Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Holy Saturday celebrated by Orthodox Christians

Photo: picture library

In the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church it is Holy Saturday today, the final day of the Holy Week before Resurrection Sunday. The liturgy opens in the morning and goes on until night.

Every year on Holy Saturday from the skies above the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and into the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem descends the Holy Fire. The mystery still remains unsolved by atheists. By an old tradition Orthodox Christians receive the Holy Fire and pass it down to the rest of the Christian denominations.

A delegation led by the Bishop Grigoriy Branitski, Vicar of the Bulgarian Patriarch, will bring the Holy Fire from Jerusalem to Bulgaria. It will be taken to all churches of the country.

At 11:30 pm at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia the pre-Paschal liturgy begins. It will be led by Patriarch Neophyte. Minutes before midnight, with the lights in the cathedral off, His Holiness will take out candles lit from the Jerusalem Fire from the holy alter and will call for everybody to come and take light. After that the Patriarch, the clergy and the congregation will go outside the church where at midnight the Resurrection of Christ will be announced.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Weather forecast: Temperatures to go up on Friday

Precipitation will stop by Thursday night and the weather will be clear on Friday morning. There will be light northwesterly winds in the eastern parts of the country. The weather will be calm in the rest of the country. It will be mostly sunny..

updated on 7/4/24 6:15 PM

Nearly 60% of students resort to supplementary tutoring

Nearly 60% of parents pay for private tutoring for their children. The main reason why students have to take extra lessons is poor-quality preparation at school, which is not sufficient for applying for high school or university. This is shown by a..

published on 7/4/24 6:04 PM

DPS will not propose a government with the second cabinet-forming mandate

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) will immediately return the second  government- forming  mandate , DPS Co-chairman Delyan Peevski told journalists. He added that the country is heading towards new elections.  "The second mandate..

published on 7/4/24 3:47 PM