An official ceremony was held at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki to hand over the mortal remains of the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil (997-1014) from Greece to Bulgaria.
The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. On the Bulgarian side, Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov, Minister of Culture Evtim Miloshev and representatives of the academic community also participated. On the Greek side, Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni also participated. The military transport aircraft “Spartan“ A guard unit also left for Thessaloniki.
The ceremony includes the official handover of the remains and the signing of protocols by the ministers of culture of the two countries in the presence of the two prime ministers.
Athens is fulfilling its historical duty by returning to Sofia the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil from four sarcophagi, which were discovered in 1964 by Professor Nikolaos Moutsopoulos in the Basilica of “St. Achilles“. This was said by the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the ceremony at the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki on the handover of the mortal remains of Tsar Samuil to Bulgaria.
“48 relics of great importance for spiritual and emotional life are returning to our country - icons, crosses, church utensils and even an episcopal throne. These are relics acquired during the First World War by the Metropolitanate of Serres and Nigrita, as well as from the holy monastery of the Monastery of “St. John the Baptist“ and the monastery of “Panagia Ikosifinissa“, Mitsotakis said.
He stressed that after their exhibition in the museum in Thessaloniki in their places of origin.
By virtue of the agreement between Sofia and Athens, Greece is handing over to Bulgaria the remains identified as belonging to Tsar Samuil, discovered in 1969 in the Basilica of “St. Achilleus“ in the Small Prespa Lake by the Greek archaeologist Prof. Nikolaos Moutsopoulos.
Bulgaria, in turn, is handing over 48 church relics to Greece.
After the ceremony, the mortal remains will be transported to Sofia by a military transport plane “Spartan“.
Later today, a state ceremony is scheduled in the Bulgarian capital to welcome them, after which they will be carried in a procession to the Basilica “St. Sophia“ and laid in a specially made sarcophagus.