by Thanos Thanopoulos
In an interview to Stbasil.center, Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin, of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, referred to the ecclesiastical issue of Ukraine that troubles the Orthodox community.
Metropolitan of Vidin argued the following: “In each country we see societies facing unprecedented changes in their value system. The Orthodox Church is part of the world and unfortunately what happens inevitably affects us. The language of the Orthodox Faith –that we use and fully understand- Bulgarians, Russians, Greeks, Serbs, Rumanians, Arabs, Americans, Georgians and in general Orthodox people all around the world, the Evangelical values, serve our unity. Today, this language is under distorted interpretations, and this disturbs our relation”.
In the past, Metropolitan had said that “a dispute in Ukraine is not just a dispute between two local churches, but it concerns the entire Orthodox Church”.
Furthermore, Daniel did not forget to mention that some local churches have repeatedly expressed their disagreement with the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople during the last months.
In conclusion, Daniel added that “letters were sent to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, in which the Holy Synod expressed its concern regarding the intervention of the State in Church matters in Ukraine. My own opinion is that the Holy Synod has no moral right to change its original position. Let us pray that God shall help defend this position!”.
