Clergy and laity call on the Synod of the Bulgarian Church to speak in defense of the UOC
The signatories of the open letter expect the Bulgarian hierarchs to condemn state pressure on the canonical Church in Ukraine.
Clergy and laity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church have prepared an open letter to His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria and the Holy Synod, calling on them to speak in defense of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This is reported by the publication 24chasa.
The authors of the appeal recall that more than three years ago, in April 2023, clergy and laity had already sent a similar letter to the Synod, which was supported by over 2,000 people at the time. According to the signatories, the situation of the UOC has only worsened since then. They express particular concern over a court hearing scheduled for July 2 in Kyiv, which, as stated in the letter, could lead to the legal liquidation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church following a lawsuit filed by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience.
The appeal states that what is happening in Ukraine reminds Bulgarian believers of the events of the church schism of the 1990s, as well as the campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church in the early years of Soviet rule. The authors believe that a ban on the UOC would be an attempt to replace the canonical Church with a state-supported religious structure. "If we allow our silence to betray our brethren, this apostasy will inevitably lead to sad consequences for all of us," the letter states.
The signatories also draw attention to the situation of Bessarabian Bulgarians who are parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and call on the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to publicly support the UOC and to defend the principles of the canonical structure of the Church, freedom of conscience and religion. In their view, the Bulgarian Church today has the opportunity to openly bear witness to the truth, since it is not itself subject to such state pressure.
As the Union of Orthodox Journalists reported, a hierarch of the Bulgarian Church expressed condolences to the UOC over the strike on the Lavra.
