Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association Gains Legal Status
The Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association has finally received official legal status with the Bulgarian government, after battling courts throughout the country for the last four months. Global religious freedom watchdog FORUM 18 closely followed the case of chaplaincy ministry in Bulgaria recognizing its “underground” status and releasing an informative article about the current situation of chaplaincy in Bulgaria which can be found at: http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=919
After a decade of ministry, the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association held a national founding meeting in August, 2006 and submitted a petition for registration with the Bulgarian court. The purpose of the establishment was the legal representation of Bulgarian evangelicals who minister in various fields of chaplaincy despite legal limitations and open government restrictions. Their campaign for legalizing chaplaincy in the Bulgarian armed forces has formed “The Case of Underground Chaplaincy in Bulgaria.”
After months of legal battle, the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association was officially registered through the Sofia Municipal Court on February 23, 2007. The result was made possible by a joint initiative of the Association’s establishing members, the representing legal team led by former Bulgarian presidential nominee, Ivan Gruikin with the assistance of legal council Latchezar Popov of the Rule of Law Institute and religious-liberty lawyer Viktor Kostov of the Balkan Center for Law and Freedom.
Bulgaria: General Infromation
Location – Bulgaria is situated on the Balkan Peninsula, in south-eastern Europe. It is bounded by Romania on the north, by the Black Sea on the east, by Turkey and Greece on the south, and by the Republics of Macedonia and Yugoslavia on the west
State System – Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic. It is a united and inseparable formation of one nation. The supreme organ of state power is the National Assembly (Parliament), which exercises legislative power and parliamentary control
Geographical Reference – The relief of the country is diverse, including vast lowlands, planes, low hills, high and low mountains, valleys, river basins and deep gorges…The climate of Bulgaria is generally defined as temperate continental with well expressed transition to the south of Stara Planina…The complex relief structure and the small territory of Bulgaria do not create conditions for big rivers
Flora and Fauna – Bulgaria is a land of roses, orchards laden with fruit and vines grown since the settlement of the ancient Thracians. Favorable climatic conditions and variety of relief are factors that account for the diversity of vegetation. The overall number of plant species is approximately 12 400. Forests prevail, representing nearly 27 % of the territory of the country
Religion and Holidays – The traditional religion in Bulgaria is the Eastern Orthodox creed. The conversion to Christianity took place in 864 and the foundations of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were laid down at the Constantinople Council in 870. In the time of the Ottoman rule the Bulgarian Patriarchate passed under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate
Style of Life – More than half of the Bulgarian population lives in towns as a result of the intensive migration processes in the recent decades. The basic part of the inhabitants (88 %) are Bulgarians – a nationality formed through the amalgamation of Slavs, Proto-Bulgarians and Thracians…The typical Bulgarian dishes…Bulgarian white and red wines…Mineral waters
Monetary Unit – The Bulgarian monetary unit is the Bulgarian lev. Banknotes of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 levs and coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 stotinki are in circulation.
History – The geographical situation at crossroads, the favorable climate and the variety of relief are prerequisites for the interweaving of fates and routes of many tribes and peoples on the Bulgarian lands. The territory of Bulgaria was inhabited since the earliest historical ages – the Stone Age and the Stone-Copper Age
Bulgarian National Culture – In Bulgaria the foreign tourists can get acquainted with original versatile culture that represents an organic entity of various ethnocultural communities – Proto-Bulgarians, Slavs and the ancient settlers on the Balkans, mainly Thracians
Education – By way of tradition the Bulgarians have always valued highly erudition, making efforts to give their children good education. It is not surprising that towards the end of the 9th C. Knyaz Boris invited the students of the founders of the Slavonic alphabet Sts. Cyril and Methodius and they became archefounders of education in Bulgaria
Language and Alphabet – The Bulgarian language – the oldest Slavonic language in terms of written documents – belongs to the Southern group of Slavonic languages of the Indo-European language family
Literature – The Bulgarian literature is considered to be the oldest Slavonic one. Its foundations were laid in the 9th C., after the brothers Constantin-Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius created the Slavonic alphabet (Glagolitsa) and made the first translations of religious texts
Architecture – “Since the creation of the world and up to the 15th C. architecture stands out as the great book of mankind, its major means of expression… “, said Victor Hugo. The architectural heritage of Bulgarian country has written our exceptionally rich history in stone, wood and brick
