The Bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Dometian of Vidin Daniel said that the “unification Council” convened in violation of canonical order and involve people outside the Church will not heal the schism among the faithful in Ukraine, but will aggravate it. He stated in the interview published on an official resource of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, reports “the Union of Orthodox journalists.”
“Unification Council”, which took place on 15 December in Kyiv, the Bishop commented in the following way: “I say the words of one of the archbishops of the canonical Church, which he responded to the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew to attend this meeting, “I firmly believe and profess that I remain true to a unified Orthodox Church, and my presence on the Board contradicts the first Psalm of David, which reads: “blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the wicked””.
Metropolitan Daniel said he believes the initiative to create an Autocephalous Church is a purely political project.
“Who are those who insist on its autocephaly? State power in the first place. And as rightly pointed out by Metropolitan Onufry, the power of hearing the voices of only those groups that set fire to temples, profess nationalism, call for hatred, shouting “death to the Muscovites”. Why do I hear only their voices and demands of autocephaly? perplexed by Metropolitan Daniel. – Why is not the opinion only recognized the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church? What is the point to listen to the factions, whose leaders are deprived of spiritual sanity and excommunicated from the Church?”.
According to the Hierarch of the Bulgarian Church, “the current turmoil is a comforting thing – the desire of the Orthodox people in Ukraine to preserve the unity of the Holy Orthodox Church. And it resonates and support throughout the Orthodox world.”