Bulgarian Patriarch: Athonite monasteries no longer receive OCU

Patriarch Daniil. Photo: Bulgarian Church press service

Violence during church seizures and the beating of priests have led those Athonite monasteries that once received representatives of Epiphanius to change their stance toward the OCU. Patriarch Daniil said this in an interview with national television, the UOJ in Bulgaria reports.

“At first, the Athonite monasteries received clergy from the OCU, but now they don’t,” said the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

According to Patriarch Daniil, the change in the position of the Athonite monasteries came from observing the OCU’s methods. “They see when violence is used to seize churches, when priests are beaten, when their churches (taken from the UOC) stand empty,” he explained.

The Bulgarian Patriarch also pointed out the paradoxical situation with the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra: “The state handed over the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra to this church structure – and it stands empty. They hold cooking shows there.”

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Patriarch Daniil said the problem of the OCU would eventually be resolved in Orthodoxy, as all the Churches come to see the true nature of this structure.

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