Bulgarian hierarch: We do our best to ensure unity in Orthodoxy
At the Moscow Patriarch's Metochion in Sofia, the Metropolitan of Plovdiv said the Bulgarian Church is aimed "to preserve the unity of spirit in the bond of peace."
The hierarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Nikolai (Sevastiyanov) of Plovdiv, said that the BOC is doing everything possible to ensure unity in Orthodoxy. The bishop said this on May 22, 2021, on the feast day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, after the Divine Liturgy at the Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, the press service of the Metochion reports.
After the festive divine service in the church of St. Nicholas of Myra, which was officiated by Metropolitan Nicholas, the rector of the Metochion, Archimandrite Vassian (Serpent), noted the joy of participation in the One Church of Christ and presented the bishop with a panagia with the image of the Mother of God, as well as a portrait of St. Seraphim, Archbishop of Boguchar, in memory of the common prayer.
The Bulgarian hierarch thanked for the great joy of serving the holy Divine Liturgy on the patronal feast of St. Nicholas church and "first of all, for the love, for the gesture that you have shown today to me and to our diocese."
“I assure you that we are doing everything possible fo unity in Holy Orthodoxy. We remember the covenant ‘to preserve the unity of spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4: 3)," said the bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, adding that" we will always be grateful and obliged with love to the Russian people. And we will work for the unity of Orthodox peoples.”
Earlier in an interview with the UOJ, Metropolitan Nikolai stated that he believed in overcoming the split in Ukraine.