ABAGAR
Bulgarian Catholic Magazine
Year XVII, Number 5 (197) May 2008

 Sofia 1000 (Bulgaria)
Cellulare: 0886631055

E-mail: abagar1@abv.bg
Blog: www.eldarov.blogspot.com

 

 

A Digest of Articles and Main Rubrics

 

Pope Benedict XVI in the States (George Eldarov). A chronicle of events during the visit of the Holy Father in the States between April 15 and 20, with a synthesis of his speeches at the meetings with American bishops in Washington on the 16th and with representatives of the other Christian churches and communities in New York on the 18th .

45th Colloquium Abagar ( Abagar). A reportage on the event, taking place in the Town’s Picture Gallery of Sofia on April 18, with a paper read by archim. George Eldarov, a belated commemoration of the 8th Century from the conversion of St. Francis of Assisi, after the jubilee celebrated by the church in 2006-2007. Passages from the early biographies of the saint were recited by Bulgarian actor Petar Petrov, followed by a lively exchange between the podium and the public of artists, journalists and some ecclesiastics, including the head of the Cultural department of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The 270th Anniversary of the Bulgarian Catholic Church in Stari Beshenov in Romania (Svetlana Karadzhova). A reportage on the event of April 20, which was honored by groups of Bulgarian faithful from Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Romania itself. Former king Simeon II of Bulgaria, together with queen Margaret, were also seen at some of the many events within the event.

Roman Cathiolic Diaspora in Bulgaria (Svetlana Karadzhova). Following a plan, which must cover the whole country, the author describes the unhappy situation of Catholics in the city of Byala Slatina, uncared for by the clergy in nearby villages and themselves quite careless about their religious life.

St Francis of Assisi, and how everything started from the day of his conversion (George Eldarov). The text of the paper read at the above colloquium, with some extrapolations about the presence of Franciscans in Bulgaria along the centuries (XIVth, XVIth-XVIIth, XIXth-XXIst).

In Our Rubrics one can find:
Church-News (The World Day of Communications on May 4; Pope Benedict XVI greets Eastern Christians on their Easter on April 27, five weeks after “Catholic” Easter; Rumors about the health of the Holy Father.

An Obituary: Ivo Hadjiev(1927-2008), a Bulgarian political emigre and practicing Roman Catholic, in Beverly Hills, California, where for over thirty years he was a major domo of Virginia Robinson Dream House.

Our Diary for May 2008 relates, among other items, about the presentation of a book by Georgi Vassilev on the presence of Bulgarian dualist heretics (Bogomils, Bulgars) in Great Britain, on May 2; an Exhibition of over 200 works by long neglected Bulgarian abstract painter Ivan Georgiev-Renbrandt, on May 3; the XLV Colloquium Abagar on May 18; marking the Annual Feast of Sofia Town’s Gallery of Art, on May 22.