Bulgarian bishop responds to Zaporizhzhia Metropolitan's criticism of Synod
Metropolitan Arseniy of Sliven called on Metropolitan Luke to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Bulgarian Church.
Metropolitan Arseniy of Sliven, a hierarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, has published an official statement in which he criticized the words of Metropolitan Luke of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol about pressure on Patriarch Daniil and called on the UOC hierarch not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Bulgarian Church.
The Sliven bishop called Metropolitan Luke's publication "an unacceptable interference in the internal life of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church" and an insult to the episcopate. According to Metropolitan Arseniy, the UOC hierarch's statement publicly casts doubt on the authority of the Holy Synod.
"We cannot understand on what grounds Metropolitan Luka presumes to claim that there are 'behind-the-scenes intrigues' within the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, that the synodal majority is forcing the Bulgarian Patriarch to make decisions against his will, and that there are 'fierce detractors' among the Bulgarian hierarchs from whom the Patriarch must be protected," the hierarch asks.
Metropolitan Arseniy stressed that the decision to invite Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was adopted unanimously by the Synod, with not a single vote against it. In this regard, the Bulgarian hierarch rejected claims that there was a hostile majority within the Synod exerting pressure on the Primate.
The hierarch called on Metropolitan Luka to "demonstrate the necessary episcopal prudence, apologise for his insinuations against the Bulgarian episcopate," and focus on ministering to his own eparchy in Zaporizhzhia.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that Metropolitan Luke commented on the criticism of Patriarch Daniil, calling on the faithful of Bulgaria to support their Primate.
