The church “St. Stefan” was full of Bulgarians from all over Turkey. Ivan Zhelev, member of the Executive council of the Foundation “Bulgarian Orthodox church “St. Stefan in Tsarigrad” explained that only two families visited the church last night, and only because they were locals. Most of the Bulgarians there live around the Exarchate and went to church there.

The divine service in the Iron church began today at 13:00 PM. Prof. Zhelev said that he expects many Bulgarians to come. The service will be performed by Angel Velkov from the patriarchate in Tsarigrad “St. Georgi” and the priest Kiril Didov, chairman of the Sofia church “Saint apostles Petar and Pavel”.

According to prof. Zhelev, the customs with the Bulgarian eggs is being followed in Istanbul. According to him, there are three Bulgarian churches and fifty Greek churches in Istanbul. The building of the Exarchate hosts the chapel “St. Tsar Boris”.