Icons of the Theotokos and Christ Child and of Saint Dimitrios the Great Martyr were installed Tuesday at the new laboratory building of Bulgaria’s Antarctic research base “St. Clement of Ohrid” on Livingston Island.
The sacred images were donated by Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Professor Christo Pimpirev, leader of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, said: “The icon of the Theotokos and Christ Child was donated during a ceremony at the Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky, at which Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria presided. It was offered to be placed at the Bulgarian base, to protect our Bulgarian settlement.”
The laboratory, opened last year and operational since this season, houses dormitories for 14 researchers, biology and geology labs, and shared workspaces.
Pimpirev added: “We also installed the icon of Saint Dimitrios, which was donated to us during a visit by a delegation of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute to Constantinople to meet His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The Patriarch donated it personally so that it, too, may safeguard the Bulgarian base.”
