Source: Sofia News Agency The Sofia Bishopric has labeled the Friday refusal of the Diocesan Council of prelates and vicars to sign the list of representatives from the Sofia Diocese to elect a new patriarch a “sabotage.” The list was prepared by interim Patriarch and Sofia Metropolitan Kiril. The Bishopric admits that there have been disagreements in the process of preparing the list, but their escalation, they say, was a clear sign that the story aims at sabotaging the election. The statement, issued Saturday, further stresses that such act is unacceptable in the light of clerical discipline and canonical spirit.…
Browsing: Patriarch
Source: Sofia News Agency Nearly 900 residents of the Bulgarian historical town of Batak have signed a petition asking interim Patriarch Kiril to stop services at the Sveta Nedeliya Church where the relics of the Batak martyrs are kept. They want the Church to return to its museum status and State ownership. The initiators further say they found in archives documents showing that as early as 1915 locals wanted the Church with the ossuary to be a museum. In a recent declaration, the Plovdiv Metropolitan Nikolay stated that services at the Saint Nedeliya Church “will go on forever, every day,…
Source: Sofia News Agency The unity of the Holy Synod and of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the most important issue for Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria, according to Varna Metropolitan Kiril. Kiril made the statement Sunday in the Bulgarian capital during his very first mass as Sofia Metropolitan and interim Patriarch. “When opinions differ, each must be well-grounded. I hope that all metropolitans will attend the next meeting of the Holy Synod and that those who would be absent would provide excusable reasons for it. They have all made an oath to respond to the invitations of the Synod,” said…
Source: Sofia News Agency by Milena Hristova Plagued by wrangling and greed, greatly discredited – this is what Bulgaria’s Orthodox church has come to be in recent years, leaving Christian believers nothing but disturbed. The disagreements between the clergy and the two churches in the country have been smouldering for years, but exploded beyond belief after the death of Patriarch Maxim. The battle among the different lobbies inside the official church, legitimized by the old political regime, erupted with a vengeance and even overshadowed their battle with the purported arch enemy – the alternative church set up in protest against…
Source: The National Herald | George Matsoukas, Executive Director of Orthodox Christian Laity Having looked over the information concerning the recently completed National Assembly of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, which took place in Phoenix, AZ and having talked to some members of my local community in Southeast Florida who attended, I conclude that there were no workshops, discussions, or information presented on the work of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. Unity of the Orthodox in America was not on the conference’s agenda. I find this amazing and shocking. The 14 Patriarchs of the worldwide…