During the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (KOREPER) in Brussels, Bulgaria presented a unilateral declaration, reports the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conclusion of it should be that Bulgaria do not recognize the Macedonian language in Skopje. But judge for yourself:
“”Referring to paragraph 7 of the Council Conclusions on [Enlargement – North Macedonia and Albania] of [July 2022],
Referring to paragraph 22 of the Negotiating Framework for the Accession of the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU and its reference to the official language of the Republic of North Macedonia, according to its Constitution, as the language for the translation of EU legislation,
With this declaration, Bulgaria confirms the following:
The Bulgarian literary language has six regional written norms (codifications). Three of them are based on dialects, and three on the literary Bulgarian language. The creation of the “Macedonian language” in 1944-1945 in the former Yugoslavia was an act of secondary codification (re-codification) based on the Bulgarian literary language, further “enriched” with local forms, thus simulating a “natural” process based on dialectal form.
Any reference to the official language of the Republic of North Macedonia in official/unofficial documents/positions/statements and others of the EU and its institutions, bodies, offices and agencies must be understood strictly in accordance with the Constitution of this country and must in no way is interpreted as recognition by the Republic of Bulgaria of the “Macedonian language”.
Bulgaria continues to adhere to the language clause contained in the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation, signed in Skopje on August 1, 2017 between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, for the purposes of bilateral treaties/agreements/memorandums and others between the two countries” , the statement said.
Switzerland Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Markus Leitner
Message from Switzerlands’s Ambassador to the UK, H.E. Ambassador Markus Leitner on 5th July 2022 to the International Ministerial on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB Ministerial) hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.
Full message (original transcript by The European Times):
Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
Switzerland thanks the United Kingdom for convening and hosting this important conference.
The peaceful coexistence of and respect between different religious, linguistic and cultural groups are core values of Switzerland.
As a multicultural and multilingual society, Switzerland is particularly committed to promoting inclusive societies based on respect for differences and the protection of minorities contributing to a country’s stability and well-being.
My country stays convinced that no one should be discriminated, disadvantaged or treated differently based on their religion or the way to express their belief.
Freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief for all is firmly established in the Swiss Constitution and forms an integral part of the Swiss international human rights policy.
Serious violations of freedom of religion, violence, persecution, discrimination, domination and hatred against religious, linguistic and cultural minorities continue to occur across the world and pose a threat to democracies and durable peace.
Switzerland is particularly concerned about the increasing number of hate crimes and violent attacks on discriminatory motives offline and online.
Racism and hate speech are spreading today, mostly through Internet and social media, fueled during the COVID pandemic, and conspiracy theories, especially anti-Semitic ones, are proliferating.
The promotion and protection of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and or belief is also a key element of Switzerland’s international peace-building policies.
Social and political exclusions are part of society and lead either to resignation or violence, both of which are detrimental to the development of lasting peace and security.
There is a strong correlation between inequality, less economic development, more political instability, and increased violence.
The political participation of religious or belief communities on the basis of the principle of citizenship is, therefore, a necessary precondition for a peaceful resolution of conflicts. Switzerland addresses violations against ethnic and religious minorities on the bilateral and multilateral levels and encourages a mutual understanding by means of dialogue.
We are convinced that it is primarily through experience and knowledge and through contacts and dialogue in everyday situations that the coexistence of different cultures and religions can be successful.
Every citizen can and must contribute to non-discrimination.
Finally, it is up to policymakers to provide adequate conditions in order to effectively and sustainably combat all forms and manifestations of discrimination.
brown rock formation under blue sky during daytime - Photo by Mahdi Bafande
Greater efforts needed to protect the human trafficking victims struggling to access their rights, OSCE leaders say
VIENNA/WARSAW, 18 July 2022 – Protecting the human rights of trafficking victims must be placed at the heart of all responses to this global crime that particularly targets women and girls, who are even more at risk in situations of armed conflict, OSCE leaders said at the opening of a two-day conference today.
Almost 300 participants from OSCE states, civil society, international organizations and national human rights institutions across the OSCE region registered for the meeting in Vienna, which will provide a forum to discuss the rights of human trafficking victims both in peacetime and during armed conflict.
