Bulgaria received Tsar Samuel’s remains from Greece with a state ceremony in Sofia on Saturday, followed by a procession and a memorial service at St Sophia Basilica.
The remains were flown from Thessaloniki and received at Knyaz Alexander I Square with 21 artillery salutes during the national anthem. The coffin was then taken to the basilica and placed in a marble sarcophagus.
Among those present in the basilica were President Iliana Iotova, National Assembly Chair Michaela Dotsova, Prime Minister Rumen Radev, ministers, representatives of State institutions and other guests.
A guard of honour awaited the coffin at Sofia Airport. The the aircraft was escorted by two pairs of MiG-29 and F-16 fighter jets.
At the State ceremony, the public was able to pay their respects to Tsar Samuel’s mortal remains at the basilica.
“That is why Europe must not reopen old wounds but must work for peace as the supreme good,” Radev said in his address in Sofia. He thanked Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for helping secure the agreement, saying it strengthened the strategic partnership between the two countries and the friendship and trust between their peoples.
Bulgarian Patriarch and Sofia Metropolitan Daniil led the funeral service. “Tsar Samuel returns to his people to remain in Bulgaria forever and to rest in this house of God,” he said. Daniil described the remains as a sacred relic of Bulgaria’s national, ecclesiastical and ethnic memory. He thanked those who had discovered and preserved them, and those who had helped bring them back.
Iotova said she believed Samuel was now at peace in Bulgaria. “It is as though his blinded soldiers had regained their sight to show him the way to Bulgaria and to his people,” she said, commenting on the return.
Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov argued that Samuel had remained on ancestral Bulgarian land despite changes in national borders. “Strictly speaking, he has never left his home,” he said in a party statement. He denied that the religious artefacts returned to Greece had been stolen, saying they had been evacuated to protect them from fighting. He also called for a fitting memorial at St Achillios.
Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev said Samuel was receiving a fitting welcome in the city he had defended more than 1,000 years ago. He described the return as a major achievement for Bulgarian diplomacy and thanked Greece and everyone who had worked over the years to make it possible. “Our city has its own place in the story of this Bulgarian ruler, a story worth knowing and passing on to our children,” he said in a statement released by the municipality.
Bulgaria Lays Tsar Samuel’s Remains to Rest in Sofia 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-10-03 17:39:42
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