Print - Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch Calls for Peace on Christmas - Novinite.com Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch Neofit held Wednesday his first solemn Christmas mass at the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. Neofit wished "peace and blessing" to all Bulgarian Orthodox Christians. "The church is happy today: the Son of God has been born; the promise has been kept, we are not alone any longer, but God is with us," the Patriarch said. The solemn Christmas mass began at 9:30 am EET and continued for two hours, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency informs. Several hundred people attended the event. Neofit was elected Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church by the Holy Synod's national church council on February 24, 2013.