The Burgas clergy expressed their disagreement with the election of the Metropolitan of Sliven. This became clear during a press conference today, in which almost all priests and diocesan voters from the Burgas district took part.
They united in defense of their laity on the occasion of statements by Father Evgeny from the city of Sliven about the creation of a schism and violation of church discipline.
We remind you that the rigged elections for the Metropolitan of Sliven by the Holy Synod and the withdrawal of the right for priests and laymen to take part in the election led to a protest. On it, Father Evgeny Yanakiev stated that there is “a schism in the Sliven Metropolitanate, because of the long arm of Vulkan Vulkanov.”
Today, the clergy of Burgas defined his words as untrue and expressed the opinion that Metropolitan John of Varna was misled by a report that they want to be re-examined by the metropolitans.
“The election ordinance must also be revised so that the people can participate in the election of their metropolitan. Someone wants to impose their demands on the synod through a provocateur who sets himself up as the speaker and claims to have the blessing of his eminence. They represent us as a crowd and a gathering” said Father Sevastian.
The representatives of the Burgas Spiritual District do not agree with the adopted ordinance, according to which the bishop will literally be appointed by the Synod, and not elected according to the Statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
Hundreds of signatures were also collected from priests and laymen, and in a letter to the Holy Synod they stated their disagreement with the cashing of the election for the metropolitan of Sliven held according to all the rules.
“With prayer, we turned to God to ask our most reverend metropolitans who participate in the Holy Synod to reconsider their decision and pay attention to our voice. We want to protect our lay people. We do not bring schism into the church. We want to reassure everyone that we follow the rules of the Holy Church and the words of the Holy Scriptures. To qualify us as a mob and separatists is very hard. We lead the laity to the truth, and it is that we cannot agree with the decision of the Holy Synod, we cannot agree with this regulation either, because it directly violates the statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. We are not the people to create a schism” said Father Sevastian.
#Burgas #clergy #agree #election #Sliven #Metropolitan #schism
