Bulgarian politician: Bulgaria's Church is under strong U.S. pressure

Kostadin Kostadinov. Photo: lentata.com

Kostadin Kostadinov, a Bulgarian politician, historian, jurist, and ethnographer, founder and chairman of the Revival party, believes that the Bulgarian Church is currently under pressure from the USA.

On his Facebook page, the politician wrote that "a few days ago in Constantinople, three Bulgarian bishops held a joint service with Ukrainian schismatics."

"The service was held with the assistance of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. As is known, this constitutes a canonical crime," Kostadinov believes.

Commenting on the election of the new Metropolitan of Sliven, Kostadinov stated that "people who have violated church laws have elected a new Metropolitan of Sliven, who is a supporter of one of them."

"With such a choice, the threat hanging over the Bulgarian Church becomes enormous. It is no secret that our Patriarchate is under strong American pressure, and Bartholomew increasingly feels like an Orthodox pope," the politician believes.

He explained that "over the past few decades, a strong Greco-Roman wing has formed in our Church, openly regretting that we Bulgarians separated from the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1870."

"Grecophiles, skillfully led by the Phanariots of Constantinople, are becoming stronger, and today's choice puts the future of an independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church in question," Kostadinov believes.

He noted that "the election of a new Patriarch will take place at the end of next month, and it seems that at the head of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, we are about to get a Greek who will be merely a nominal head, carrying out the orders of Bartholomew, who increasingly feels like an Orthodox pope."

"I remind you that the Greco-Roman lobby insisted on inviting Ukrainian schismatics to the funeral of Patriarch Neophyte, who are uninvited by anyone in Bulgaria. The same lobby has now invited Bartholomew again, this time to participate in the election of the new Bulgarian Patriarch," Kostadinov believes.

He reminded that "the Bulgarian Patriarchate was founded in 870 by the decision of the Ecumenical Council and is the sixth autocephalous church organization in the Christian world after the first five Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople."

"Unfortunately, today the fate of this thousand-year-old Bulgarian spiritual pillar is in jeopardy due to the venality of a few church janissaries," the politician is sure.

He expressed regret that "since the Church is separated from the state, we cannot do anything. All we can do is pray that Bulgarians in our church prevail over the Greeks – as we did last time in 1870."

"And to the janissaries in robes, I will remind verses from the great Bulgarian Grigor Perlichev from his poem dedicated to the destruction of the Ohrid Bulgarian Archbishopric by the Phanariots: Greek bishops, saints in faces, wolves in hearts...," Kostadinov wrote.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Bulgarian media published a letter from Patriarch Neophyte to Petro Poroshenko about the UOC.

Read also