Zagreb (IKA) March 6, 2003 — In Velika Gorica, a town neighboring the Croatian capital of Zagreb, an interesting religious event has been organized for the third time. The entire Bible will be read day and night during Lent from cover to cover, without stopping. This marathon reading of the Bible, possibly unique in the world, commenced on Ash Wednesday, March 5, at 8:00 p.m., and should last five or six days and nights.
This year’s Bible reading was organized in commemoration of the Year of the Bible and the Year of the Rosary by the Bible Association of Velika Gorica. Until now, such undertakings have been held in Rijeka, Davor, Krasno and Kastva.
According to the rules of the organizer, all the faithful who have received the sacrament of the Eucharist are permitted to read, and making confession prior to reading is recommended. Each reader may choose to read for fifteen minutes, a half an hour or an hour. During the reading, the reader wears a white scarf made for this event. Each reader writes his or her name at the place where he or she stopped reading, and the Bible will be a permanent memento at the shrine or church where it was read.
It is interesting that the initiator for this undertaking was the well-known Croatian entrepreneur and board member of Potomac, a Croatian textile firm that sells handcrafted Croata neckties, Prof. Marijan Bušić.