“The unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine has shaken the foundations of international and European security, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths and enormous suffering to the civilian population,” said Ambassador Adam Hałaciński, Permanent Representative of Poland to the OSCE, on behalf of the Polish 2022 OSCE Chairmanship. “It has also caused Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II. The refugee and humanitarian crisis has the potential to turn into a trafficking one, as many experts predict.”
According to UN figures, approximately 40 percent of all global human trafficking cases take place within the OSCE region. The risk of becoming a victim grows during armed conflict, when traffickers are able to plausibly offer rescue and safety or assistance, but in fact with the intention of trafficking them for exploitation. The reach of traffickers has also expanded together with the internet, and the online world offers traffickers anonymity and immediate, global access to individuals and groups with specific profiles. At the same time, new technologies also bring advantages for monitoring and combating trafficking.
Children are especially at risk of becoming victims of trafficking, and the trauma can remain with them far into adulthood. The protection needs of child trafficking victims are significantly different from those of adults, and a dedicated session will therefore focus on child victims of trafficking and ways in which to improve and strengthen child protection systems.
This year ODIHR launched the second edition of a handbook on establishing and strengthening national referral mechanisms to assist OSCE countries in improving their efforts to combat trafficking and support victims. These mechanisms are national frameworks that enable governments to coordinate their efforts to protect and promote the human rights of trafficking victims in strategic partnership with civil society, the private sector, victims, and others working in the field.
“Victims of human trafficking are ripped away from their homes and out of their societies, affecting all those involved for the rest of their lives,” said ODIHR Director Matteo Mecacci. “There are now also new threats that have made individuals and groups already at risk of trafficking even more vulnerable. ODIHR will continue its work with countries across the OSCE to strengthen national frameworks and partnerships with civil society in order to combat human trafficking, and at the same time ensure the voices of victims are heard and their human rights respected.”
Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings are a platform for the OSCE’s participating States and OSCE institutions, as well as international organizations and civil society, to exchange views and good practices to find common solutions for the challenges facing the OSCE region. Today’s discussion is the final SHDM of 2022 and follows meetings dedicated to international cooperation to address violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and the importance of democratic institutions in times of crisis.
We have to get used to the idea that we don’t necessarily have to open the windows for ventilation and air purification, explains Prof. Bojan Milovanovic, head of the department at the University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Zagreb
An interview of Raya Lecheva, 3e-news.net/ Бизнес.dir.bg, with Boyan Milovanovic we talk about the principles of nZEB almost zero-energy buildings and the possibilities for popularizing the new methods for designing and building carbon-neutral homes. If for 4000 years we have built our homes in one way, in the last 20 years we are starting to totally change our way of life and realize that we can make our homes more efficient and sustainable. What problems and challenges do we face to achieve carbon neutral housing by 2050. The most serious problems in all EU countries are related to the lack of construction personnel and materials.
The University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Zagreb, Croatia is one of the project partners of the Horizon 2020 nZEB Roadshow together with the Center for Energy Efficiency EnEfect, Bulgaria; Chamber of Builders, Bulgaria; Hellenic Passive House Institute – Greece; Cluster Pro nZEB-Romania, Institute for Zero Energy and Passive Buildings- Italy (ZEPHIR), Pro-Academy (Poland), LNEC (Portugal), etc.
In Croatia, you have a traveling highly energy-efficient mobile home as part of the nZEb Roadshow project, how does it differ from other buildings?
It is the first demonstration mobile home under the nZEB Roadshow project and is a pilot project that demonstrates the benefits of passive and carbon neutral homes to ordinary people, as well as to engineers, architects and other professionals. The aim is to show that the system works and meets the principles of almost zero energy buildings. First of all, the house is energy independent, with mechanical ventilation, high air tightness and energy efficient doors and windows. It produces energy in two ways – from photovoltaics on the roof and from a heat pump that uses the heat from the outside air to heat or cool the entire building and actually saves a lot of energy. We tried to make it as independent as possible by mechanical ventilation with heat recovery to supply fresh air without wasting energy. We measure CO2 in the building and in the outdoor environment, we measure the levels of pollutants that would be harmful to the occupants, such as carcinogenic elements and other dust particles, in order to have maximum information about the impact of the indoor environment. We have used eco-friendly alternatives for all furniture and interior elements.
