The Ukrainian ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk wanted to leave the “St. Alexander Nevsky” temple during the funeral service of Patriarch Neofit because of the presence of the Russian ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova. However, everything went quietly and without problems.
Emil Velinov, the head of protocol of the Holy Synod, said this on the air of BNT, according to whose words “things are calming down in the church”.
“Yesterday, everyone expected a scandal in the church, but very rarely such can happen directly. There was a small conflict in which the Ukrainian ambassador was a little angry because the Russian ambassador was present.
When he realized that he was there, he wanted to leave the temple, but everything went quietly and no one even noticed that there was such a problem. We tamed things and everything went normally, thanks also to her (Editor’s note: Ilashchuk), because she understood that in such moments there should be no bravado,” he said.
“Of course, they will not sit at the same table, they sat at different tables,” Velinov clarified regarding the case with the two ambassadors.
He thanked all participants in the organization of the pilgrimage, the procession and the funeral and answered some of the criticism. “This unprecedented procession was a pleasure for me to watch,” noted Velinov.
“Not that he had to be drawn with a chariot, but at that moment I only had to look for horses. Where could I find them? Should I have taken them from the circus?! It was better that way, because he was a fighter and deserved the army to accompanied him. The connection with Tsar Boris the Third came through the Guardsmen, for whom this was a source of pride,” explained the head of the protocol of the Holy Synod.
According to his words, the patriarch wanted to see how the president, prime minister, and vice prime minister became one after the other:
“If he could see it… it was his dream. Why should we not have this kindness of the patriarch?! All the state institutions got involved in the organization of this whole procession. We all put an inner enthusiasm for everyone to help in something. What has now happened , it was with the efforts of all Bulgarians. There was nothing else to do”.
There were also criticisms because of the fences, but according to Velinov, it was impossible to organize a procession without them. “Many people were offended that we did not allow flowers to be brought, but the place was very narrow. We may have made some mistakes – you welcome delegations, you send state officials. But I repeat, I have never seen the representatives of state institutions together like this”.
#Neophytes #Opal #Conflict #Heres #whos #involved
