The Supreme Court of Cassation has allowed the entry of the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Style Church (BOOC) into the register of religious denominations at the Sofia City Court, overturning the decision of the Sofia City Court, later confirmed by the appellate magistrates.
Thus, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is no longer the only one that can be called “Orthodox” by law in Bulgaria.
According to the supreme judges, there are no objective circumstances on the basis of which it can be assumed that the registration of the BOOC would affect the rights of the “Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Bulgarian Patriarchate” and its members.
“It is undeniable that this religious institution, having existed for centuries, has participated in strengthening the Bulgarian national spirit and statehood, that it currently unites the majority of Orthodox Christians in the country, that it is united, authoritative and enjoys the exceptional respect of the institutions and society. At the same time, the requested registration is for a small religious community that has existed for 30 years and has no claims to the internal organization and property of the “Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Bulgarian Patriarchate”,” the supreme magistrates wrote in their decision.
The Primate of the now legal Bulgarian Orthodox Old Style Church is the Triaditza Metropolitan Photius, and the Synod includes the Bishop of Sozopol Seraphim and the Archbishop of Chisinau and Moldova Georgi, who is a temporary member.
The Old Style Church has 18 churches in the country, and its cathedral church “Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos” is located in the capital’s “Bukston” district. Theirs is also the nunnery in the “Knyazhevo” district, where 60 nuns serve.
In fact, the separation of the priests of the old-style church from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church took place in December 1968, when the Synod of the Bulgarian Patriarchate published a “Message to the clergy and all the children of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church”, in which it announced the upcoming reform of the church calendar – the adoption of the so-called new Julian calendar. In it, the fixed holidays (Christmas, Epiphany, Annunciation, Assumption of the Virgin Mary, etc.) coincide with the Gregorian calendar, and for the movable (Lord’s) – Resurrection of Christ and those related to it, the Julian calendar is used.
However, the change was rejected by the then archimandrites Seraphim (Aleksiev), Sergiy (Yazadzhiev), Panteleimon (Staritsky), hieromonk Seraphim (Dmitrievsky), abbess Seraphim (Liven) and the entire sisterhood of the monastery “Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos” in the “Knyazhevo” district. They stated in a letter to the Bulgarian Patriarch Kirill that they could not accept the reform in conscience, as it contradicted the liturgical Statute, the liturgical and canonical tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Since 1989, attempts have been made to formalize the Old Style Church, but without success.
Photo: Metropolitan Photius of Triaditza, Primate // Bulgarian Orthodox Old Style Church
We acknowledge The European Times for the information.
