A speech referencing Russia’s war in Ukraine as well as the Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue was delivered by Metropolitan Nicholas of Philippopolis of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria on the occasion of the Doxology for Bulgaria’s National Day, which commemorates the country’s liberation from the Ottomans.
Metropolitan Nicholas recalled that three years ago, two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, he had stated: “This war has an aspect that affects us directly because it is waged within our very souls. Orthodox Russia has declared war on Orthodox Ukraine. For three years now, Orthodox Christians have been killing one another. Three years during which Bulgarian politicians, instead of relying on the Orthodox Christian moral code and using it as a basis to actively participate in mediation efforts for the immediate cessation of the war, left this role to others while they debated which side to take and calculated the financial benefits of selling ammunition.”
He continued by saying, “Three years ago, we pointed out what our historical mission is—the mission that gives us the sovereign and indisputable right to call upon both sides to immediately end this fratricidal war, which is tearing the Orthodox world apart and inflicting immense harm on the Church of Christ.”
He further emphasized that Bulgarians have the right to play an active role in resolving this conflict because “we are the nation of Saints Cyril and Methodius, of Saint Clement of Ohrid, of the Cyrillic script, of Orthodox literature in the Bulgarian language—the language of all Eastern Slavic states—of Saint Cyprian the Bulgarian, Metropolitan of Kyiv, Moscow, and all Russia, and of the countless anonymous Bulgarian priests and monks who, during the Middle Ages, journeyed to the Northeast, dedicating their lives and souls to laying the cultural foundations of what is today called Russia and Ukraine.”
He also spoke of Bulgaria’s duty to contribute to resolving “the dispute between Russia and Ukraine—not through weapons, but based on the Orthodox values and principles that these two nations learned from us.”
Moreover, he revealed that three years ago, he had hoped that the country’s politicians would realize Bulgaria’s potential role in resolving this conflict.
“What role could Bulgaria play—among other things—in forming a joint conflict-resolution team with the other Orthodox EU member states: Greece, Cyprus, and Romania? Unfortunately, at this crucial historical moment, our politicians were and remain entangled in an absurd war of words,” Metropolitan Nicholas noted.
Concluding his speech, the Metropolitan of Philippopolis addressed the possibility of criticism regarding the Church’s role and its connection to geopolitics.
He stressed: “Of course, it is not the Church’s role to engage in geopolitics or any political affairs. Its mission is to remind people of the principles and values of Holy Orthodoxy, to pray for peace, and to ensure the salvation of its people. And it is to urge secular authorities not to wonder which side to take, but to take the side that Jesus Christ Himself would have taken.”
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
