Catholic World News News Feature
Bulgarian Orthodox Given use of Roman Parish Church May 21, 2003
On Saturday, May 24, the Vatican will make a parish church in Rome available to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, to be used by the members of that Eastern Christian community in Rome.
A delegation of clerics, representing the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, will arrive in Rome tomorrow to take possession of the Church of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius, which is located in the heart of Rome near the Trevi Fountain.
During his trip to Bulgaria last year, Pope John Paul II offered to make a parish church available for Bulgarian Orthodox believers in Rome. Patriarch Maxim gratefully accepted that offer. The Church of Church of Sts. Vincent and Anastasius will remain in the possession of the Cistercian order, which now controls it. But the Bulgarian Orthodox community will be able to worship there regularly.
The formal exchange of canonical possession of the church will take place on the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the patrons of the Bulgarian Church. The date also coincides with the anniversary of the Pope's visit to Bulgaria, and his meeting with Patriarch Maxim.
An iconostasis has been installed in the church to facilitate the Eastern liturgical use. Some renovations have also been made to allow for the parish facilities to be used by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for religious education. The delegation from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church that will visit Rome to inaugurate the new church includes six metropolitans, and the Archimandrite Tichon, the patriarchal vicar of the Bulgarian Church for western and central Europe. The delegation will remain in Rome until May 27, and meet with Pope John Paul II in a private audience on May 26.
While in Rome, the members of the delegation will also carry out an annual pilgrimage to the tombs of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Each year, the Bulgarian church organizes such a pilgrimage, culminating with the celebration of the divine liturgy at the tomb of St. Cyril, which is located in the Roman basilica of St. Clement. They will also lay floral wreaths at various sites in the city of Rome that are associated with the two brothers and evangelists who brought the Gospel to the Balkans and Russia in the 9th century.
The first celebration of the divine liturgy by the Eastern Church will be attended by a group of Vatican officials led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity; and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the papal vicar for Rome. The ceremony will be broadcast on Bulgarian television, since it commands widespread interest in a country that is 85 percent Orthodox. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Simeon Saxe Coburg-Gotha, the head of what was once the country's royal family, will also be in Rome for the occasion. He is scheduled to attend the liturgical celebration on May 24, as well as to meet privately with Pope John Paul.
