site.btaOrthodox Church of Ukraine Primate Congratulates Bulgarian Patriarch on Election

Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), has congratulated Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil on his election and enthronement. The congratulatory address was published on the OCU website on Monday.

"Congratulating Your Holiness on the occasion of your ascension to the Patriarchal Throne, I prayerfully wish you good health, blessed years of fruitful service for the benefit of the Church, the pious Bulgarian people and all Orthodoxy," Epiphanius I writes.
 
"Our two Churches are daughters of the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople, from which the Holy King Boris of Bulgaria and the Holy Grand Duke Vladimir of Kyiv received baptism for their peoples, incorporating them into the common European civilisational space. Both Bulgaria and Ukraine have paid a high price for preserving and defending this Christian and European choice and their unique place in history," the message reads.

"From the beginning of the spread of the Gospel of Christ in our lands, the Churches of Bulgaria and Ukraine have deep spiritual and cultural ties. We remember with gratitude the late Patriarch Neophyte, who condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine and showed compassion for the Ukrainian people who suffered from the genocidal war. We hope that Your Holiness will continue to raise the voice of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church against Russian crimes in the name of truth and a just peace for Ukraine, Europe and the world."

As Metropolitan of Vidin, Daniil went on record as opposing the recognition of an independent Ukrainian church and against putting all the blame on Russia for the war in Ukraine.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was recognized as autocephalous by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2019. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has not recognized it because the Holy Synod is divided over the issue. The Moscow Patriarchate regards the OCU as schismatic.