site.btaNearly 200 Join Pilgrimage Trail A Journey of Faith Starting from St Sophia Church in Sofia
Nearly 200 people joined the pilgrimage trail A Journey of Faith, which started on Friday from the St Sophia Church in Sofia, the local municipal administration said in a press release.
With a patriarchal holy liturgy at the St Sophia Church, celebrated by Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil, the pilgrimage initiative dedicated to the translation of the relics of St John of Rila from Sofia to the Rila Monastery began.
The pilgrimage trail the Miracle Worker of Rila is the first in the network of pilgrimage trails called A Journey of Faith. The route is nearly 120 km long, passes through the Vitosha, Verila and Rila mountains and reaches the Rila Monastery, where the relics of St John of Rila are located.
A Journey of Faith is held under the auspices of President Rumen Radev and with the blessing of Patriarch Daniil. The initiative is being carried out with the participation of the Bulgarian Tourist Union Association, the Metropolitanate of Sofia, the Faculty of Theology at the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, Sofia Municipality, and Samokov Municipality.
Sofia Municipality supports the initiative because historical knowledge is important, Sofia Deputy Mayor for Finance and Healthcare Ivan Vasilev said. The trail of the relics of St John of Rila is the beginning of one of the most important pilgrimage routes in the country, connected to Sofia, abundant in temples and monasteries, which attracts many pilgrims. "We hope it will develop even further and attract tourists," Vasilev, who attended the holy liturgy and participated in the procession, added.
Nearly 200 people, laypeople, many families, joined the initiative, and so did the mayors of the municipalities of Samokov, Dupnitsa and Sapareva Banya.
St John of Rila is revered as the heavenly protector of the Bulgarian people, as the first and greatest founder of hermit monasticism, a spiritual father and teacher of the faith. After the saint's death, his relics were first transferred to Sofia, later to Tarnovo, where they remained until the city fell to Ottoman rule in 1393. In 1469, at the initiative of the monks at the Rila Monastery, the holy relics were solemnly returned to the monastery, where they remain to this day.
The pilgrimage trail the Miracle Worker of Rila follows part of the path along which the relics of the saint were taken from Tarnovo to the Rila Monastery in 1469.
Pilgrims are expected to reach the Rila Monastery on August 5.
/KK/
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