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Water blessing ceremony of the Bulgarian Army Flags to take place on Epiphany

President Radev at the water blessing ceremony in central Sofia on Epiphany (archive)
Photo: president.bg

On January 6, the feast of Epiphany, the traditional water blessing of the battle flags and holy flags of the Bulgarian Army will be celebrated in all garrisons of the country. The solemn ritual in Sofia will begin at 11:00 in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier. 

The water blessing ceremony will be held by His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil. 

The ceremony will be attended by the Bulgarian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Rumen Radev, who will accept the honorary formation of the representative units of the Bulgarian Army and lay a wreath in front of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier. Vice President Iliana Iotova, Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov and Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov will also be present.



For the first time, the blessing of the battle flags was performed during the reign of Tsar Simeon I before the Battle of Aheloy in 917. Until the fall of Bulgaria under Ottoman rule, the blessing of the flags was performed before every battle fought by the Bulgarian army. 

After the Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman rule in 1878, the tradition was restored by the first military minister of the Principality of Bulgaria, Pyotr Dmitrievich Parensov, and continued until 1946, the Ministry of Defense indicates. After the fall of Communism in Bulgaria, the ritual was restored in 1993.

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