Fine Arts – The Bulgarian lands are an inexhaustible treasure-trove of artistic works. Part of these are still hidden in the earth, but others, which are already in the museums, drive us thousands of years back to the culture of one of the oldest ancient European civilizations
Music – The legend of the Thracian singer Orpheus, who charmed gods with his music, tells that he was born in the Rhodopes. Bulgarian singers and musicians of today are no less famous than Orpheus. The remarkable opera-singers Boris Hristov, Nikolai Gyaurov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Raina Kabaivanska, Gena Dimitrova and many others make famous the Bulgarian school of singing on the world opera stages
Theatre – The beginning of theatre performances in Bulgaria was laid during the National Revival (the second half of the 19th C.). The first professional theatre company was formed in Plovdiv in 1883
Sports – Though a small country, Bulgaria ranges among the foremost sports nations in the world. It is one of thirteen countries constituters of the contemporary Olympic games in 1896
Tourism – The beautiful scenery, the ancient historical sites and the crossroad situation of the country between the Orient and Europe have been attracting travellers since ancient times. Travel notes left by German, Austrian and Arab authors offer a rich source of evidence for the life in the Bulgarian lands. At present Bulgaria develops as a country of tourism. Despite its comparatively small territory, the variety of treasures of nature is exceptional
Souvenirs from Bulgaria – Buying a souvenir, one can take away a memento of Bulgaria. Works of masters of traditional crafts can be found in the special shops (painted Troyan ceramics, wrought-iron and copper objects, boxes, candle-sticks, etc., wooden objects, decorated with poker-work, hand-made embroideries with folklore motifs, replicas of ancient guns and daggers, etc.)
You Are Not Alone
Bulgarians join “jailed nurses”
Millions of Bulgarians have joined a nationwide campaign calling for the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in a high-profile Aids trial in Libya, pollsters said today. A court in Tripoli convicted in December the nurses and a Palestinian doctor of intentionally infecting Libyan children with HIV and sentenced them to death, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before the medical workers arrived in Libya.
The verdicts triggered outrage in Bulgaria, and “the salvation of the Bulgarian nurses became a cause that united the whole nation,” wrote Capital weekly. Some 39% of Bulgarians – or more than 3 million people – have actively joined the solidarity campaign, according to a survey by the AFIS polling agency published today. “In Sofia and the larger cities, the share of actively involved people reaches 58%,” said Chavdar Naydenov of the AFIS agency.
2006: The Year of Promise
In the beginning of 2006 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we declared 2006 the Year of Promise. It was natural then as the year began that we sought the Lord’s will in prayer and fasting to discover and possess the promises. As the months passed by the considerable amount of ministry overtook most of our time and attention. At times we held 3-4 services per day, an evening revival service, had just enough time to eat a meal, go to bed and prayerfully start the new day. But we never stopped wondering about the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Having spent over seven months of the year ministering all over the country of Bulgaria, at the end of 2006 we are in the process of evaluating our work, available resources and plans for the next year. We are reviewing the videos, going through the thousands of pictures, checking our reports, over viewing our rapidly growing ministry’s media presence, reevaluating our statistical information and ministry results and looking for the points of success and failure. Over 55,000 traveled miles, two and a half broken cars, multiple trips with airplanes, buses, trains and sometimes even on foot; close to a hundred congregations involved, tens of thousands of people touched through the internet, but most of all countless handshakes, prayers through laying of hands, encouraging words and always finding strength through the struggles to give to other. And as everything comes together at the end of the year, we slowly but surely realize that the Year of promise is not about us. It is not about a promise which God wanted to give to us, but it is about His promise which He wants delivered to the others. All ministry results are nothing, if His promises have not reached the people He loves. And sitting in the office with video, audio, photos, numbers charts, maps, analyzes, satisfaction from the much success and pain from the many failures, we come to the recognition of this one thing – we have been granted the privilege to bring the promises of God to the people whom He has loved from the foundation of the world. And this is the True Year of Promise.
Thus, our payer remains the same: “May God use us to bring His promises to the people around us.”
Happy New Years from all of us at Cup & Cross Ministries.
Over 3,300 Receive Bible Verse
Over 3,300 Bulgarians worldwide receive daily a Bible verse directly to their cell phones from the Christian mega portal www.bibliata.com. Similar active applications include the English website “Ecclesia”, the Australian Bible Society and the American mFaith and OSministry. The service offered by www.bibliata.com was initiated in 2002 and it has remained free of charge for all subscribes since then. The service is offered via the major Bulgarian GSM operators MTel and GloBul. Registration is done online at: sms.bibliata.com. There is also an option to receive the verse via email.
