DECR deputy chairman takes part in scholarly conference on the role of Orthodox Church in the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule
On 9 December 2019, a conference on the role of the Orthodox Church in the liberation of Bulgaria after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 took place at the Museum of History in Pleven, Bulgaria.
Among those present at the opening were Metropolitan Ignatij of Pleven, Archbishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz and Alania, DECR deputy chairman, Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeyev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Bulgaria, Mayor Georg Spartanski of Pleven, director of the Regional Museum of History Dr. Popov, academicians of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Bulgarian and Russian scholars.
Archbishop Leonid conveyed good wishes from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Bulgarian people and read out greetings to the participants from the DECR chairman, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.
Highlighted in the reports were the role of Orthodoxy in the motivation of the fighters for liberation of Bulgarian people from foreign yoke and contribution of many clerics of the Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches into the liberation of Bulgaria.
On December 10, Metropolitan Nikodim of Zhitomir and Novograd-Volynsky and Archbishop Leonid visited the Pleven metropolis at the invitation of Metropolitan Ignatij and met with Metropolitans Gavriil of Loveč and Grigorij of Vratsa who have arrived in Pleven to take part in the celebration of an anniversary of the liberation of the city. The participants in the meeting discussed the situation with Orthodox in Ukraine.