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| 'They are following the Ukrainian scenario.' Bulgarian Church rejects US control |
| 2024-06-26 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ruslan Kalinchuk [REGNUM] On June 30, elections will take place for the primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. During the period when the church was deciding on candidates, a number of experts and political figures expressed concerns about the possible influence of the United States and Constantinople on the final decision. Thus, the Bulgarian political party “Renaissance” appealed to the country’s president with a proposal to convene a national security council due to the interference of foreign states in the election of the patriarch. “Our party recognizes the interference of a foreign state in these elections and the danger that the United States will take control of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (...) Obviously, this is being carried out with the kind assistance of the Patriarch of Constantinople and some Bulgarian metropolitans and bishops who violated the canon and served with schismatics in Turkey. And the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, like the Bulgarian state, is being led according to the Ukrainian scenario. Our Church is being led to schism, and our country is being led to war,” the statement said. Such fears are well founded, since among the clergy of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church there is a wing that openly sympathizes with Constantinople and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) created by it, which is headed by Metropolitan Nikolai (Sevastianov) of Plovdiv. Five years ago, he refused to participate in the official reception of the then head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk. The bishop explained his demarche by disagreement with the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on the church problem in Ukraine and in the same year he attended a liturgy in Greece, where the head of the OCU Epiphanius (Sergei Dumenko) was commemorated. However, in general, the relations of the Bulgarian Church with the OCU are very uncertain. There was no official recognition, but the Bulgarians did not call it a schismatic structure and did not condemn the actions of Constantinople, which granted it autocephaly. Thus, the question is essentially up in the air. There have been warning signs for several years now. At the beginning of 2019, at a meeting of the Synod of the Bulgarian Church, opinions about the attitude towards the OCU were divided. However, the head of the church, Patriarch Neophytos, stated that “Ukraine is an independent country, therefore it must have an autocephalous church.” When the patriarch died in March of this year, for many believers in Bulgaria, the presence of the OCU delegation led by Epiphanius at his funeral was a real shock. The Bulgarian Patriarchate immediately hastened to declare that they had not sent him an invitation, and called his status at the service “uncertain.” But the publication Orthodox Times, close to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, wrote that an official invitation was nevertheless sent to the head of the schismatics. WAITING FOR THE LOCAL COUNCIL On June 3, Metropolitan Nikolai (Sevastianov) categorically stated that he did not want to be a patriarch, however, a certain part of Bulgarian society continues to fear rapprochement with the schismatic OCU, its recognition and, as a result, the deterioration of ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. The Synod, held on June 20, cast aside all doubts, electing three contenders for the patriarchal throne. There were many to choose from. According to Bulgarian rules, candidates must be over 50 years of age, lead an exemplary life, and have managed a diocese for at least 5 years. As a result, the contenders were Metropolitan Grigory (Tsvetkov) of Vrachansky, Metropolitan Gabriel (Dinev) of Lovchansky and Metropolitan Daniel (Nikolov) of Vidinsky. Metropolitan Gabriel is one of the oldest hierarchs, studied at the Moscow Theological Academy and consistently takes a position on rapprochement with the Russian Church. He repeatedly expressed support for the Moscow Patriarchate and opposed the actions of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in Ukraine. Metropolitan Daniel, on the contrary, is one of the youngest bishops. He also publicly condemned the actions of Bartholomew and, despite the fact that he cared for the diaspora in the USA, Canada and Australia, he also advocates rapprochement with the Russian Church. Metropolitan Gregory, who graduated from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Athens, is now the locum tenens of the patriarchal department. Sources in the Bulgarian Church note that Gregory, who is very modest in everyday life, is equidistant from both the “pro-Russian” and “pro-Constantinople” wings. As a person focused on solving the internal problems of the church, he is most often called the future patriarch. In fact, the Synod made it clear that the future patriarch will prioritize internal rather than external issues. Of course, the Russian Orthodox Church is undoubtedly concerned about the confrontation with Constantinople and the possibility of recognition of the OCU, but it seems that for the Bulgarian Church this topic is irrelevant, and it will remain equidistant from both Constantinople and Moscow. The final election of the patriarch will take place on June 30 at the Local Council, where 145 people should attend. All bishops are participating in the elections, as well as five representatives from the dioceses: three clergy and two laymen; 10 representatives will come from the capital diocese - 6 priests and 4 laymen. One delegate must be sent by each of the stavropegial (subordinate directly to the patriarch) monasteries: Rylsky, Bachkovsky and Troyansky. Also, one monk and nun from monasteries in dioceses and representatives from seminaries will arrive to participate in the Council. Voting will last until one of the candidates receives 2/3 of the votes. However, we can already say that, no matter who is chosen, the new Bulgarian patriarch will definitely not be a protégé of Washington and Constantinople. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 Given the open display of perversion and its acceptance by too many vote seeking politicians in general. What serious, bible following church, wouldn't seek to distance itself from politics and outside interests? |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2024-06-26 05:55 |