the monastery complex, the preservation of the cultural and historical heritage, the development of the monastery library and the attraction of pilgrims. The monastery plays an important role in the organization, funding and training of Bulgarian children in the Sunday school in Thessaloniki. 

The solemn celebration of the feast of the Zograf Monastery was attended by His Grace Metropolitan Bishop Seraphim of Nevrokop, the representative of the Republic of Greece’s government for Mount Athos Governor Athanasios Martinos and hundreds of pilgrims.