We reach the small church of St. Nikolay Mirlikiiski near the Rila Hotel downtown Sofia looking for priest Nikolay Neshkov. The priest used to serve in the other church of St. Nikolay Mirlikiiski downtown Sofia, known as the Russian church. The Orthodox priests, great choir and atmosphere had turned the Russian church into an attractive place for Christians from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and other countries. This was until 2011 when archimandrite Filip Vasiltsev came into office, bringing ethnic division and expelling the Bulgarian priests from the church, which drove away Bulgarian believers. As a result the scandalous archimandrite was called back to Moscow. But those who used to go the Russian church now gather in the ancient church of St. Nikolay Mirlikiski with priest Nikolay Neshkov. We met him to learn more about the history of the church.

It is supposed that the first Christian temple on this place was built during the time of Roman emperor Constantine the Great as part of his palace complex in antique Serdika, the ruins of which can be seen downtown today’s Sofia. In the 13th century Tsar Kaloyan built a residence on the remains of the palace complex and a new church on the place of the early one. That is why the street on which the church is situated today is named Tsar Kaloyan. It is considered that the church was functioning during the times of Ottoman rule. The church is mentioned in the itinerary of German traveler Stefan Gerlach from the 16th century.

The temple has had numerous reconstructions during the centuries. In 1944 during the British and US bombing of Sofia the church was destroyed to rubble. The church archive also burned. The only thing that remained intact was the big icon of Saint Nikolay. The church has existed in its current form since 1970 The priest told us that there are no photos of the old church but we could get an idea of how the ancient basilica looked from a painting of a traveling Austrian artist, dating back to the period after the Liberation of Bulgaria. In 1970 the church was rebuilt at the initiative of Bulgarian Patriarch Cyril.

More from Priest Nikolay:

“An interesting detail about our church is that for 12 years it used to be a Russian church. This happened after in 1934 the Kingdom of Bulgaria established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. At that time the Russian church on Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard was given to the Bulgarian church while the Russians priest were accommodated here. Archbishop Seraphim  was among those Russian priests.”

The tomb of Seraphim today is under the altar of the Russian church and in February it is expected that he will be officially recognized as saint.

But let’s go back to the story of priest Nikolay. The murals in the church, which is a monument of culture are work of Karlo Yordanov, he told us and added:

“The wood carving work is also very unique creating great atmosphere together with the murals. It is supposed that the iconostasis was saved from the Vrana palace, while the old iconostasis saved after the bombing of Sofia is located in the church of St. Andrey on the Opalchenska Street, but this is yet to be proved. It is considered that another big icon in the church – that of St. Mary was taken from the St. Spas church, situated under today’s Bulbank downtown Sofia and destroyed during Allied bombings in 1944.”

English: Alexander Markov