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S the blessed synod decided that this year it will not send a delegation for the blessed fire in Jerusalem on May 4. On the eve of Easter (on Saturday), the heavenly flame descends on the Holy Sepulcher around noon with an inexplicable miracle, after which it is spread with lanterns throughout the Orthodox countries all over the world.
Risk
“Given the complexity of the situation in Israel, it was decided not to take any chances. Therefore, fire saved from last year will be used. There is such a thing in many of our temples and monasteries. In Sofia we have in “St. Sunday”. In general, there is always one place in the dioceses where a blessed fire is kept from past years,” Metropolitan Ioan of Varna and Veliko Preslav commented to “Telegraph”.
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Clerics, however, commented that the complexity of the organization weighed heavily on the bishops’ decision. On the one hand, it was necessary to determine which of the metropolitans should go, to arrange transportation with the government “Falcon” to Tel Aviv, to pay expenses.
Election mode
“In the absence of a patriarch, there is no one to drive all this. At the moment, our Orthodox Church is in the process of holding elections for a patriarch in June and for a metropolitan of Sliven in May. The grace fire is not a priority, especially since it is kept in several churches, including the Dragalev monastery. Otherwise, even for the Easter service on Sunday, we can take from the new blessed fire from the Romanian or the Serbian Orthodox Church,” theologians commented to “Telegraph”.
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Elections
At its meeting on Monday, the synod made another decision – reducing the list of participants in the cashed metropolitan elections in Sliven. Of the ten candidates for the chair of the late grandfather Ioanniki, the following bishops remained: Sioni the Great, Arsenius of Znepol, Gerasim of Melny, Pachomius of Branic, Macarius of Glaviny and Isaac of Velbyzhda. The favorite of the majority of local clergy and laity – Bishop Hierotei, as well as Michael – dropped out of the race. In the ill-fated vote of February 18, the two took first and second place respectively, but the election was later canceled due to suspicions of collusion and manipulation. As a result, there were protests by clerics and laymen “for” and “against”, which ended in the capital.
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Voting
“Every single person was voted for separately in the Holy Synod. And this is the result. The list is good, I don’t see any room for any worries,” commented Metropolitan Ioan, vicar of the widowed Sliven Diocese. He is involved not only with its revision, but also with the election of the new metropolitan. And when asked if he had come across any major financial or other abuses there, the bishop replied: “There are definitely things that are disturbing. But I don’t want to comment on them. Now at the moment there is no need to talk about anything. We have a clear horizon – May 19, when the elections are held.”
Read more details on Wednesday (April 24) in the Telegraph newspaper supplement – Miracles and Faith!
Lubomir Staridolski