Why don’t people in Croatia, and the same in Bulgaria, build similar passive houses? What do you think are the problems?
In my opinion, people do not believe that such buildings exist and that this is possible. They are used to opening the windows to let in fresh air. If the window is closed, people do not believe that they can get fresh air. With mechanical ventilation systems this can happen. After 4000 years we are used to opening the windows to have fresh air, in the last 20-25 years we have to get used to the thought that we don’t necessarily have to open the windows to ventilate and purify the air. It is difficult to switch to this new understanding. Even the professionals have their doubts that this is possible. That’s why we piloted this mobile home to show on a smaller scale that this is possible and works. All the principles of the almost zero-energy building can be transferred to the construction of your own home. If it has good exposure to the south, efficient appliances and options for electricity production such as photovoltaics and for heating such as heat pumps, this building will not need additional energy. The house has televisions, tablets, a refrigerator, lighting, and they all work thanks to the energy that the building itself produces from the sun and air.
Will you make your own home this way?
Yes, I would like to and I think it is quite possible.
How much is such an investment worth?
For the Croatian market, the calculations are from a few years ago, which is not comparable to the market today, because the prices are many times higher. The data then showed that for a family house the investment is up to 15% higher than for a similar house that does not meet the principles of a nearly zero-energy building, but in the long term, considering the 30-50 year life of a home, it it is definitely cheaper and pays off very quickly.
Is there support for families building similar houses in Croatia for example under the Recovery and Resilience Plan or other programs?
The nZEB standard for the construction of near-zero energy buildings in Croatia is now mandatory and has no subsidies. There are subsidies and incentives for the construction of RES installations, for example photovoltaics, for the renovation of existing buildings. But at the government level, there are no subsidies for the construction of nZEB buildings. But there are incentives at the local level, for example not paying local taxes and fees if you build an nZEB building. The investment is not small, so incentives like this one related to tax relief are good and effective. This is a saving of €10-15,000 per family home on local taxes and charges. This is enough money to buy a ventilation system or windows that insulate well, but each family can decide what to buy with this saving.
What do you think, as the head of the department at the University of Construction and Architecture in Zagreb, is the problem related to personnel and the availability of professionals in the industry?
It’s a huge problem and it has to do with people not believing it’s possible. Why? Because they are not trained, they do not know, the same applies to professionals, they have been trained in universities in one way for millennia. They are trained that you need a 25 kW gas boiler in a 55 sq m apartment. They cannot switch that 1 kW is enough to heat the same room. In Croatia we train 30% of engineers and they get knowledge about nZEB. If all multi-family and single-family residential buildings are to be renovated, which is mandatory by 2050, we must have 15,000 engineers, builders, etc. It is about 2.5 million apartments and 60,000 buildings that need renovation after the earthquakes of recent years. We need so many specialists who do not have the necessary knowledge, qualification, experience.
Why, what are the causes and what are the solutions?
The system is not very flexible. It doesn’t allow much change. We have been working to these standards for 20 years. The problem in Bulgaria with personnel is similar. There is funding, but there are no people, no engineers who can implement the renovation. We need 15,000 additional workers, given that the sector consists of 60,000 employees. We need at least 25-30% additional personnel in this sector to renew the building stock in the country, which is extremely large. We hire people from other countries – from Nepal, Ukraine, all over Eastern Europe, from Egypt, it’s crazy. A complete change in the education system is needed.
We have to meet the requirements like all EU member states, we have to achieve 100% carbon neutral buildings by 2050. We in Croatia are renovating below 1% per year, and the European targets are 3% per year, but almost all member countries move in this order of 1-1.5% per year. It is very difficult to fulfill the set goals. Many of the problems are due to the lack of construction materials to renovate the buildings. Maybe we could, but there are no materials, if we have materials, maybe we will succeed, but there are no workers. It’s a vicious circle that we have to get out of somehow. There is interest from owners, from investors, because it is profitable and makes sense. There is a huge difference between paying 20 or 120 euros per month for electricity.
