A joint service with the hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church became unfeasible after they participated in celebrations alongside representatives of a Ukrainian schismatic group. This conclusion is recorded in the journals of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and published on its official site. PRC.
“Bulgarian Orthodox Church hierarchs joined a celebration with members of a Ukrainian schismatic group, Participants noted that it was impossible to celebrate in the presence of hierarchs who had entered into church unity with schismatics,” the Russian Orthodox Church remarked.
Among the hierarchs singled out by the Synod for attending the event with the schismatics were Metropolitan Nicholas of Plovdiv, Metropolitan Cyprian of Starozagora, Metropolitan Jacob of Dorostol, as well as Bishop Sionius of Velich and Bishop Vissarion of Smolyan.
In May, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine discussed the possibility of gathering a sufficient number of signatures to advance to a second reading of the bill banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The initiative had accumulated 100 of the required 226 signatures at that time.
Earlier, Estonia had declared that the Russian Orthodox Church “is an institution designed to justify aggression.”