Christians in Sofia, Bulgaria, undertook an impressive project yesterday: a Bible-reading marathon lasting seven hours, at the heart of the capital.
Organisers of the marathon said that Bulgarians 'desperately need to recover our Christian identity', according to Evangelical Focus.
The project came as the nation celebrated May 24, the Day of the Cyrillic Alphabet. The occasion commemorated 1,150 years since medieval missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius created a new alphabet so they could translate Scripture into Slavonic languages.
The event saw more than 50 people from diverse social, professional and denominational backgrounds take turns to read Bible passages aloud in the centre of Sofia. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and evangelical Protestant Christians untied for the occasion. Various public figures joined in too, including Bulgaria's former healthcare minister Dr Ilko Semerdjiev.
Semerdjiev said following the marathon: 'Reading out loud includes a number of our senses. It evokes our abstract thinking, and it challenges the creative and emotional dimensions of our brain.'
The alphabet Cyril and Methodius created in the 9<sup>th century is now called Cyrillic and is still used in Bulgaria and across Europe in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
Organisers hope that the Bible marathon, titled 'In the Beginning Was the Word', will now be an annual event. Alexander Urumov of Word' Association said they also plan to take the initiative to other Bulgarian towns.
'More than ever, today we desperately need to recover our Christian identity', Urumov wrote.
