site.btaOver 60 Researchers from 14 Countries Discuss Christian Missions in Middle Ages

An international scientific conference titled "Christian missions in the European Middle Ages and their intellectual heritage. History, notions, ideas" was unveiled at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) on Wednesday, the Academy said. The scientific forum gathers over 60 participants from 14 countries, representing 40 Slavic and historical scientific centres from around the world. The Cyrillo-Methodian Research Centre at BAS is the organizer of the event, which is held in the days preceding the feast of holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian alphabet, education, culture and Slavic literature - May 24.

“The topic that brings us together today concerns not only one of the most significant phenomena in the spiritual and cultural history of Europe – the spread of Christianity, but also the intellectual and civilizational processes that it gave rise to,” the Director of the Research Centre, Professor Veselka Zhelyazkova, said in her greeting to the conference participants. “Medieval Christian missions are not just religious acts – they bring writing, education, statehood and cultural identity,” Zhelyazkova said.

“We turn to history, to find where we belong, to understand ourselves in the present. To always be on the periphery of great empires is sometimes convenient, indemnifying, but also binding. The key to unravelling our national destiny lies within,” the Vice-President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Professor Emmanuel Moutafov, said in his opening speech. “The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences accepts as its mission to develop Bulgarian studies around the world. It will support initiatives and projects related to its strengthening and the protection of objective historical truth,” he added.

Within the framework of the conference at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the exhibition “In the Footsteps of the Disciples: the Cyril and Methodius Route in Bulgaria – Part of the European Cultural Route of the Council of Europe” was presented. Volume XXXV of the series of the Cyrillo-Methodian Research Centre “Cyril and Methodius Studies” with the reports from the previous conferences “The work of Cyril and Methodius remembered by researchers and culture” and “200 years since the discovery of the Codex Suprasliensis” have been shown.

The scientific sessions of the conference on May 22 and 23 will be held at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Natural History at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the press release further reads.