site.btaBTA Delivers Archive Material Documenting Zograf Monastery

Archimandrite Gabriel, the hegumen of the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery of St George on Mount Athos, received two volumes featuring copies of news items and photos of the monastery from the archive of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). They were delivered by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev on the eve of the autumn feast of St George (November 16, Old Style), the date on which his relics were transferred from the site of his martyrdom in Lydda (today's city of Lod in Israel) to a newly consecrated Christian church.

Valchev arrived at the monastery along with a parliamentary delegation.

The news items are collected in a 127-page book, matching the agency's 127-year history since its first bulletin was issued in 1898. The oldest BTA report from Mount Athos, dating from 1935, is a dispatch from the French Havas news agency describing the ebb and flow along the Athos coastline following an earthquake in Greece.

The second volume contains 91 photographs from BTA's photo archive of the Zograf Monastery. The oldest image, taken in 1972, may prove useful, the hegumen said, as it shows a terrace of the wing currently under restoration. No older photograph of that section is known to exist, only a drawing.

Both volumes were prepared by BTA's Archives and Reference Directorate, headed by Desislava Sevova.

Kiril Valchev said: "I have kept the promise I made during the spring feast of St George on May 6, 2025, when I pledged to the then newly elected hegumen, Archimandrite Gabriel, that I would come for the saint's autumn feast with copies of all BTA reports on the Zograf Monastery from the agency's bulletins since 1898, as well as copies of all photographs of the monastery available at BTA. I said I would deliver them both in print and digital format, to be preserved in the library of the monastery."

BTA's Director General also said that during the communist era, there were not many news items from the Zograf Monastery. There is one article from 1972 in BTA's Paraleli magazine by Ivan Garelov, as well as BBC stories, the oldest dating from 1979. After 1990, reports are mainly about visits by Bulgarian delegations. "In fact, the Bulgarian media do not provide as much coverage of the Zograf Monastery as it deserves. I also hope that, in the coming years, the books containing information about it in the Bulgarian media will become much more substantial," said Valchev.

He said that once the digitization of BTA's archives is completed, which is expected next year, additional material on the Zograf Monastery may be uncovered and provided in time for the next autumn feast of St George.

BTA's Director General said that copies of the volumes containing the news agency's reports and photographs from the Zograf Monastery will also be delivered to Bulgaria's Consulate General in Thessaloniki, to the Bulgarian Embassy in Athens, and to the library of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

During a visit for the spring feast of St George on May 6, Valchev met with the newly elected hegumen, Archimandrite Gabriel and pledged that BTA would continue to release reports from the Zograf Monastery for use by all media outlets and would provide systematic coverage of all major events at the monastery.