My Heart Remains in the Rhodopes
Bishop Antonii
2/7/2010
Antonii, the bishop of Konstantinia is the youngest bishop and has earned quite a reputation among the higher clergy. Having served two years in Smolyan as vicar bishop with the Metropolitan of Plovdiv, Nikolaym the Holy Synod assigned Bishop Antonii for a vicar bishop with the Western and Central European Metropolitan of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
Your Excellence, is it easy to replace Smolyan with Berlin?
– My feelings were mixed when I accepted the decision of the Holy Synod to send me as a vicar bishop with His Eminence Simeon, the Metropolitan of Western and Central Europe. From an early age God led my step into this unique part of Bulgaria ? the Rhodopes with its exception people. When I arrived there I was simply filled with the gracious energy coming from the love of the local people. So Smolyan will forever remain in my heart. As for my coming assignments ? I see it as a high honour coming from the Holy Synod, an assessment of not my personal qualities but of all the work we, together with the believers in the Rhodopes, have accomplished. I am leaving Smolyan feeling great gratitude to all who helped me.
– Which was the easy and which ? the hard, during these two years you served in Smolyan?
– I told you about the easy part ? the support which the whole society in Smolyan rendered. It was harder to create a discipline of serving God. The hardest thing was to motivate people to live in practice their faith. Let?s talk honestly ? the poor heritage from the times of atheism has not been overcome yet. Or it has been cured on the surface only. It is true more and more people fill the churches, light candles and baptize their children or get wed before God. Few of them, though, understand the meaning in all of these sacraments. This formal participation of the people in life of the Church should be transformed into real.
Constantine Sabchev
