Sofia, February 9, 2023
Photo: dveri.bg
This year marks the centenary of the Faculty of Theology of the St. Clement of Ohrid Unversity of Sofia—the main theological institution for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
Anniversary celebrations began on January 29, on the eve of the feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs—Sts. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, the patrons of Orthodox education. On that day, a festive Vespers was served in the academic chapel of the Faculty of Theology by the clergy of the school, reports dveri.bg.
Photo: dveri.bg
The service was chanted by teachers and students from the Faculty.
The next day, the festive Liturgy was celebrated by His Grace Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod, together with clerics who graduated from the Faculty.
At the end of the service, Bp. Gerasim read out the congratulations of His Holiness Patriarch Neofit, who served as the last rector of the Theological Academy and the first dean of the renewed Faculty of Theology in 1991.
The Bulgarian primate referred to theology as “the highest of all sciences.”
Photo: dveri.bg
In a tradition that dates back to the 1930s, and which was restored in 2015, the teachers of the faculty who hold the degrees of Doctor of Theology or Doctor of Sciences were awarded special badge-crosses by Bp. Gerasim.
The Three Hierarchs celebration was the first of a series of events that will be held throughout this jubilee year.
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