Sofia, February 4, 2026
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrated the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. Seraphim (Sobolev) of Boguchar with a solemn Divine Liturgy at the St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Church in Sofia, which serves as the Russian representation church in Bulgaria and is home to the Holy Hierarch’s relics.
His Holiness Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria led the service, which was held on February 3 rather than on St. Seraphim’s actual feast day of February 26, as the latter falls during Great Lent this year. February 3 marks the date when the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, with a delegation from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, decided to glorify St. Seraphim in 2016.
Pat. Daniil was concelebrated by other Bulgarian bishops, Archpriest Vladimir Tishchuk, representative of the Russian Patriarch in Bulgaria, and other clergy, reports the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
In his homily, Pat. Daniil said: “The feat of holiness is a natural fruit of life in the Church and in the Church—a grace-filled phenomenon for which there are no boundaries—neither temporal nor spatial.”
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
The Patriarch continued: “Thus, during the first half of the 20th century, in troubled and difficult times, God sent us our Bishop Seraphim, in whose person our people discovered an exemplary hierarch, a zealous man of prayer, and a good friend, whom they loved most tenderly and heartily and in whom they placed their trust and continue to place their trust today—decades after his blessed repose—as their closest intercessor and advocate before the throne of God.”
Patriarch Daniil highlighted the numerous miracles attributed to St. Seraphim:
How many sick people have found healing here, in this church, after fervent prayer to St. Seraphim; how many sufferers have found relief; how many young people have received help and support in their university studies and before examinations; how many families threatened by divorce and the breaking of the family bond have been preserved; how many tears have been shed over the grave of the Sofia Wonderworker and how many souls have found comfort; how many unsolvable cases and hopeless situations have found a way out and solution through the help, prayers, and grace-filled intervention of the glorious hierarch.
Archpriest Vladimir Tishchuk read a greeting from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on the occasion. The Russian primate stated:
The long-awaited canonization of St. Seraphim, which took place 10 years ago first in the Russian and soon thereafter in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, was a significant event and once again emphasized the unity of the two Local Orthodox Churches. We believe that, standing before the throne of the Almighty, this saint, who in the past century zealously witnessed to our spiritual brotherhood, will not abandon his flock in the lands of Bulgaria and Russia and elsewhere, and will be a swift helper to those who call upon him from all the ends of the earth.
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