14.06.2017, Bulgaria.
Patriarch of All Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia Neophyte strongly criticized the proposed anti-church bills by the Ukrainian parliament, according to the TASS News Agency on June 13.
The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church sent a letter to the Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.
The Patriarch states in his letter, “We consider the proposed changes to be of openly discriminatory nature, they clearly violate the principle of equality of religious organizations before the law, and leaves their fate to be decided by other people. This creates a legal basis for schismatics and extremists to take over churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
The letter goes on to say, “It is with pain and dismay that we follow the ever expanding fratricidal war in Ukraine for the recent three years. We are epecially concerned that, in this harsh environment, the schismatic Kiev patriarchy, an illegal self-proclaimed structure with no relation to the canonical universal Orthodoxy, together with extremists, infringes on the holy legacy of all Ukrainians.”
Patriarch Neophyte assessed the Ukrainian situation as a “fragile religious peace”, and he called Ukrainian authorities to recall the destructive bills.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church(Moscow Patriarchate) plays a leading role among religious organizations in Ukraine, working with a wide autonomy. Religious policy specialists note the Kiev authorities’ persistent and long-standing desire to break religious ties with Russia. For this purpose, post-1991 Ukraine created yet a number of unrecognized “Orthodox churches”.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
