Two Bulgarian metropolitans took part in an international conference at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on November 11, organized by the Kiev Theological Academy on behalf of St. Synod of the UOC (MP). The website of the Kiev Theological Academy reports that Metropolitans Lovchanski Gavriil and Vidinski Daniil took part in it remotely. The announced theme is the primacy of the Orthodox Church and the principle of catholicity, with a focus on “the anti-canonical actions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Ukraine.” In the last two years, the Moscow Patriarchate has organized a number of initiatives aimed at forming an opinion on the fall of the Ecumenical Patriarchate into heresy. Due to the impossibility to convene a church forum on this topic according to the canonical order, the Moscow Patriarchate holds scientific forums with international participation.
According to official information, the other churches that responded to the invitation to participate in the conference in Kiev are the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Serbian Patriarchate, the Polish Church, the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as the Orthodox Church in America. Only the Bulgarian Church had two representatives and such a high rank. The Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia was represented by Archbishop George of Michalovce, the Serbian Church by Bishop Irenaeus of Bačka, the Moscow Patriarchate by Bishop Theodoret of Zvenigorod, the Patriarchate of Antioch by Archimandrite Roman (Alhanath), and the American Orthodox Church.
According to the program, the topic of the report of Metropolitan Gabriel, Doctor of Theology, was “Congregation as a theological and canonical category,” and Metropolitan Daniel greeted the participants.
The conference was opened in the assembly hall of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by Metropolitan Onufriy of Kiev. At the heart of his report were the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the claims of the Ecumenical Patriarch for “special rights” in the Orthodox world, which, in his opinion, does not correspond to the church tradition of catholicity.
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) of Volokolamsk also greeted all those present at the conference and stressed how relevant the topic of the championship of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is. He spoke of the fulfillment of the prophecy of the elder Sophronius (Sakharov) about the heresy of neo-papism in the claims to world jurisdiction by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Congratulations were also read by other church leaders with participants in the conference – by Metropolitan Sava of Warsaw, by Metropolitan Tikhon (Orthodox Church in America) and by Serbian Patriarch Porphyry, who noted: “God has judged us to live in an age of diminishing love and impoverishing the sense of catholicity in the Orthodox world. The crisis of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is also a consequence of this crisis. ” A greeting from the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was not read.
