site.btaBulgarian Patriarch to Lead Liturgy in St Stephen Church in Istanbul, Vice President Iotova to Attend

Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil will lead a liturgy at the Bulgarian St Stephen Church in Istanbul's Fener neighborhood on the feast day of St Stephen, December 27. The Patriarch begins day three of his first peaceful visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul at the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Iotova will attend the feast day of the church, the President's press secretariat said. She is visiting at the invitation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church community in Turkiye. After the liturgy, Iotova is expected to deliver an address.

Patriarch Daniil is accompanied by a delegation from the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate, including metropolitans Anthony of Western and Central Europe, John of Varna and Veliko Preslav, Naum of Ruse, Cyprian of Stara Zagora, Gregory of Vratsa, Pachomius of Vidin, and Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod.

The Bulgarian iron church of St Stephen is one of few surviving cast iron churches in the world. It was consecrated on September 8, 1898, by Exarch Yossif I. Following a thorough restoration funded by Turkiye and Bulgaria, the Iron Church reopened in January 2018.

This year marks the 155th anniversary of the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate.