The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has decided to sever communion with specific hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. This decision follows the recent co-liturgy of Bulgarian hierarchs with Ukrainian Metropolitans in Constantinople.
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk presented a detailed report on this matter, highlighting the participation of Bulgarian hierarchs in a co-liturgy with the Ecumenical Patriarch and Metropolitans of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine at the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of Valoukli. The event was initially reported in an exclusive article by orthodoxtimes.com, emphasizing the arrival and significance of the Bulgarian and Ukrainian hierarchs’ co-liturgy.
During the Holy Synod meeting held today, Metropolitan Anthony identified the Bulgarian hierarchs involved: Metropolitan Nicholai of Plovdiv, Metropolitan Kyprianos of Stara Zagora, Metropolitan Iakovos of Dorostol, Bishop Sionios of Veliko, and Bishop Vissarion of Smolian. These hierarchs concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Evstratii of Bila Tserkva and Metropolitan Avraamiy of Boryspil from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The Russian Orthodox Church expressed deep sorrow over the co-liturgy, describing it as a “serious blow” to the relations between the Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches. The Holy Synod declared its “inability to associate with the aforementioned Hierarchs, who entered into ecclesiastical communion with schismatics.”
In its announcement, the Russian Church also criticized the Ecumenical Patriarchate, accusing it of “continuing actions aimed at deepening the division within Orthodoxy.”
Translated by: Konstantinos Menyktas