site.btaARMENPRESS Director Nazaryan Visits St Sargis Armenian Apostolic Church, Museums in Varna

Armenia's ARMENPRESS News Agency Director Narine Nazaryan visited Varna during her trip to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

Together with BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Nazaryan visited the St. Sargis Armenian Apostolic Church in the Bulgarian coastal city, where they met with Father Armen Melkonyan, who became parish priest last December. Originally from Syria, he previously served in Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Though fluent in eight languages, he noted he has yet to learn Bulgarian. He pointed out that Varna is home to a large Armenian community of about 3,000 people, and since April 2024, the Bulgarian-Armenian Cultural and Information Centre has been actively organizing events.

Nazaryan attended Sunday's liturgy at St. Sargis. The former head of the Varna district and appellate court, Vanukhi Arakelyan, was also present, who conferred with the guest.

The St. Sargis Church dates back to the 17th century. Originally a cemetery chapel, it was destroyed by fire under unknown circumstances. The current church was consecrated in January 1844, underwent major renovation in 1910, and saw the addition of its bell tower. In 2002, the church was refurbished again on the initiative of its parish council. 

Nazaryan’s program in Varna also included visits to the Roman Thermae and the Archaeological Museum, where she viewed the renowned Gold of Varna from the Chalcolithic Necropolis.

On Saturday, Nazaryan attended the presentation of the September issue of LIK magazine at the Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival. The previous day, she toured BTA’s renovated newsroom, digitization centre, and archive reading room—new facilities developed since her last visit in October 2022, when, during Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s state visit, BTA and ARMENPRESS signed their news exchange agreement. Since then, BTA has published nearly 450 ARMENPRESS stories, while Armenpress regularly republishes Bulgarian news directly sourced from BTA.

Valchev noted that BTA’s bilateral agreements for daily news exchange have since tripled—from 17 in 2022 to 50 today—including with Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s national agencies.

According to Valchev, the cooperation between BTA and Armenpress embodies the Armenian saying that “Today’s word is tomorrow’s bridge.” He added that Bulgarians and Armenians, described by poet Peyo Yavorov as a “forever brave people,” are further bound by their common Christian faith.

The 1994 Bulgarian-Armenian agreement on cooperation in culture, education, and science explicitly includes cinema, providing for joint film projects and cultural exchanges. Over the years, Bulgarian films have participated in—and been awarded at—Armenia’s international Apricot Tree Film Festival, Valchev recalled.