BOC bishop urges Ukraine and Russia to remember their shared Orthodox faith

Metropolitan Nikolai. Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg

On March 3, 2025, Metropolitan Nikolai of Plovdiv of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church stated that the war in Ukraine could be ended on the basis of Orthodox values.

The hierarch emphasized that Bulgaria has the full moral right to participate in the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, as it is the land of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Clement of Ohrid, Saint Cyprian of Bulgaria, Kyiv, and Moscow, as well as countless unnamed Bulgarian monks “who, in the Middle Ages, traveled to the northeast to dedicate their souls and lives to laying the civilizational foundations of what is today called Russia and Ukraine.”

According to him, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Orthodox Christians have been killing each other for the third year in a row, while Bulgarian politicians, instead of seeking peace, are merely pursuing their own interests.

He expressed regret that Bulgarian politicians have not recognized their country’s historical mission in resolving the conflict in Ukraine and have failed to propose the creation of a peacekeeping group consisting of Orthodox EU countries – Greece, Cyprus, and Romania.

Metropolitan Nikolai reminded that 147 years ago, Russia helped liberate Bulgaria from Ottoman rule “by God’s mysterious ways, perhaps to repay a debt they owed us after we freed them from the darkness of ignorance and paganism 700 years earlier and allowed them to see Jesus Christ.”

“Today, we may be smaller, but that does not mean we should abandon our historical rights, which, by divine providence, belong to us. Namely, the right – and the duty – to help resolve the dispute between Russia and Ukraine not through weapons, but on the basis of Orthodox values and principles that they inherited from us,” the hierarch underscored.

“We have forgotten the most important thing – that we are an Orthodox people. Not an empire in a secular sense, but an ‘empire of the spirit.’ If we could not stop the war, can we at least help restore peace? On what principles will it be built – on fraternal repentance in Christ or on a ‘woe to the vanquished’ mentality?” Metropolitan Nikolai asked.

On the eve of Great Lent, he called on everyone to pray for the gift of peace, mutual forgiveness, and the revival of Christian love instead of hatred and the thirst for revenge.

Earlier, UOJ reported that, according to Metropolitan Nikolai, the Church’s mission is to remind people of the principles and values of Orthodoxy, pray for peace, and care for the salvation of the God-loving people.

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