Bulgarian Patriarch tells U.S. ambassador about persecution of UOC

On August 20, 2024, in the building of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in Sofia, the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Daniel, met with a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria, headed by Kenneth Mertens, Ambassador of the United States to the Republic. The parties discussed a number of topical issues, among which the topic of persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was mentioned. This is reported by the official website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.

It is reported that in his conversation with the American ambassador Patriarch Daniel paid special attention to the state of religious freedom and the right to confession in different regions of the world. He noted that the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, is subjected to various restrictions: restriction of religious freedom, restriction of freedom of worship, forced confiscation of church property, propaganda of hate speech.

Patriarch Daniel emphasized that the UOC, with which all local Orthodox Churches are in Eucharistic communion, is subjected to serious factual and legal restrictions in its pastoral activities as a result of the discriminatory policy of certain factors in Ukraine. The Bulgarian Patriarch expressed confidence that the democratic forces in the world, which monitor religious processes, will take into account these alarming trends in Ukraine and will assist in ensuring religious freedom, the right to worship and the inviolability of the property of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Daniel reminded that in European history, from the Reformation to our days, religious peace has always been a prerequisite for political and social peace.

Earlier we reported that the hierarch of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archbishop Theodosius of Sebastia, demanded to immediately stop the pressure exerted on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The hierarch is convinced that not only the Ukrainian government but also Western political forces are interested in persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.