site.btaBulgarian Priest Officiates at Prayer Service for Peace in Macedonian Monastery

Bulgarian Priest Officiates at Prayer Service for Peace in Macedonian Monastery

Kriva Palanka, Macedonia, May 16 (BTA) - A Bulgarian priest
officiated at a prayer service for peace at the Monastery of St
Joachim of Osogovo in Kriva Palanka, northeastern Macedonia.
Laymen from the Macedonian capital Skopje who happened to be in
the monastery joined the service.

The event was organized by an association called Friends of
Russia and the Orthodox World and by the Bulgarian People's
Convention. The original plan was that the prayer service would
be conducted on the border between Macedonia and Bulgaria,
between the checkpoints of Gyueshevo and Deve Bair, but the
authorities refused to give permission and the venue was
changed.

The prayer was for preserving the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Macedonia, Bulgaria and the Balkans, said Atanas
Stefanov, a representative of the organizers. "We prayed for
peace. Nothing is more important than peace," said Father Stoyan
from Plovdiv, southern Bulgaria. He said the people should stay
united in order to live in love and harmony.

Father Stoyan invited Father Aleksandar from the monastery in
Kriva Palanka to officiate at a similar service in Bulgaria.