The church of St Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Haskovo marked 165 years since it was built, and its patron saint's day, with a liturgy, a kurban (a ritual lamb meal) and a concert by Sunday school children.
Father Kiril led the liturgy, and worshippers took part. Father Zlatko asked the faithful to set aside time to pray in the church and to seek the protection of Archangel Michael. "On this day we pray for the protection of the leader of the heavenly host, Archangel Michael," he said. The church is under the care of the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Blagovesta Vasileva of the church board says Sunday schools teach children faith, morals and values. In her words, faith gives support, teaches humility and trust, and keeps young people from temptation.
Vasileva believes that, if possible, people should spend two hours every Sunday on the Holy Eucharist. On the feast day, she said, people should honour the archangels and pray for themselves, their loved ones and all people. "Today it is more important to be in church," she said.
The kurban was prepared the evening before the holiday: three lambs and two extra trays of roast lamb. The children were given baked meatballs and banitsa pastries.
The concert features children from Sunday schools in Haskovo, Harmanli and Kardzhali.
Haskovo's second church was built in 1861 by Bulgarians who had taken on a Greek identity. The patron icon, "Synaxis of the Archangels", dates from 1866, and the icon of St John the Baptist from 1872. These two icons, along with "Presentation of the Virgin" and "Nativity of Christ", carry donors' inscriptions in Greek. The church was declared a cultural monument in 1972, and the dome of its bell tower was gilded in 2003.
The church is a three-aisled basilica with a semicircular apse and a wide, U-shaped narthex. Master craftsman Yane Spirov carved the wood of the iconostasis, the bishop's throne and the proskynitarion.