The spiritual father of Bulgaria, Patriarch Neophyte, was buried today in the cathedral of the Sofia Patriarchate “Holy Sunday”, which is located in the heart of the capital – an ancient one, with a shrouded in mystery past and a bloody history.
The courtyard of the Saint Sophia Church will be an eternal home for grandfather Neophyte, who will pray for our Fatherland from heaven. The wish to be buried right there was his last will, explained the Metropolitans of the Synod.
What do we not know about the church “Holy Sunday”? Here are 10 little known facts!
1. The ancient past of the cathedral is shrouded in obscurity. The original church was probably built in the 10th century and, like other Sophia temples of that time, it had stone foundations and a wooden structure above. In this form, the temple existed until the middle of the 19th century.
2. In 1853, the church where today’s cathedral was built was old and rotten. With the decision of the Sofia Metropolis and the church municipality, the collection of donations to build a new house of God began. For five years master carpenters worked on the construction and when the church was almost finished, Sofia was rocked by a strong earthquake. There was a lot of damage to the new building, which consumed unforeseen funds. It is known that by 1860 more than half a million groschi had been spent.
3. After many more vicissitudes, the church was opened in 1867, and more than 20 thousand people attended the consecration. In the following years, it continued to be upgraded and decorated.
4. “Holy Sunday” is among the most favorite churches of the people of Sofia. The temple is dedicated to St. Great Martyr Nedelya – a beautiful virgin who paid a high price for her Christian faith – was severely tortured and then cut down with a sword.
5. The most difficult moment for the “Holy Sunday” church was the date April 16, 1925, when during the funeral of gen. Konstantin Georgiev was assassinated. It was attended by all ministers, many generals and officers, state and political figures, as well as many citizens. The arrival of Tsar Boris III was also expected, but he was late.
6. The temple is destroyed, and as a result of the explosion, 193 people died, around 500 others were injured. It is believed to be the worst terrorist act in the history of Bulgaria, and at that time in the world. After this bloody terrorist act of the military organization of the BKP, the church board reopened the temple, which had begun to welcome lay people again in 1933.
7. More Bulgarian generals died in the attack on the “Holy Sunday” churchthan on the battlefields of all the wars in which our country participates.
8. Besides the eternal home of Patriarch Neophytus, Exarch Joseph I and Metropolitan Parthenius of Sofia are also buried here.
9. In the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, the temple was called “Holy King”, because it housed the relics of the Serbian king Stefan Milutin.
10. It was on “Holy Sunday” that grandfather Neophyte was ordained by Patriarch Maxim as a hieromonk, and then he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. On “Holy Sunday” he celebrated his first Holy Liturgy as Patriarch on March 10, 2013.
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