Do energy cooperatives work in Croatia? And have you introduced the RES Directive in Croatia?
They are units. There is a lot of interest in building RES, but most are large photovoltaic systems. There are incentives to build small solar installations, but we are still a long way off. In Croatia, legislation still allows you to produce as much energy as you use from the grid. If you take 1 kWh per year from the grid, you have to produce that much. If you produce more, you have no alternative – there is no way to put it back on the grid and win. Therefore, it is difficult to develop this market sufficiently.
What initiatives are you planning with the mobile home in the coming months?
We organize nZEB Roadshows, engineer and builder trainings, organize open doors for children and students, participate in events and festivals across the country to show the benefits of near-zero energy buildings. More than 1,500 people visited the mobile home in May alone.
British archaeologist Adrian Marsden reported on the results of a study of a treasure found several years ago in Norfolk County. The most valuable finds were ten Roman gold coins – aureus, minted during the reign of Octavian Augustus. The researcher believes that the treasure was buried at the beginning of the first century AD, a couple of decades before the start of the Roman conquest of Britain. According to his estimates, this amount is equivalent to a two-year salary of a legionnaire. This is reported in an article published in The Searcher magazine.
In many countries, it is forbidden to conduct field archaeological research without special permission – an open sheet. Moreover, for the use of technical means of search, for example, metal detectors or radars, the violator will face more severe punishment. This restriction seems necessary, since not only the artifact itself is important to archaeologists (even if it eventually ends up with them, and does not remain in a private collection), but also the context in which it was found. Amateur searches are fraught with the irretrievable destruction of monuments and cultural layers, which, by the way, can lie just a few centimeters from the modern surface. But such a ban is not in all countries. Thus, amateur archeology flourishes in Denmark, where a significant part of the valuable finds belongs to the Viking Age (1, 2, 3). Engaged in the search for antiquities and residents of the UK. For example, last year it was reported that Briton Kat Giles found the fourth Viking Age treasure on the Isle of Man in three years.
Adrian Marsden from the University of Oxford presented the results of a study of a treasure found several years ago in the English county of Norfolk. In 2017, near the city of Norwich, Damon and Denise Pye discovered an ancient coin, followed by new artifacts: more than a hundred Roman copper coins minted in the first three centuries of our era, two denarii, several Roman brooches and an old stater. Aerial photography at the site of the finds showed that a mound was probably built on this site in the Bronze Age, which was later used to make a cache of coins.
The main finds are coins that were scattered over a small area. According to Marsden, there is no doubt that they were originally a single hoard. It consisted of aureus – ancient Roman gold coins issued during the reign of the first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD). All coins were minted in the city of Lungdum (now French Lyon). To date, ten such artifacts have been discovered and Marsden believes that there will be more finds. Perhaps the container in which these coins were originally stored is somewhere under the plowed soil.
The archaeologist suggests that the treasure was buried in the early years of the 1st century AD, about a generation before the start of the Roman conquest of Britain (43 AD). At that time, the Celtic Iceni tribe lived in Norfolk, whose leader at the beginning of the 1st century was an ally of Rome. The scholar noted that Roman gold coins rarely made their way to East Anglia, even after the island was conquered. In his opinion, the ten aureses discovered are comparable to the nine aureses that a legionnaire received as an annual salary in the middle of the 1st century. But the latter, due to interruptions in supply, were forced to spend about five coins on food, equipment and other things. Thus, the discovered treasure is approximately equal to a two-year salary of a soldier.
The number of people who crossed the Russian-Finnish land border on the day Russia lifted the restrictions reached pre-coronavirus levels of more than 5,000 people, Yle TV reported, citing Southeast Finland’s Border Service chief Kimmo Gromov.
“This roughly corresponds to the usual day when there were no restrictions,” said Kimmo Gromov.
According to him, about 60% of the passengers traveled from Russia to Finland, and the rest – from Finland to Russia. The head of the border guard said that Russians most often travel to Finland for tourism, shopping or checking their properties, while Finns travel to Russia for cheap gasoline.
