site.bta"Risks Facing Bulgarian Orthodox Church Tantamount to Threats to National Unity, Sovereignty," President Radev Tells Patriarch Daniil

"The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is the institutional exponent of the Eastern Orthodox denomination in the Republic of Bulgaria with an undeniable historical contribution and a huge role for our national identity," Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said at a meeting with Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil and Holy Synod members at the President's Administration on Friday. The Patriarch briefed the head of State on the effects of the final court judgment on the possible registration of a parallel "Orthodox Church" and the Holy Synod's position on the issue.

Radev pointed out that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is one and indivisible, has been and will remain a spiritual pillar in the vicissitudes of this country's centuries-long history. "That is why the risks facing it should be seen as threats to our national unity and sovereignty," the President emphasized. In his words, despite the acute political confrontations, the State, through its institutions, should be able to guarantee the conditions for the unity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The head of State also underscored the determination of the presidential institution to contribute to achieving this nationally responsible goal.

"Ordeals have accompanied the Church since the birth of its Founder, Our Lord Jesus Christ," Patriarch Daniil said, adding that "in every age its members have faced challenges that have threatened its very existence, but it will endure until the end of time". The Bulgarian Patriarch stressed that "by its divine-human nature the Church is one, and according to its internal rules there cannot be two Orthodox churches within a single canonical territory". In his words, "in this unity the church has contributed to the unity and preservation of the Bulgarian people". 

"We hope that the State, in the person of its institutions, will have the wisdom and statesmanship to preserve and build on what has once been achieved in legislation, because this is a pledge for the unity and well-being of our people," His Holiness said further.

Also attending the meeting were Metropolitans Anthony of Western and Central Europe, Ioan of Varna and Veliki Preslav, Seraphim of Nevrokop and Kyprian of Stara Zagora, Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, and Assoc. Prof. Maria Kyoseva, Legal Advisor to the Holy Synod.