Bulgarian cleric who concelebrated with OCU hires lawyers to sue patriarch

Archimandrite Nikanor and Epifaniy Dumenko. Photo: OCU

Archimandrite Nikanor (Mishkov) of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, who concelebrated with the OCU and was temporarily suspended from ministry, has hired secular lawyers for his case against Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel.

The cleric filed a complaint drafted by Sofia lawyer Plamen Borisov under the rules of the secular Administrative Procedure Code. In the complaint, he put forward a number of demands. In particular, he requested “an impartial review without the participation of His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia in the preparation, chairing, deliberation, and voting on the complaint against his own act; the remaining members should individually assess whether they should recuse themselves.”

In this way, the archimandrite attempted to derail the canonical proceedings. He also demanded that he be provided with judicial precedents and that a system of secular mediation be introduced, even though the Church is not bound by secular judicial procedures. “Provide anonymized case law from the past five years under Article 95, paragraph 19, in which successive suspensions were imposed on a single cleric.”

The reason for this legal offensive was Archimandrite Nikanor’s desire to avoid responsibility for financial irregularities. The cleric had previously publicly admitted that he collected monastery funds without completing the required paperwork.

“The proposal for fraternal reconciliation through mutual forgiveness and repentance, followed by the issuance of a letter of release, also remains on the table,” the archimandrite’s representative told the Synod.

Earlier, the cleric publicly insulted the Bulgarian Church during a television appearance. He called the Church a “satanic gathering,” a “sect,” and an “anti-Church,” and also distorted Orthodox dogma.

As the UOJ reported, the Bulgarian Church suspended Archimandrite Nikanor from ministry for actions incompatible with the priesthood and monastic vows of obedience, as well as actions undermining the authority of the Church. The Sofia Eparchial Court is currently hearing the case against the cleric.

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