The Bulgarian Patriarch on the Patriarch of Constantinople: Primacy of honor does not grant the right to make unilateral decisions affecting the entire Orthodox Church

Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria gave an exclusive interview to journalist Maria Yakhnaqi for the program “Signs and People,” in which he addressed key aspects of contemporary church life. During the conversation, the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church discussed the role of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the importance of church unity. The words of the First Hierarch are reported by the publication Zivot Tsrkve.

Speaking about the role of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Patriarch Daniel emphasized that primacy of honor does not grant the right to make unilateral decisions concerning the entire Orthodox world. According to him, Orthodox unity is based on conciliarity and the consensus of all local Churches, which is in accordance with the Apostolic Canons and centuries-old tradition. “No Orthodox primate should undertake anything that concerns the entire Church without the consent of the others.” This is the 34th Apostolic Rule, which governs relations between the first among the bishops of a local Church and the rest of the hierarchy, that is the other bishops of that local Church,” he noted, emphasizing the need to preserve canonical order to prevent discord.

As a reminder, earlier, Metropolitan Gregory of Kumanovo and Osogovo of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (Nasteski), a hierarch of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, presented a detailed legal analysis of the procedure for granting ecclesiastical autocephaly, emphasizing that this process must strictly adhere to the norms established by the pre-conciliar commissions. According to the metropolitan’s position, the exclusive authority to grant autocephalous status lies with the Pan-Orthodox Council, not with the unilateral decisions of individual sees.