Give Thanks
Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to Him through God the Father (Colossians 3:17)
The Scripture advises us to give thanks to God at all times and on all occasions. It also gives thanks itself: Genesis gives thanks for the creation. Exodus gives thanks for the deliverance. Leviticus gives thanks from generation to generation. Numbers gives thanks for each generation. Deuteronomy gives thanks for the law. Joshua gives thanks for the Promised Land. The historical books give thanks because His mercy endures forever. Psalms give thanks with a song. Proverbs give thanks with a word of wisdom. The Prophets give thanks for the coming Messiah.
The Gospels give thanks for the Messiah who has come to the world. Acts give thanks for the Holy Ghost. The Epistles give thanks for we were delivered from sin, saved, sanctified, baptized, adopted to the family of God, healed, restored, blessed and wonderfully placed on the firm rock who is Christ Jesus. Revelation gives thanks for He is coming again to deliver us from the trials and tribulations of the present world and to bring us to the abundant life in the Heavenly City.
We are thankful to God who is our hope for both today and for eternity. Happy Thanksgiving, from all of us at Cup & Cross Ministries.
Healing in the Midst of Revival
After the Monday night service of the revival we held in Sofia, a lady came to us and testified of a healing in her left arm where she had been experiencing tremendous pain to the point of not being able to move it. She further reported that during the service the pain completely left her body.
While in revival services in Bourgas a similar healing took place. In the middle of the alter call, an elderly lady testified with a shout and with her hands raise to the Lord in thanks for a physical healing. This lady testified that before the service she could not move her arm or leg on one side of her body and that during the time at the alter she received an instant healing in which she was able to walk without hindrance and could move her arm and open her crippled hand. We also just received confirmation that a lady was healed from cancer during the revival in Bourgas.
Revival is a time of restoration but it is only after we humble ourselves, pray, seek his face and turn from our wicked ways that our sins will be forgiven and there will be healing in the land. We praise the Lord for this dynamos healing power and know that He in not finished with the work He has begun.
Cup & Cross in the Church of God News
The work of Cup & Cross Ministries was again recognized by the World Missions Media Department. Two reports were published, the first one dealing with our October ministry appointments (http://www.cogwm.org/news.cfm?sid=2638) and the second one covering the tour in Bourgas, Mega Youth Rally in Varna and the Ten-Year Anniversary of Bibliata.com (http://www.cogwm.org/news.cfm?sid=2640).
Socialists Win Elections Again
Incumbent President Georgi Parvanov was re-elected with a majority of 77.6% votes vs. 22.4% in favour of nationalist opponent Volen Siderov, according to exit polls of Scala agency. Exit polls were released by Bulgarian media immediately after the last polling station closed at some time after 7 pm on Sunday. Alpha Research quoted preliminary figures of 77.1% for Georgi Parvanov and 21.9% cast for Volen Siderov.
Voter turnout averaged the levels from the first round and hardly exceeded 40%, preliminary data showed. Unlike the first election round, the turnout doesn’t play a role here and the candidate who garnered the larger amount of the ballots cast became Bulgari’s next president. Parvanov faced Siderov in a run-off because the turnout in the first round of the elections fell below the 50 % of eligible voters required for a straightaway victory.
10 Years Bibliata.com
September 2006 marked the ten year anniversary of the creation of one of our ministry websites, Bibliata.com. Ten years ago on an old computer running on a 386 processor and 4MB of memory, the first texts of the Bulgarian Bible were prepared into a digital format. Now ten years later a consortium of over a dozen Christian websites is creating a new subculture in Bulgaria’s internet to form a context where Christian values and Biblical principles for life are again becoming motivating and governing powers of society.
For us, this anniversary is a sign that dreams can become reality. As part of the anniversary celebration in July we initiated the National Bible Tour 2006. We have already held, with great success, mega youth rallies in the towns of Stara Zagora, Yambol, Shumen and Bourgas along with our team’s direct participation at the New Wave-Sarafovo and Karandila summer youth camps. We have scheduled youth rallies in Varna, Plovdiv and Sliven for the months of September and October. Two weeks of revival services in Sofia and Bourgas are also planned as part of our Revival Harvest Campaign 2006.
