National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria visited Macedonia

The National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria (NCRCB) visited the Republic of Macedonia on 5th, 6th and 7th of April this year. In the framework of the three-day visit in the cities of Skopje and Ohrid the representatives of the Bulgarian religious communities met with the Protestant, Catholic and Muslim communities in our neighboring country. In Skopje they visited the Protestant community, the Center for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue “Boris Trajkovski”. In the city of Ohrid the guests from Bulgaria had the opportunity to meet with Samet Ajdar – Mufti of the city of Ohrid, as well as to visit the Diocese of Ohrid.

The aim of the visit was the people from the different religions in Bulgaria and Macedonia to get to know each other, presenting the experience of the NCRCB with regard to the co-existence and cooperation between the communities with different religions in our country and exchange of expertise in the fields of inter-faith dialogue between the two Balkan countries.

In the framework of the meeting with the representatives of NCRCB the Mufti of Ohrid Samet Ajdar expressed his positive impressions about the atmosphere and the spirit of understanding and cooperation in the Bulgarian interfaith organization. Such council in neighboring Macedonia does not exist so far.

During the meeting in the neighboring country the Muslim Denomination was presented by the Deputy Grand Mufti Birali Myumyun, who is a member of the NCRCB Management Board. He was accompanied by Syuleyman Masurev – Regional Mufti of Veliko Tarnovo.

NCRCB is an organization established in 2008 on the initiative of the Directorate on Religious Denominations at the Council of Ministers. Besides the Muslim Denomination its members are also the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Exarchate, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Central Israeli Spiritual Council and the United Evangelical Churches.

Author: L. Chausheva