Bulgarian intellectuals criticized the Synod of the BOC for awarding Patriarch Bartholomew with the award

Representatives of the theological scientific community and the political establishment in Bulgaria have criticized the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church for its decision to award Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople the Order of St. John of Ryla, First Class. Critics of such a decision of the Synod of the BOC consider the awarding of the head of the Phanar on behalf of the Bulgarian Church inappropriate in connection with his actions, which do not correspond to the interests of Orthodoxy, including — in the situation with Ukraine. This is reported by the publication “GLASOVE”.

Bulgarian lawyer and political activist Rumyana Chenalova noted that the awarding of the Bulgarian Church to the head of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is a scandalous decision, because the activities of Bartholomew often occurs to the detriment of world Orthodoxy. According to Chenalova, most of his actions the head of the Phanar realizes exclusively in the interests of the United States, ecumenism and globalism.

“I dare to call it hypocrisy to reward Bartholomew as a man who helped to overcome the long-standing schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Because his actions, as then — submitting to the will of our pro-American president, respectively the American ambassador to Bulgaria, and a few decades ago — the American ambassador to Ukraine, mean that he very strictly follows the line of ecumenism and globalism. He has, by the way, very strong, deep ties with radical globalists, liberals like Nancy Pelosi, like Biden, like Hillary Clinton, he participates in such ecumenical seminars and conferences, supports them and listens to their will. At the same time, Bartholomew claims primacy, which is absolutely contrary to the canons of the Orthodox Church. According to these canons, the Ecumenical Patriarch is the first among equals in honor, which is a kind of curtsy or respect, or historical recognition of the primacy of the Ecumenical Church, but not in power,” — said the politician.

In turn, historian and Orthodox theologian Vasilianna Merheb notes that the awarding of Patriarch Bartholmey looks outrageous, especially against the background of the church schism, which the head of the Phanar made in Ukraine, creating the PCU. Merheb considers it illogical to award a man guilty of the repression of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church that is currently taking place in Ukraine.

“Church history remembers how in 2019 it was Patriarch Bartholomew, similar to the attempted schism in Bulgaria, who unilaterally and anti-canonically issued a non-canonical “tomos” on autocephaly in an unprecedented collaboration with President Petro Poroshenko. By this action, he proclaimed himself the pope of the East, issuing the “tomos” against the will of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), presiding over a bloody and violent schism designed to become the matrix for a schism on an ecumenical scale. Since then, every day for more than 5 years, our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine have been victims of spiritual terrorism in all its forms, from which they are suffering, especially after the adoption by the State Rada in August 2024 of Law No. 8371, which permanently bans the existence of the canonical UOC, depriving more than 6 and a half million citizens of Ukraine of their religious rights,” — Merheb reasoned.

Recall, September 11, 2024, during a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the hierarchs of the BOC decided to award the Order of “St. John of Rylsk” I degree Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew. The decision on the award was made in connection with the corresponding proposal of Metropolitan Nikolai of Plovdiv, known for his sympathy for the Patriarchate of Constantinople.