On the 30th of March, H. E. Mr. Ştefan Gorda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to the Republic of Bulgaria,
visited the forerunner of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte. The meeting was on the request of the ambassador and took place at the Patriarchal House.
"We felt like one nation from your presence and hearty attitude", said Patriarch Neophyte at the end of the meeting with the Moldovan ambassador.
"The Bulgarians should be happy to have such a strong Church with a high international authority which firmly stands in Orthodox faith and is a strong support for the Bulgarian people", said H. E. Mr. Ştefan Gorda, while congratulating Patriarch Neophyte with the nomination of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the Nobel Peace Prize. "Unfortunately, today, Christian Europe has distanced itself from its roots, and other values have replaced the evangelical ones" he added.
In the course of the conversation, in a heartfelt tone, it was stressed that Bulgaria and Moldova have been historically connected for centuries, that many refugees, our compatriots, have found a good reception there, and today the human flow is in the opposite direction - many Moldovan citizens come to Bulgaria to study, to work and for tourism - 216, 000 Moldovans visited Bulgaria only last year.
The two parties recalled that our liberation struggles are closely connected with Moldova - the Bulgarian volunteer formation was formed there; from Chisinau, the first Russian parts, accompanied by Bulgarian and Moldovan volunteers, were released from Chisinau; there was proclaimed the manifestation of Tsar Alexander II for the announcement of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation.
The Ambassador pointed out that the Moldovan citizens of Bulgarian origin today account the 2% of the country's population, they keep their Bulgarian self-consciousness, have their own temples, they have the opportunity to learn their native language and traditions. He thanked for the good theological education that was received by the students from Moldova in our theological schools and stressed the importance of good and lively relations between the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Moldova.
The two sides expressed hope that the economic, cultural and touristic cooperation between the two countries would become even busier and discussed the possibility of activating pilgrimage tourism.
Photo: Angel Karadakov
The material is provided by http://www.bg-patriarshia.bg/news.