From June 30, Finland lifted restrictions on the entry of foreigners related to the fight against the coronavirus. As of July 15, Russia lifted land border restrictions that had been in place since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the first week of July, the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg received about 2.7 thousand visa applications. At the same time, for the whole of June this year, about 10,000 applications were submitted. Before the pandemic, Finland was the leader in the number of Schengen visas issued in Russia and was in the top three most popular destinations for Russian tourists. Turkey and Abkhazia were in first and second place.
In 2019, Finnish missions in Russia issued a total of 790,000 Schengen visas. In the same year, Russians made 3.7 million trips to the Scandinavian country.
Meanwhile, Finland is strengthening its border with Russia
Finland has adopted laws to strengthen security along its border with Russia, Reuters reports.
Parliament today approved legislation that would allow fences to be erected as well as the closure of the 1,300km shared border with Russia to asylum seekers in the event of “extraordinary circumstances”.
Finland fought two wars in the 1940s against its eastern neighbor.
After years of military neutrality, the country is now applying to join NATO amid fears that Russia could invade, as it did in Ukraine on February 24.
Since World War II, Helsinki has maintained a high level of military preparedness.
The country of 5.5 million has about 280,000 conscripts and 870,000 trained reservists. Finland did not abolish conscription for men, as many other Western countries did after the end of the Cold War.
As of May 31, 2022, Poland ranked first and Bulgaria ranked second among the EU countries in which the most Ukrainians were granted the right to asylum, according to Eurostat data.
In total, as of May 31, 2022, the largest number of Ukrainians who received the right to asylum in the EU countries were registered in Poland – 1,142,375 people, according to Eurostat data.
Bulgaria is after Poland with 111,895 registered Ukrainians entitled to asylum. In third place is Slovakia, which has granted this right to 76,510 people.
In the month of May alone, Romania overtakes Bulgaria in this indicator and ranks second again after Poland, having sheltered 20,435 people.
On a per capita basis, among the EU countries, the largest number of Ukrainians were granted the right to asylum in Lithuania in May (an average of 6.1 people per 1,000 of the population).
Cyprus (average 3.5 people per 1000) and Bulgaria (average 2.9 people per 1000) follow.
Less than half of Ukrainians seeking protection in EU member states are children, according to Eurostat data.
The largest number of Ukrainian children (under 18) granted temporary protection was registered in Poland (30,170 children, or 31% of Ukrainians granted protection in Poland in May), followed by Romania (8,235, or 40% ) and Bulgaria (7,175, or 36%).
In the EU Member States for which data are available, the majority of Ukrainians granted temporary protection are women, including girls. The largest number of women granted temporary protection were reported from Poland (67,465, or 70% of Ukrainians granted protection in Poland in May), Romania (13,785, or 67%) and Bulgaria (13,475, or 68%). ).
Among men granted temporary protection in EU Member States, at least a third are boys under 18.
Very quickly the brewery manages to get 230 liters of sunflower oil, but the goal is at least 500 liters
You drink beer and pay with oil – the invention is implemented in a beer hall in Munich, which has found a way to cope with the problematic supply of sunflower oil after the start of the war in Ukraine.
The management of the Munich beer hall offers beer lovers a liter of their favorite drink for the same amount of sunflower oil.
Beer for sunflower oil. The exchange takes place in a Munich beer hall. The idea was born after the restaurant began to experience difficulties in obtaining cooking oil, which put into question the food offering, such as the beloved schnitzels.
“Only small quantities can be bought in the shops. When we need 30 liters of sunflower oil per week, and we only have 15, we cannot prepare schnitzels for a long time,” says the manager of the brewery, Eric Hoffman, reported on July 17, BNT.
The suppliers fail to provide the necessary quantities, since, in addition to establishments, they also supply restaurants and wholesalers.
“The campaign is cute. Great idea. And we get cheap beer,” said Moritz Baller, a customer of the restaurant.
This brewery customer bought 80 liters of oil in Ukraine during a humanitarian mission, which he now trades for eight cases of beer on occasion for his birthday party.
A liter of beer in German pubs costs about 7 euros, while a liter of sunflower oil is priced at 4.5 euros.
