Bulgarians call on their Synod to recognize Orthodox Church of Ukraine
According to Cerkvarium, the Bulgarian portal of petitions launched an appeal to the Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with the requirement to recognize the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The text says that Putin's Kremlin regime has annexed the Crimea and launched a war against Ukraine in Donbas. Young people stood up to defend their homeland and gave away their lives, while the Russian Orthodox Church said that it should spiritually protect Ukrainians. Thereafter, there were massive appeals from believers asking for autocephaly. The Ecumenical Patriarchate supported this idea and abolished the Act of 1686 granting Moscow the right to ordain the Metropolitan of Kyiv.
“Like other Orthodox peoples, Orthodox Ukrainians deserve their own autocephalous church,” the petition says.
The Bulgarians understand that their hierarchs experience great pressure from external forces, but they are sure that “your conscience and your canonical consciousness will make you stand for justice and canons.”
“We want to assure you that we, the citizens who signed this petition, stand firmly behind you and we are sure that the Bulgarian government agencies will also support you,” the authors of the document continue.
On January 25, a meeting of the Holy Synod of the BOC was held to discuss the Ukrainian issue. The majority together with Patriarch Neofit support the Ukrainian autocephaly. However, in order to make a final decision, it was agreed to transfer this issue to study at the Canonical Commission under the Synod of the Bulgarian Church.
