Balgarianovinite.com During a meeting at the Sofia Metropolitanate on Tuesday, the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil blessed BTA Director General Kiril Valchev on the first day of his second term in office.
Valchev thanked Patriarch Daniil for his letter backing his bid for re-election. He noted that both his terms began on January 27, the Feast Day of the Translation of the Relics of St John Chrysostom to Constantinople, and that he was officially nominated on November 13 – the saint’s other feast day. On December 4, 2025, the 240-seat Parliament unanimously elected Valchev for a second term by 170 votes in favour.
The BTA Director General recalled that the Bulgarian News Agency Act assigns the agency to safeguard and protect the national traditions. Under the Constitution, “Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a traditional religion in the Republic of Bulgaria”. Implementing this, during Valchev’s first term BTA launched a daily publication of an Orthodox Calendar, providing information on the church holidays compiled by Prof. Ivan Zhelev. The agency’s correspondents in 33 urban settlements countrywide started to cover systematically the sermons on Sundays and on major feast days. The BG World section on the BTA website started spreading news from the churches of expatriate Bulgarians. Special correspondents reported the Patriarch’s visits to Thessaloniki and to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul.
The BTA-organized World Meeting of Bulgarian Media was opened at Rila Monastery in 2021 and at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 2022. The meeting in 2025 included an event at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Monastery of Klisura. Valchev said that the 2026 World Meeting is planned to take place in Hungary at the invitation of the Bulgarian media there, and it may be opened on October 19, the Feast Day of the Translation of the Relics of St John of Rila, which is also a Day of the Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship. The opening may take place at the Cathedral in Esztergom where the saint’s relics were kept for some time. In August 2026, BTA’s LIK magazine will mark the 1080th anniversary of St John’s demise on August 18, 946 by a special issue on Bulgarian saints.
The BTA Director General asked and received Patriarch Daniil’s blessing for the design of a project for the construction of a small church dedicated to the Word of God next to the agency’s building in Sofia.
Valchev presented the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with an expressly prepared book and flash memories with the BTA news stories, pictures and videos on his visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in December 2025. The Patriarch presented the Director General with an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. On First Day of His Second Term, BTA Director General Receives Patriarch’s Blessing 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-01-27 20:38:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law