Every year on Saturday before the great Christian holiday of Pentecost, the Church marks the second All Souls' Day of the year, which the people call Cherry All Souls' Day because it always coincides with cherry harvest season.
In the calendar of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, All Souls' Day is celebrated on the Saturdays before Great Lent, before Pentecost and before Archangel's Day (November 8).
In every Orthodox church in the country, a liturgy and a memorial service are held, during which the priests read the names of deceased relatives of the people present.
It is a custom on this day for people to visit the graves of their deceased loved ones to clean them and decorate them with flowers. Then, they pour water and red wine over the dirt in memory of Christ's sacrifice for us and light a church candle.
It is also a tradition to pass boiled wheat, bread, wine, cherries and other foods to as many people as possible who say "May God forgive the dead”.
On All Souls' Day, believers do not do housework and direct their prayers and thoughts towards the spiritual salvation of the deceased.
Photos: BGNES, BTA
Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria sent a letter to Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine (Moscow Patriarchate), the Bulgarian Patriarchate reported. The message reads: "Your Beatitude, on this date exactly 10 years ago, your solemn enthronement as..
Orthodox Christians mark the Dormition of St. John of Rila, who is considered the heavenly protector of the Bulgarian people. The saint was born in the village of Skrino in the Osogovo Mountain in the second half of the 9th..
A reconstruction of a Roman battle camp is being organized in the municipality of Apriltsi from August 16 to 18 . The event in the park of the "Novo Selo" district is mainly aimed at children and family audiences. On Mount Ostrets near Apriltsi there..
26 years ago, on 30 September, at the initiative of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), a Pan-Orthodox Council was convened in Sofia to resolve the..
+359 2 9336 661