DIOCESE OF GREAT BRITAIN: 25 February 2025
Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe meets with His Holiness Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria

On 22 February, 2025, the eve of the Sunday of the Last Judgement, His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe was welcomed at the newly-renovated Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St John of Rila in South Kensington, London, by His Holiness Patriarch Daniel, of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The occasion was a much anticipated reunion, as Patriarch Daniel and Bishop Irenei have known each other for many years, ever since they both served as vicar bishops in the United States of America, where they were actively involved in the Assembly of Bishops of the USA and where, at then-Bishop Daniel’s invitation, Bishop Irenei (then an Archimandrite) joined him to co-host a summer youth retreat for Bulgarian Orthodox young people in 2015, not far from Chicago. This Saturday’s reunion was the first time the hierarchs have been able to greet each other in person since the welcome election of His Holiness Daniel as Patriarch of Bulgaria on 17/30 June, 2024.

The evening services in the South Kensington Parish were headed by the Patriarch, who was joined in prayer by several invited Orthodox hierarchs and clergy, assembled for the occasion by His Eminence Antonii, Bulgarian Orthodox Metropolitan of Central and Western Europe. Amongst those present were His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Theyateira, His Grace Bishop Nektarije of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of the UK, and a host of hierarchs from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, together with clergy from the Antiochian and Serbian dioceses. Joining Bishop Irenei from the Diocese of Great Britain and Western Europe was the Reverend Priest Spasimir Ivanov, Rector of the St Alexander Nevsky Parish in Norwich, who is himself of Bulgarian descent, and Reader Wilfred Buckland of the London Cathedral.

Following the evening Divine Services, the Patriarch and his guests were received at the Bulgarian Embassy in London by His Excellency Tihomir Stoytchev, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United Kingdom, who provided a gracious reception. Joining him was the former Ambassador, as well as His Highness Prince Kyrill of Bulgaria. Bishop Irenei conveyed the respects of the Church Abroad and the Russian Orthodox Diaspora to the Prince and Ambassador, and thanked both him and the Patriarch for the strong fraternal bonds and prayerful cooperation that mark out the relationship between the many communities of the Orthodox Diaspora in Europe. At the conclusion of the evening Patriarch Daniel once more warmly embraced Vladyka Irenei and expressed his hopes for the latter to visit the God-preserved land of Bulgaria.

On Sunday morning, Patriarch Daniel will consecrate the newly-restored church, while Bishop Irenei will return to the Cathedral of the Mother of God for the Divine Liturgy and maslenitsa festival of the community.