On the eve of the great Christian Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Yordanovden, a great water blessing ceremony was served in all Bulgarian Orthodox churches. The ritual refers to The Baptism of Christ in the sacred River Jordan by John the Baptist.
This is one of the most solemn sacraments of the Church's ordinances and is celebrated after the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil. The Great Epiphany Blessing takes plave twice a year - on Epiphany and on the eve of Epiphany itself. The first Christians performed water-blessing rituals on the night before the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Since then, Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria have been praying at midnight before the Epiphany. It is believed that this is the time when the skies open and the Lord hears their sincere prayers.
In Northeastern Bulgaria the river Rusenski Lom and its tributaries – Cherni, Beli and Malki Lom – have carved out a rugged rocky landscape with hidden caves and hushed valleys where the only sound is that of the birdsong. People have settled in..
His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph, head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the USA, Canada, and Australia, has blessed the newly elected Parish Council of the Holy Trinity Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Madison, Illinois. The new council was elected..
The revival of Bulgarian statehood after five centuries of Ottoman rule is connected with the April Uprising of 1876 and the Internal Revolutionary Organization previously created by Vasil Levski. After the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, the Bulgarians..
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