Bulgarian Orthodox Church calls union with Rome "disgraceful”
The message of the Patriarch and Synod of the BOC says despite numerous trials and temptations throughout history, Bulgarians have remained firm in the Orthodox faith.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church believes that union with the Vatican, to which Bulgarians have been repeatedly urged, would be "disgraceful." This was stated in the Patriarchal and Synodal Epistle of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the restoration of the Patriarchate.
According to Bulgarian hierarchs, "on the long and thorny historical path," the Bulgarian Orthodox Church faced many trials and temptations, including "numerous attempts to incline toward the disgraceful union with the papacy".
"The Orthodox Bulgarian people, despite all the trials and temptations to which they were subjected, remained faithful to the most important thing: throughout all this time, our spiritual leaders, clergy and monasticism, and all our worthy ancestors remained firm in the Orthodox faith, did not deviate to the left or to the right from the royal path, but preserved the pure “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3)," emphasized the bishops of the Bulgarian Church.
As previously reported, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church bishop, Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech spoke in support of the UOC.
