Prof. Dr. Ivan Ivanov is known as Father Ivan or Padre Giovanni among the Bulgarians in Rome. The professor divides his time between Rome and Sofia. He is a lecturer at the Theological Faculty of the Sofia University and he also leads the services in the so-called Bulgarian church in the Eternal City. In practice, Bulgaria does not have its own church in the Italian capital, so services are held in the "San Paolo alla Regola" church provided by the Vatican. The church is situated in the historic center of Rome, near the Tiber river.

Orthodox services are held in the Catholic church according to a schedule on certain days of the month, as well as on major religious holidays. The church itself is one of the most interesting ones in Rome. Saint Paul the Apostle lived in this place 2 thousand years ago. At the moment, however, the building is being renovated and services are being held in the neighboring church "Santa Maria in Monticelli", which dates back to the 11th century, we learn from priest Ivan, who heads the Bulgarian ecclesiastical community "Sveti Sedmochiselnitsi" (Seven Saints) in Rome.

"When we serve, we clean the altars and put on all the liturgical elements necessary for the Orthodox liturgy. We bring our icons, holy vessels and tablecloths. We do everything in our Orthodox style. Then we clean and put them away. This acts very educational to the Bulgarians, as they have learned to come and help me. They take care to arrange the tablecloths and already know how to place the icons. They don't come just as tourists who have everything ready made for them. This creates a different attitude for them. People say: ‘We come to arrange our church for the liturgy.’”

Father Ivan has traveled on missions outside Rome to hold services in other cities with Bulgarian population. "For some holiday, the Bulgarians gather and call the priest. So we carry the holy books and all the necessary important vessels and elements for the service in the car," priest Ivan says and adds:

"An interesting fact is that in some places, the Bulgarians are used to keeping icons in their house and bring them to the church to arrange them. This is a tradition that I rarely encountered in Bulgaria before I became a missionary in Italy. In our country, people go to the church ready for service and do not bring anything. Here, especially the older pious women, keep their icons in nice Bulgarian woven tablecloths and bring them to our liturgies. They arrange them like an altar. The people need to keep their faith, quietly and modestly in this way. This is part of Bulgarian piety abroad."

"Caring for our ecclesial community in Italy is not only about meeting people's spiritual needs. "They need to feel the church as a family, not so much to officially demonstrate their religious affiliation, but to feel at home among loved ones," the priest says and adds:

"Many times, Bulgarians need to consult the clergy. Even sometimes, if necessary, we help them fill out a document in Italian or we support them in various ways, we refer them to a lawyer or a doctor. That's why we also have a Facebook page, where everyone can write to us on various occasions, not only liturgical, but also questions of a personal nature," priest Ivan says in conclusion.

See also:

• Confusing, fraught with conflict, stagnating – how Bulgarians in Rome see 2023

• How Bulgarians in Rome are celebrating Christmas Eve

• There are almost 90,000 Bulgarians working in Italy, employment scams are still current

English publication: Al. Markov

Photos: Veneta Nikolova, facebook.com/C.O.B.Roma