The National Assembly President Mrs Tsetska Tsacheva and Members of the Parliament have paid their last respect before the remains of His Holiness Patriarch Maxim at the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

A funeral service and a divine liturgy for the Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim were held by the Metropolitan of Veliko Tarnovo Grigoriy and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the national mourning day.

The National Assembly has held one-minute silence for the demise of Patriarch Maxim on the 7th of November 12, 2012. At the beginning of the plenary sitting that day, the President of the National Assembly, Mrs. Tsetska Tsacheva, has noted the sad news  plunged in grief the Bulgarian people and all Orthodox Christians in the country. “For decades the personality of the beloved Bulgarian Patriarch has embodied the spiritual mission and historic role of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He was leading the church with wisdom, dignity and goodness”, the head of the parliament underscored. “Patriarch Maxim will be remembered as a flawless clergyman, partisan of the unity of the Church, a great patriot and an inspired defender of the Orthodox Christian Religion and Truth”, Mrs Tsacheva added. “Under the leadership of His Holiness, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has always stand by the secular power – in prayer and for advice, offering reason and benevolence”, she concluded.

Due to the National Mourning Day declared by the government the parliament has canceled the plenary sitting for the 9th of November 2012.