Balgarianovinite.com After an all-night vigil and Sunday morning’s Divine Liturgy, the Bulgarian Monastery of St George Zograf on Mount Athos marked the autumn feast of St George (November 16, Old Style) with a procession bearing the miracle-working icon of Saint George. This is the date on which his relics were transferred from the site of his martyrdom in Lydda (today’s city of Lod in Israel) to a newly consecrated Christian church.
The service was led by Bishop Ioan of Branitsa, first vicar of the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil, concelebrating with Archimandrite Gabriel, the hegumen of the Zograf Monastry.
The feast was attended by many worshippers from Bulgaria, who joined in carrying the miracle-working icon of St George, the Arab Icon, from the monastery to the St George church on the hill west of the monastery gate, where, as legend has it, the mule that brought it in the 12th century came to a halt, after the icon had arrived at Mount Athos by sea from Asia Minor.
A Bulgarian parliamentary delegation arrived at the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery of St George on Mount Athos on Saturday.
The delegation is led by Parliament Deputy Chair Tsoncho Ganev. Its members are Human Rights and Religion Committee Chair Krasimir Sabev MP of GERB-UDF and Deputy Chair Atanas Slavov MP of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria; MRF-New Beginning Deputy Floor Leader Stanislav Anastassov; Budget and Finance Committee Deputy Chair Atanas Atanasov, who is also the BSP – United Left Group’s Secretary; There Is Such a People Group’s Secretary Aleksandar Valchev, who is also Parliament’s Secretary; and Velichie MP Ljubisha Blazhevski. The delegation is accompanied by Anton Markov, Consul General of Bulgaria in Thessaloniki, and Lachezar Toshev, chief expert adviser at the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee.
The chants were performed by the St Naum of Ohrid Choir from Sofia, conducted by Andrey Kasabov.
BTA Director General Kiril Valchev arrived with the delegation. He presented to the library of the monastery two volumes of news stories and photos of the Zograf Monastery collected during the 127-year history of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).
The news items are featured in a 127-page book, matching the agency’s 127-year history since its first bulletin was issued in 1898. The oldest BTA report from Mount Athos, dating from 1935, is a dispatch from the French Havas news agency describing the ebb and flow along the Athos coastline following an earthquake in Greece. The second volume contains 91 photographs of the Zograf Monastery from BTA’s photo archive. The oldest image, taken in 1972, may prove useful, the hegumen said, as it shows a terrace of the wing currently under restoration. No older photograph of that section is known to exist, only a drawing.
During the spring feast of St George on May 6, 2025, Kiril Valchev promised the then newly elected hegumen, Archimandrite Gabriel, that he would come for the saint’s autumn feast with copies of all BTA reports on the Zograf Monastery from the agency’s bulletins since 1898, as well as copies of all photographs of the monastery available at BTA. They were delivered both in print and digital format, to be preserved in the library of the monastery. Bulgarian Zograf Monastery Marks Saint George’s Autumn Feast with Liturgy and Procession of Miracle-Working Icon 2025 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-11-16 11:23:00 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