“When there are shared goals and a desire to understand, the Bulgarian community in Athens is demonstrating it is part of the diverse European family with a unique language, culture and traditions.” 2024 started with these words, posted on Facebook, about the Buditeli culture and education association, part of which is the Bulgarian Sunday school Saints Cyril and Methodius in the Greek capital. A year in which the Bulgarian school is celebrating its 20^th anniversary which makes it the oldest Bulgarian Sunday school in Athens.

The beginnings were laid by patriotically-minded parents and pedagogues in 2002 when the Sunday school Vasil Levski was established for the study of the Bulgarian language. Unfortunately, that school only survived for a few months. Two years later, the idea of a Bulgarian education and a place where traditions and a sense of community can be passed down came to underlie the new Bulgarian Sunday school – the Saints Cyril and Methodius. To begin with, from a legal point of view, it functioned as part of various Greek-Bulgarian cultural institutions, and 5 years later it was officially made a legal entity. As of the academic year 2012-2013 the school has been approved by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science and joined the list of Bulgarian Sunday schools abroad. Mimi Nicheva has been headmistress of the school since 2016.

“The school has existed for 20 years thanks to the creative efforts of the Bulgarian community to prove they are no different from the other nationalities living here. And it has, of course, succeeded,” Mimi Nicheva says in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. From about 10 during its first year, now there are 225 Bulgarian children aged from 3-4 to the 12^th grade studying at the Saints Cyril and Methodius school in Athens. Besides teaching the Bulgarian language and literature, geography and history, the school also has mathematics and physics groups, as well as groups for the study of Greek and English, applied and fine arts, and folklore dance clubs.

Some time ago, Mimi Nicheva told Radio Bulgaria that 60% of the children who have graduated the school continue their education at universities in Bulgaria. Things are no different today. The reasons range from patriotic feelings to the national and emotional attachment of the parents and the good conditions at universities in Bulgaria.

The current year is special for the children and for their parents, as well as for the proud teachers. A diverse international programme will mark the 20^th anniversary of the Bulgarian Sunday school Saints Cyril and Methodius.

On 11 May, when the Orthodox church honours Saints Cyril and Methodius, under the patronage of the Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria Iliana Iotova, with the support of the Bulgarian embassy in Athens, and in partnership with the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign language service Radio Bulgaria, a scientific forum will take place called “The Way of Light”. It is organized by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ Cyrillo-Methodian Research Center, the Institute for Bulgarian Language Prof. Lubomir Andreychin, the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, and the Association of Bulgarian Schools Abroad.

“The institutions, thanks to which the Bulgarian community in Athens is successfully fulfilling its goals – to support and popularize Bulgarian culture on Greek soil,” says Mimi Nicheva. “In this way the Bulgarian community, and myself as part of it, have been proving we are part of the European diversity. All participants in the forum will help forge an intellectual circle on this day, where there will be reports dedicated to the work of Cyril and Methodius. The participation of Prof. Konstantinos Nichoritis, Prof. Vanja Stanisic from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, of Dr. Athanasios Kapsalis, Rector of the Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens will help the forum overstep the national bounds and will turn it into a significant international event. As to the reports that will be delivered – I believe that each one of them has its own worth. There are some with a different point of view, even a negative view of the work of Cyril and Methodius. Prof. Magdalena Kostova-Panayotova will deliver a report on the role of the Bulgarian schools in popularizing Bulgarian culture in the world. The report by Prof. Kapsalis will deal with the way the Bulgarian people honour Saints Cyril and Methodius from the point of view of the Greeks. I believe the reports are of great interest to the researchers themselves, as well as to the teachers who will be in attendance.”

The school children from the Saints Cyril and Methodius school in Athens will have a jubilee concert to mark the end of the school year.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos: Bulgarian Sunday school Saints Cyril and Methodius, Ivo Ivanov