We met Frenchman Emmanuel Delhoume in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church "St. Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo" in Paris. He is married, has five children and his family professes the Orthodox faith. He discovered Bulgaria at a time of hardship in 2018, during a pilgrimage to the monasteries of Mount Athos. He broke his leg while moving from Simonopetra to Gregoriou Monastery and the man who helped him was Bulgarian named Chavdar, who literally saved his life. At that time, Emmanuel was already visiting the Bulgarian church and thanks to this strong experience he saw a sign from above and began to regularly attend church. Not long after, in 2023, Metropolitan Anthony made him a subdeacon. In an interview for the Radio Bulgaria podcast "Bridge of Faith", dedicated to the Orthodox church community in Paris, Emmanuel Delhoume told us why he chose to serve in the Bulgarian church community:

"I serve the Bulgarian Patriarchate out of love for this Church and for your people. Every year I go to Bulgaria and tour the Bulgarian monasteries in Rila, Bachkovo, Troyan, Rozhen, Cherepish, Dryanovo… The monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Veliko Tarnovo. That's how I became a pilgrim in Bulgaria, but I have a small drawback – I don't speak Bulgarian."

How did he discover Orthodoxy and why did he decide to dedicate himself to it?

"I accepted Orthodoxy because here, in the West, there is a great spiritual crisis and Roman Catholicism is increasingly separating itself from the Truth, from faith. In addition, there is a lot of atheism in France. So, in search of the Truth, I discovered Orthodoxy, because I believe that a Christian who truly seeks and truly deepens his faith becomes Orthodox. I am convinced that the Orthodox faith is the Church of Christ."

He discovered it in 2008, during a vigil dedicated to Saint Mary of Egypt in the Russian Church. It was there that his conversion took place. "What I saw was that the faith was truly alive," Emmanuel Delhoume recalls. In 2012, he and his entire family converted to Orthodoxy. And when he discovered the Bulgarian church, he decided to look for information about our country:

"I regularly read articles about Bulgaria. Bulgarian culture is very important to me. By the way, here in France very little is known about it. For my generation, those over 50, your country was not very accessible. I was searching and I found the website of Radio Bulgaria. It's like in the life of faith, when one searches one finds. I read the French page regularly."

At the end of our conversation, Emmanuel Delhoume sends his message to the audience of Radio Bulgaria:

"What I can wish the Bulgarian people is to rediscover Orthodoxy. And I wish the same for the French people who live in Bulgaria, i.e. to discover Orthodoxy, to live and get to know the Bulgarian people. They are the bearers of traditional values. I would like to wish the Bulgarian people not to become like the French and not to become egocentric. Be proud that you are Bulgarians. And in conclusion – let us put God at the center of everything, at the heart of everything."

Author: Darina Grigorova

Publication in English: Alexander Markov

Photos: Darina Grigorova, Facebook /Emmanuel Delhoume