Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel opened the exhibition “Holy Mountain in Sofia“ at the National Palace of Culture. The exhibition presents the architecture of the Athos monasteries, the life of the monks and the artistic view of the spiritual world of Mount Athos.
The exhibition is located on the third floor of the National Palace of Culture and will be available to visitors until November 15. It is part of the autumn “Salon of Arts“ and is a joint initiative of the Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil and the National Palace of Culture. The Photo Archive of Mount Athos, the Austrian Art Museum and the Experimental Workshop “Vergina“ are involved in the implementation.
Paintings, photographs and monastic atmosphere
The center of the exhibition are 50 monumental canvases by the Greek-Austrian artist Makis Varlamis, who lived from 1942 to 2016. The paintings are dedicated to Mount Athos and the Orthodox monasteries. Also presented are photographs of monks from the collection of the Photo Archive of Mount Athos, the installation “The Prayer of the Monks“ and a copy of a monastic cloister.
The idea is to recreate the atmosphere of Mount Athos through painting, photography, sound and objects and to show the way of life preserved in the Athonite monasteries for centuries. Curator Pavlos Trochopoulos said that Varlamis' works are reminiscent of the harmony and spiritual life of Mount Athos.
Messages of the Two Patriarchs
At the opening, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said: “Orthodoxy is light and truth“. He defined monasticism as an integral part of the life of the Church and emphasized its role in preserving spirituality, culture and church art.
Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil defined Mount Athos as “a living school of faith and a spiritual center for the whole world“. In his speech, he pointed out that the hearts of Bulgarians are open to the Ecumenical Patriarch and to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which he called the mother church and elder sister in the family of Orthodox churches.
The Greek Ambassador to Bulgaria Despina Koukoulopoulos described the exhibition as the beginning of a spiritual connection and friendship between Bulgaria and Greece. The Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, Maximos Harakopoulos, stated that Mount Athos is a common spiritual community of the Orthodox and a reference point for the future.
Continuation of the visit
The opening of the exhibition is part of the three-day visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
On October 18, the two patriarchs are to participate in a solemn hierarchal divine liturgy in the patriarchal cathedral “St. Alexander Nevsky“. Later, a trisagion is planned at the grave of the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte. The culmination of the visit will be on October 19, when it is the feast of Saint John of Rila and celebrations are to be held at the Rila Holy Monastery.
Sources: bntnews.bg, bta.bg, paragrafa.com