site.btaHoly Synod Secretary General Meets with GDCOC Representatives

On Friday, Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, Secretary General of the Holy Synod, met with Senior Commissioner Kalin Litov, Deputy Director of the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC), and with Tigran Vardanyan, head of its department tackling trafficking in cultural property. The meeting took place at the Synodal Palace, the Bulgarian Patriarchate said.

The representatives of the police briefed Bishop Gerasim on the results of the specialized action of the GDCOC on the territory of Gabrovo, during which more than 500 church valuables were found. These included relics, a gospel, two bishops' staffs, icons, liturgical utensils, as well as paintings, coins and weapons. The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was notified of the police action. According to experts, among the finds there are unique church valuables and relics of extremely high material value.

Bishop Gerasim thanked on behalf of the Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel and the Holy Synod for the work of the Police in curbing the trafficking of cultural property and expressed his hope that the church relics will be returned where they belong and where they will be stored under appropriate conditions and with due reverence in view of their sacred purpose.

On Thursday, more than 500 church relics were seized in a specialized operation by the GDCOC carried out on the territory of Gabrovo district. This was announced by the press centre of the Ministry of Interior.