site.btaHoly Synod of Bulgarian Orthodox Church Meets National Assembly Chair Kiselova

A meeting was held between the Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil and the bishops of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate (BOC-BP) with National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova on Tuesday in the building of the Holy Synod. The meeting initiated by Kiselova over the submitted bills to amend and supplement the Religious Denominations Act, in view of the attempt to register an Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria (OCOCB) as a second, parallel Orthodox Church.

The statement, issued by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, said that Kiselova has acquainted His Holiness and the bishops with the bills submitted by groups of MPs from GERB-UDF, Vazrazhdane and BSP - United Left, assuring the members of the Holy Synod of the sincere desire of the MPs to protect the legal interest of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in view of its status as a traditional religion in Bulgaria. The exceptional importance of the unity of the BOC-BP as the sole expression of Eastern Orthodoxy in Bulgaria was emphasized.

"Bulgaria's Patriarch Daniil expressed the gratitude of the Holy Synod for the efforts of the Bulgarian Parliament and the State to solve this extremely important and serious issue for the unity of Bulgarian society", the statement reads. The Patriarch stressed that "for the first time in a very long time we have seen such a great unity between the different political forces, as well as the formation of a supra-constitutional majority in the first reading of the amendments to the Religious Denominations Act". The statement adds that "at the end of the meeting, both sides expressed the good will to continue and deepen the cooperation between the Church and the legislature in addressing important and common issues for our society."

In mid-December the Supreme Court of Cassation entered the OCOCB into the Register of Religious Denominations with the Sofia City Court. This drew reactions from political parties and religious institutions. The BOC-BP slammed the Court's decision and called on the OCOCB to return to the canonical Bulgarian Orthodox Church.