Eleven Local Churches do not recognize the OCU, - Bulgarian Patriarch

Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel commented on the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s attitude toward the Ukrainian church crisis. The primate noted that the Bulgarian Church remains among the 11 Local Orthodox Churches that do not recognize the OCU. He is convinced that the Ukrainian church issue will be resolved in due course. Patriarch Daniel spoke about this in an interview with the BNT 1 television channel.

“Indeed, there is such a division, a breakdown in communication between some Local Orthodox Churches. Basically, it concerns the recognition or non-recognition of the structure of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” headed by Epiphanius, the so-called Metropolitan of Kiev. Eleven Local Orthodox Churches, including the Bulgarian Patriarchate, have not recognized this structure. We have no communication with them. And this is such a sensitive issue. How does the Bulgarian Orthodox Church position itself? We are in communication with all Local Orthodox Churches. We have not broken off communication with anyone. I think this is a reasonable approach that will allow us to overcome the division,” – said the Primate of the Bulgarian Church.

Patriarch Daniel added that the Bulgarian Patriarchate’s support for relations with other Local Churches will help, sooner or later, to resolve the Ukrainian church crisis.

“And here, I repeat, on the occasion of church events and holidays, we welcome representatives of all Local Orthodox Churches. We serve together. We have full communication. We participate in the life of other Local Orthodox Churches. And we hope that thanks to this communication, thanks to this dialogue, there will be time and opportunity to see the realities,” – he added.

Earlier, Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel commented on the ongoing Ukrainian church crisis. Speaking about the conflict between the UOC and the OCU, the head of the BOC said that Bulgaria understands perfectly well what is happening in Ukraine and which Church is truly Orthodox.