site.btaPatriarch Neophyte Confers with Initiators of Bulgarian Orthodox Church Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

Patriarch Neophyte Confers with Initiators of Bulgarian Orthodox Church Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

Sofia, March 31 (BTA) - Patriarch Neophyte has met with attorney Moshe Aloni, one of the initiators of the nomination of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the Nobel Peace Prize for saving 48,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Nazi death camps in World War II, a press release published on the website of the Holy Synod said Friday.

The nomination was officially submitted to the Nobel Committee in the beginning of January on the initiative of Israel's former Health Minister and MP, Gen. Efraim Sneh, Haifa University law professor Moshe Keshet (name may be misspelt) and attorney Moshe Aloni, supported with the signatures of over 200 descendants of saved Bulgarian Jews.

"It is an honour for me to kiss the hand of the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church which defended Bulgarian Jews at a time when it was not difficult for someone to disappear or to be killed," Aloni said at the meeting.

"All the world and the people who govern us should know what true Christianity is, one that was shown by the top Bulgarian clerics in times of strife. They should know what true human compassion means and the nomination of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for the Nobel Peace Prize has occasioned our moves to popularize this unprecedented example," Aloni said. Whatever the outcome of this nomination the main goal has already been achieved, for people from all over the world have learnt about the role of the church in the salvation of Bulgarian Jews.

What the Bulgarian Orthodox Church did was a significant fact not only for Bulgarian history, but for that of mankind, an example for upholding inherent human values in all circumstances, of dignity, principle, heroism and love for one's brethren, regardless of ethnic origin or faith. It is also an example that in times of trouble there is escalation of both the worst and the best of human features, for these are times of choice of sides, times of test, Aloni said.

The participants in the meeting also included Bishop Gerasimus of Melnik, the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod, the protosynkellos of the Holy Synod Angel Angelov and Assoc. Prof. Ekaterina Damyanova who teaches Biblical archaeology at Sofia University.