Sun Apr 17 15:26:32 EEST 2011
Palm Sunday day feast in Bulgarievo (Bylgareevo)
I'm just coming back from the Bulgareevo (a small village cituated nearby Kavarna).
Bylgareevo is a middle size bulgarian village situated near the sea on a first look, there is nothing special in it.
The village has two Orthodox Church temples and a serving Priest (an Archimandrite, father Metodii).
Father Metodii is one of this priests that you tend to remember as he is a truly devoted to Christ monk. Since about two years of time he has reconstructed his local village house and the yard nearby the house into something which hopefully in the short future will become a fully monk inhabited spiritual fortress (A Monastery).
Father Metodii lives and believes part of his service to God is constites in rising this small monastery and gathering together Bulgarian believers in order to further rise up the Bulgarian faith in Christ and to become a center for spiritual pilgrimage.
The monastery already has a monastery bell, a monks cells and the small chapel (parakles/paraklis) prepared to be as a place for monks pilgrimage.
Father Metodii's efforts to make the monastery an attractive place for future candidate novice Monks and Monks are genuine.
All he has done by so far is a good example for all us the Christians to follow. Most of the expenses related to the Monastery building are being paid by the Father himself.
As part of this efforts to rise up the place as a place for spiritual pilgrimage by God grace Bylgareevo's monastery has been granted the honour to contain a particle of the Holy Live giving Cross Tree on which our Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified.. By God's mercy the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the local national museum has donated two particles of the Holy Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was Crucified and suffered for our sins.
Now the particles are being kept in the Monastery's small chapel for pilgrimage. Thus the opportunity for a pilgrimage journey to Bylgareevo on this day of great spiritual joy Palm Sunday was a huge blessing for me and the few more brothers and sisters with whom we traveled to Bulgareevo
Below I present you with a picture on which you can see Father Metodii (Methodius) holding in lands the small particle of the Crist's Crucifixion cross tree (embedded in the center of the wood cross on the picture).
The name of the village Bulgareevo is also really notable as it's a direct direvative from the word Bylgariq (Bulgaria).
Along with the two particles of the Holy life giving Cross where the saviour Jesus Christ was crucified, father Metodii has collected some great saint relics, just to name a few of the relics which are in the newly built monastery in Bulgareevo; holy relics of saint Panteleimon, holy Relics of Saint John of Rila etc.
The day's service as I mentioned earlier is among the 12 Church feasts in the Orthodox Churches, we use to call (The Lord's feasts [Gospodski Praznici]), and thus is one of the 12 feasts which are most spiritually richful for Bulgaria as an Orthodox Nation and for all other national Orthodox Churches around the world.
Palm Sunday is always the last sunday before the beginning of "the passionate week", the week in which who believe in Christ's name remember the great trials and suffering our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has born for the salvation of all Christians.
Palm Sunday is the feast in which we the orthodox Christians commemorate Christ's entrance in Jerusalem on a small donkey.
The donkey presenting his son of God glory in front of the stunned people who were excited of his entrance in Jerusalem and was placing their clothes and all kind of palm leaves on the path before the Lord, here is a small chunk of the Gospel reading for the day:
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Blessed is the King of Israel!"
The people were glorifying God and Christ as the son of the God in accordance to the Old testament scriptures in which it was prophecised that the Saviour of Mankind (The Messiah) would walk in through the entrance doors of Jerusalem riding a donkey.
People who were present observing the Lord's entrance were witnessing the fulfilment of the old testament psalms prophecies by glorifying the Lord.
This were the same people which just a week later were screaming "crucify" him ..
On Palm Sunday it is a Church tradition in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church that willow branches are being sanctified by the priest and then distributed among layman as a blessing and a remembrance of the Palms which were layed upon the Lord's Jerusalem entrance.
Later on we put the willow branches in our homes in our home icon-stands.
The use of willow branches in our Church has been established through the years as Palm Trees are not growing in the lands of Bulgaria.
It's a pity that many bulgarian people who are baptized in our Bulgarian Orthodox Church, fails to understand the symbolic meaning of the willow branches and doesn't really understand the essence of the Church feast but just go to Church to light up a candle "to have a good fortune and health".
I thank the Lord for having this good blessed day and I pray that we all come to the understanding to know Christ as he knows us!