2024-04-17 14:44:27
- Tonight the hooligan was arrested – a 37-year-old undocumented wanderer
- On April 21, in “Holy Sunday” there will be a liturgy and memorial service on the occasion of 40 days since the death
On the 34th day after the death of Patriarch Neophytus, a vandal was found to desecrate his grave. It is on the south side of the temple “St. Sunday” in the center of Sofia. A bearded and disheveled man in blue work overalls pulls out his waist and breaks a piece of marble. He also tries to tear out the two black flags that descend from the central pillars of the church. The desecration took place around 11.30pm on Monday and was captured by the cameras of the church itself. They filmed the man from different angles, but his face is not well made out, even though he is not hiding at all.
Tonight the hooligan was found and arrested. Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained that they were looking for him, but the recordings from the cameras were only provided to them in the afternoon. The arrested person is 37 years old and has no documents. Leads a nomadic lifestyle. According to him, he did not know whose grave it was. And a police guard has already been placed at the patriarch’s grave.
The vandalism was first reported by the Holy Synod, which distributed photos of the desecrated grave of the patriarch and footage from the cameras. When the priests went to the church in the morning, they found that the cross had been removed from the grave. The damage was immediately repaired.
Although the temple is in the very center of the capital and there are people in the area around the clock, no one noticed what was happening. The insult itself lasted a minute or two. The cameras show the hooligan approaching the grave and furiously stroking the cross back and forth until he rips it out. Citizens speculated, which later turned out to be correct, that the man might be one of the homeless people who live in the center of Sofia, and he was not in good mental health.
On Sunday, April 21, in the church “St. “Sunday” at 9:00 a.m., a requiem holy liturgy will be celebrated, and around 11:00 a.m. – a memorial service on the occasion of 40 days since the death of Patriarch Neofitus, the Holy Synod announced. In addition to hundreds of lay people, there will probably be many officials in the temple.
The grave of Patriarch Neophytes is adjacent to that of Exarch Joseph, who died on June 20, 1915. The two graves are on the south side of the temple, near the side altar door. On the north side of the church next to the altar is the grave of Metropolitan Parthenius of Sofia, who died three years after Exarch Joseph in 1918.
