site.btaPresident "Follows Closely Processes in Bulgarian Orthodox Church", Has Been Assured There Is No Threat of External Interference

Meeting with President Rumen Radev as part of consultations before any attempts are made to form a government by the new Parliament, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov reiterated his calls for the head of State to convoke the Consultative Council on National Security over the upcoming election of a new head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Radev replied that he is "no less concerned and follows closely the processes in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church". 

He also told Kostadinov that he he had been assured by the competent authorities that there is no threat of external interference in the election of a Patriarch, as claimed by Vazrazhdane. 

Radev said, "Let us keep Orthodoxy away from political demagoguery."

He assured Kostadinov that if there is a grave external threat, he would readily convoke the Consultative Council but no such threat exists at the moment. 

On June 20, as the Holy Synod met to elect three metropolitans eligible to be elected as the next Bulgarian Patriarch, Kostadinov said that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is under threat. He specifically said that the US is trying to put at the head of the Church a patriarch who will "bring our Orthodox Church into a state of schism with the largest Orthodox Church - the Russian”.He argued that the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the election Council which is being prepared for the end of the month, puts the Orthodox Church as an independent institution under threat.