The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta presented a jubilee stamp on the occasion of 30 years of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Bulgaria. It is a religious order of the Catholic Church, established in 1048 in Jerusalem. Until 1798, all members were monks. Today, the majority of the Order's 13,500 Knights and Dames are laymen.
In our country, the Order of Malta has implemented dozens of social projects during these three decades.
„Being a sovereign country, it also has its own post office. It's called the "Main Post Office", it's located in Rome, and it issued this anniversary postage stamp, which represents the two flags – of the Order of Malta and the Republic of Bulgaria and in the background is the map of Bulgaria. In this way, we want to mark this event and leave a memory in our history of this common path, traveled together", explains the deputy head of the mission in our country, Iva Mihailova.
"We have been celebrating 30 years of good friendship and during that time I have witnessed the tremendous support we have received from our friends in the Order of Malta. Bulgaria has been issuing postage stamps for 145 years. Many of the historical figures, landmarks of the state, successes in the economy and in all fields are shown on them. Today we issued a personalized postage stamp that we would like to commemorate the event. The symbol of Bulgaria, the lion, and the coat of arms of the Sovereign Order of Malta are shown on it," said the chairman of the Union of Philatelists, Spas Panchev, during the official ceremony.
A special guest at the ceremony was Simeon of Saxe-Coburg.
In 2005, the Order's embassy in Bulgaria was permanently opened. During this period, from then until today, more than 500 donations, actions and social projects have been implemented in 250 Bulgarian settlements.
The last project is an idea to open a rehabilitation center in Sofia. “It is aimed at people who do not have the opportunity to pay for physiotherapy and kinesitherapy so that we can provide this service. "This process will continue to develop," Mihailova added.
