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On June 2, 2016, Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Yu. Isakov was awarded the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s Order of Ss Cyril and Methodius, First Class.

Participating in a solemn ceremony at the Synodal chamber in Sofia were His Holiness Patriarch Neophytos of Bulgaria and church dignitaries. There was also the rector of the ROC representation church in Sofia, Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev).

Present at the ceremony were staff members of the Russian embassy in Sofia.

Addressing Mr. Isakov, His Holiness Patriarch Neophytos noted that an ambassador ‘has a special role to play and a mission to carry out, which is to be a mediator in the dialogue between countries and peoples and to serve for the good cause of developing good relations between them’. He stressed that ‘despite the difficult and ambiguous relations between Russia and Bulgaria in recent years’, the leader of the Russian diplomatic mission has made ‘a considerable contribution to the broadening of mutual understanding between the two Orthodox nations, who are historically tied and united by a common faith and one Church’.

Mr. Isakov, on his part, thanked His Holiness and metropolitans of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the high honour and said that his work was unthinkable without the Church, without the Christian principles of justice, peace and unity’, adding that he also felt respect and love both for representatives of the Bulgarian clergy and all the fraternal people of Bulgaria, the Sofia website of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia reports.

DECR Communication Service