Very quickly, the brewery managed to procure 230 liters of sunflower oil, but the goal is at least 500 liters to be able to ensure the normal functioning of the kitchen until the end of the year.
Foreign tourists complain about fictional accidents while staying in a Turkish hotel or on the day of departure in order to receive compensation from the administration “for damage to health”. In some cases, they file complaints when they arrive in their home country. Turkey’s tourism media has accused mainly malicious British tourists of playing hotels in Istanbul, Fethiye and Marmaris for their “organised games” and using their laws to scam money from hoteliers. Due to the current situation, the Turks decided to create a legal service and defend themselves against such clients according to the laws of Turkey.
The working scheme for unscrupulous tourists is as follows: some complain at the hotel on the last day of their stay about food or injury due to a wet floor, or accuse the hotel of being infected with something in the pool. File a complaint against the hotel and extort money from them. And Turkish hotels have to pay, as travelers arrive through the largest tour operator TUI and hotels simply cannot argue with a large supplier of customers. Only for one season in the popular Marmaris, in this way, hotels pay 68-103 million rubles in ruble equivalent.
Just recently, a hotel manager was watching the footage from the security cameras and noticed how the mother and daughter successfully played the fall scene. The tourist walked up to the ramp for the disabled, pretended to fall, clinging to the handrails. At this time, her daughter, in accordance with the script, stepped aside to take good pictures. The scenario ends with screams and the arrival of personnel to the “victim”. As a result, the clients demanded money from the hotel for lack of security and injuries.
What is the benefit for the British? He either spends his vacation for free, or he can cash in on his trip by returning home with extra money in his pocket. On average, the hotel makes deductions in the amount of 344-689 thousand rubles for each tourist.
In many cases, British holidaymakers should be given an Oscar for their roles, hoteliers say. Experts say that tourists carefully approach the preparation of a claim: they write a script, discuss the nuances and play their roles to the end.
On the one hand, the tourism sector is trying to cover the losses from the pandemic recession with an intense flow of tourists. And the other suffers from financial losses, because he is forced to direct funds to pay for fictitious “accidents”. The largest tour operator is aware of the incidents taking place in the hotels of Marmaris, Fethiye and Istanbul. However, hoteliers pay for this, which, in turn, cannot charge for an emergency from insurance, because. no supporting documents.
As Musa Evin, who is a member of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry and works in the housing and beverage sector in the region, said: “One of our friends paid about 20 million rubles and another paid about 40 million. for scenarios such as an accident or infection with germs from the pool, indigestion from poor-quality food. Tourists have time to relax and return home with additional earnings or simply compensate for the expenses for their vacation.”
Mustafa Shuhan, who runs a hotel business in the area, also complained about the deceit on the part of holidaymakers: “For 25 years, we have been encountering malicious holidaymakers from time to time. Over the past 10 years, there have been many more such cases. Some bring insects to a hotel room, take pictures and complain about pests. Others even return to their home country, go to their family doctor and receive a certificate of indigestion and claim compensation with this report. They do not do any analysis. TUI, the world’s largest operator, receives huge compensation from us for such baseless claims. Representatives refer to the fact that the client went to the hospital, his psyche was disturbed, he paid for it, which means that his expenses should be compensated. Over 8 years, more than 52 million rubles have been deducted from us.”
Now the patience of hoteliers has come to an end. They decided to unite and declare a legal war on unscrupulous tourists, since hotel owners cannot sue a giant tour operator that brought hundreds of thousands of tourists.
“An organization should be created in which tourists can receive both agency and legal support abroad only together. The British tour operator explained to us that these situations have their place in British law. And since TUI is our partner in our income, we can’t fight it. Instead, we will create a legal organization with the participation of all tourism organizations, such as the Turkish Hotel Associations (TÜROB and TÜRSAB), and will deal with tourist complaints according to our laws. It will be fair”.
