site.btaNational Assembly Chair Dotsova Says Bulgarian Language Preserved the Nation

National Assembly Chair Michaela Dotsova called on Bulgarians to preserve their language at a reception at the Bulgarian Embassy in Rome on Thursday. She spoke ahead of May 24, the Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture and of Slav Letters.

The choir of Sofia’s Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross performed the hymn March Ahead, O Revived People.

“It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here in Rome with colleagues from the 52nd National Assembly ahead of the brightest Bulgarian celebration of letters, May 24,” Dotsova said. She said that ahead of May 24, Bulgarians always recall that they survived as a people thanks to their script, which also preserved all Slav peoples.

“As we listened to March Ahead, O Revived People, I felt both pride and humility, pride that we have preserved our letters, and humility before the great work of our ancestors,” Dotsova said. She recalled that 12 centuries ago in Rome, Cyril passionately defended the right of the Slav peoples to have their own script and, together with his brother Methodius, translated books that went down in history after being blessed by Pope Adrian II.

Bulgarian Ambassador to Italy Ivan Kondov welcomed the official guests at the embassy and said Bulgarians regard the Cyrillic alphabet as sacred and as a source of national pride. The creation and spread of the Cyrillic alphabet are recognized as Bulgaria’s contribution to world culture, he said.

Metropolitan Anthony of Western and Central Europe said May 24 is not only a celebration of letters, but also a celebration of the spirit and of the sacred word through which a people finds its voice, memory and dignity. “Our alphabet is more than a script, it is a blessing, it is a covenant. Through it, our ancestors preserved their faith, culture and statehood through centuries of trial. Through it, Bulgaria still shows the world that our people live not by bread alone, but also by the word, education and spirituality,” Anthony said.

Archimandrite Maxim, representative of Metropolitan Nikolay of Plovdiv, presented the travelling exhibition of valuable relics Bulgarian Spiritual Treasure over the Centuries, which opened at the Bulgarian Embassy in Rome on Thursday. Maxim said the exhibition is the first project of the newly established museum activities department at the Plovdiv Metropolitanate, tasked with collecting and restoring valuables and sacred objects. The collected relics will be displayed in a future church museum in Plovdiv, which will open this year, Maxim added.

Earlier on Thursday, the Bulgarian parliamentary delegation led by Dotsova laid flowers at the monument to Captain Petko Voyvoda on Janiculum Hill in Rome and at the monument to Sts Cyril and Methodius in the courtyard of the Bulgarian Embassy in Rome. An audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican is planned for Friday.