Bulgarian Ultra-Nationalists Attack Sofia Muslims

This past Friday Bulgarian ultra-nationalists attacked Turkish Muslims praying at a mosque in downtown Sofia, beating many of them and burning their prayer rugs. A member of the Bulgarian Parliament involved in the attack was injured during the ensuing fight. More on the attack here. Following the incident several hundred Bulgarians organized a demonstration in Sofia, laying flowers at the mosque in protest of the attack. More here.

Bulgaria Maintains Ties with Albania's Bulgarians

The Bulgarian government is seeking to strengthen ties with communities of Bulgarian Orthodox Christians and Muslims living in southeastern Albania. More here.

Interview with Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech

A fascinating Bulgarian-language interview with Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church about the Bulgarian Diaspora in the Komi Republic of the Russian Federation can be found here. The Russian Orthodox Church recently asked the Church of Bulgaria to send a priest to Komi to care for the Bulgarians there and organize a Bulgarian-language school, the prospects for which Metropolitan Gabriel was investigating during his recent visit to Russia.

Razgrad Commemorates Deliverance from the Turkish Yoke

In honor of the 133rd anniversary of the liberation of Razgrad, Bulgaria, from the Turks Metropolitan Neofit of Ruse celebrated a memorial for the imperial Russian soldiers and Bulgarian freedom fighters responsible for the expulsion of the Turkish occupying forces on 28 January in the city's Church of St. Nicholas. More here.

Representatives of Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches Meet

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has met in Moscow with representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to discuss relations between the sister Orthodox Churches and particularly the pastoral care of Bulgarians living in Russia's Komi Republic. More here.

Serbia's Bulgarian Minority

Serbia's small Bulgarian minority is becoming more vocal in its defense of its rights in the country as it prepares for European Union membership. Among other things, a priest active in the community's affairs has been disciplined by the Serbian Orthodox Church for serving in Bulgarian instead of Church Slavonic or Serbian. More here.

Bulgarians in Macedonia Protest Archbishop's Remarks

Following comments by Archbishop Stefan (Veljanovski) of Ohrid of the schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church that ethnically Macedonian Spaska Mitrova's Bulgarian citizenship makes her one of the "dregs of society, traitors and freaks" Macedonia's Bulgarian Cultural Club (BCC), which represents Macedonians still aware of their Bulgarian heritage and identity, has demanded an apology from Archbishop Stefan. Should he not apologize the BCC will appeal to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to restore its dioceses on the territory of independent Macedonia. More here.