Political Brawl Mars Sofia Easter Mass

President Georgi Parvanov (L) attended the Paschal, or Easter, service officiated by Patriarch Maxim, the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, at Sofia's St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The solemn Easter Mass at the St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Bulgaria's capital Sofia began with a political scandal Saturday evening.

The leader of the nationalist, far-right Ataka party and presidential hopeful, Volen Siderov, had taken down by force the enclosures, surrounding the official seat of President, Georgi Parvanov, who is the former leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP.

After the clergy handed the very first candle with holy fire to Parvanov, Siderov had asked them if they served the President-atheist or God, according to the nationalist leader's own admission in an interview for TV7 on Sunday.

"There was a stage erected outside the cathedral and the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, broadcast live from there. After the President and the clergy left to attend the outside mass, the cathedral's doors became impassable over the huge crowd, and many had to stay inside with lit candles, panicking because they could not find the side exits. The high-ranking clergy have removed themselves from common Bulgarians,"Siderov said, voicing outrage the TV reports showed more shots of Paravanov than Patriarch Maxim, who served the Mass.

Siderov firmly denied he was seeing media PR through his actions during the service, but nevertheless bragged that many of the attendees have voiced approval for them.

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