Vazrazhdane Monday tabled a bill to amend the Religious Denominations Act aimed at reserving the right to use the expression "Bulgarian Orthodox Church" for the Bulgarian Patriarchate and expressly specifying that no other religious organizations can use that expression, the party said in a press release. The draft revisions come in reaction to a final judgment of mid-December by which the Supreme Court of Cassation entered the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria (OCOCB) into the Register of Religious Denominations with the Sofia City Court.
Vazrazhdane considers the judgment yet another attempt to cause division in the Bulgarian church, the press release reads. In the long term, that will create division in the Eastern Orthodox world, which should not be allowed to happen. Such actions are also a threat to Bulgaria's national security, because the current situation with the decision to register other "Eastern Orthodox" religious denominations is used mainly for attempts to breed new divisions and a rift both among Eastern Orthodox Christians and those working for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the party argues.
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