site.btaChurch Leader Recalls God's Message of Love on New Year's Day

At the start of another year of the Christian era, the Head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Neophyte, said in a public message, as quoted by his office: "May we enter the new year and live through it with a clear awareness of all eternal truths of the faith that saves us. We should emulate our Lord and Creator within our powers and be particularly assiduous in following the new commandment which He gave us with His New Testament and which is the core and the essence of the New Testament: 'A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another' (John 13:34)."

Neophyte noted that this is the commandment which the world needs most of all nowadays. "God's image is in every human being, in everyone of us and everyone among us. We should value, respect, and love that image," he urged.

"May God's peace, His all-forgiving love and great mercy be with us all!" he said.