Today, 18 January 2005, National Assembly President Prof. Ognian Gerdjikov met with His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim. The meeting was on the initiative of Prof. Gerdjikov on the occasion of the upcoming visit of Patriarch Maxim to the Russian Federation where he will be awarded a prize by the International Fund for Unity of Orthodox Nations.

National Assembly President extended his cordial congratulations to the Head of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and expressed his deep belief that this award is acknowledgement for the Bulgarian Patriarch’s long years of activity in consolidating the unity of Orthodox nations.

Prof. Gerdjikov voiced his hope that His Holiness Patriarch Maxim would seek the beneficent assistance and friendly empathy of Russia’s Patriarch Alexey II and the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the humane cause for a fair outcome of the trial against the Bulgarian nurses in Libya.