An unprecedented protest by the Orthodox bishops in the USA against the decision of Archbishop Elpidophorus (Ecumenical Patriarchate) led to the suspension of the episcopal ordination of archimandrite Alexander (Bèlya) of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. He was to head the newly created “Slavic Orthodox Vicariate”. This vicariate was established as a bishopric (but without precise territorial boundaries within the United States) headed by a bishop – vicar of the archbishop. It will unite under the authority of the American Archdiocese (KP) some Orthodox Slavs who are not under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America (a former Russian metropolis that received autocephaly from Moscow in 1970, but is not recognized by most local Orthodox churches), nor of any of the national diasporas in the USA from canonical Slavic churches – Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc. The term “Slavic” first appears in the official names of canonical Orthodox entities (bishoprics, dioceses, etc.) and is probably intended to avoid a possible conflict between Russians, Ukrainians, Carpathians, etc. in a similar church formation.
In the last two months, there has been an active correspondence between the archbishop. Elpidofor and the other members of the Assembly of Orthodox Canonical Bishops in the USA, where the Bulgarian Metropolitan of the USA, Canada and Australia Joseph is also a member. The very creation of the “Slavic Vicariate” only prepared the ground for opposition, but the cup overflowed with the election by the Fener Synod (which elects the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate everywhere in the world) of Archimandrite Alexander (Bèlja) for Bishop of Nikopol on the proposal of the Archbishop Elpidophore. This happened on June 16 of this year, and his ordination as a bishop was scheduled for July 30 in Florida.
In their letters, the Orthodox American bishops from the non-Greek jurisdictions point to the fact of the overthrow of Archim. Alexander from the synod of the RPZC, which took place on February 18, 2020, as well as a number of canonical and moral violations. They threaten to interrupt the Eucharistic communion with the archbishop. Elpidophorus and the dissolution of the Assembly of Orthodox Canonical Bishops in the USA, which otherwise works successfully and is a form not only of cooperation, but also of Orthodox unity in the difficult times experienced by world Orthodoxy in recent years.
Initially, Archbishop Elpidophorus responded by saying that these were “unconfirmed allegations”, but after tensions between the American Orthodox Episcopate grew significantly, it was announced that the Alexander’s ordination for bishop was being postponed for the time being.
Background: Alexander Belya was born in 1981 in Western Ukraine. His father (with same names) was a priest and secretary of the Hust Diocese of the UOC-MP. Alexander Jr. graduated from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Presov in Slovakia in 2003 and then completed his doctorate in Olomouc, Czech Republic. There he became an associate of the local Orthodox bishop Simeon, who in February 2011 ordained him as a celibate (celibate) deacon and presbyter for one week, and gave him the distinction of abbot. At the end of the month Alexander is already in the USA, where he accompanies the archbishop. Christopher, then head of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There he met the head of the RPZC Mitr. Hilarion (Corporal), and after his return to the Czech Republic he was also promoted to Archimandrite (that is why in the photo he is wearing a crown without a cross, which is the Russian practice, note ed.). By the end of 2011, however, he was already a cleric of the RPZC, starting to serve in a new ecclesiastical community in Florida, named “St. Matrona of Moscow”. He made a good impression on the superiors, and in December 2018 the synod of the RPZC decided to ordain him as bishop of Miami, vicar of miter. Hilarion (Corporal). The decision was also approved by the synod in Moscow in August 2019, but dissatisfaction among the local clergy thwarted the ordination and only two weeks later the cleric was placed under interdict, and in the church entrusted to him “St. Matrona” begin inspections.
It was then, in September 2019, archimandrite Alexander moved with the parish he led, which is the largest Russian parish in Florida, to the Greek American Archdiocese, and this caused sharp dissatisfaction of the RPZC. He was banned from worshiping and was released from his posts, and the procedure for his episcopal ordination was suspended. In February 2020, he was deposed, but immediately in March of this year, Archbishop Elpidophorus appointed him vicar of the newly created Slavic Vicariate (which includes two church communities and one monastery, headed by the Bèlia family – Alexander Bèlia-son in Florida and of Fr. Alexander Bèlia-father in Brooklyn, who had emigrated to the USA in the meantime). During these months of 2022, the promotion of the overthrown archim was also set in motion. Alexander in the episcopal degree, but it met with the opposition of the Orthodox episcopate in the USA and his episcopal ordination was stopped for the second time.
