RUSSIAN CHURCH REP EXPELLED FROM BULGARIA, BANNED FROM N. MACEDONIA—CHURCH RESPONDS

Sofia, September 22, 2023

Photo: Telegram    

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s representation Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia and two others were expelled from Bulgaria yesterday.

The Bulgarian authorities “considered Fr. Vassian (Zmeev) a threat to national security,” the Russian embassy in Sofia told TASS.

According to the Bulgarian Security Service, “There is information about the actions of these persons related to the implementation of various elements of the Russian Federation’s hybrid strategy to purposefully influence the socio-political processes in the Republic of Bulgaria in favor of Russian geopolitical interests.”

Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova explains that Fr. Vassian, Fr. Evgeny Pavelchuk (secretary of the podvoriye), and another church employee “were summoned to the migration service, where they were told that they pose a threat to Bulgarian national security and must leave the country today.”

They were then put in a police van and taken to their homes and the church to gather their things before being taken to the border with Serbia, the ambassador said.

The Church representatives are also banned from returning to Bulgaria for five years.

The expulsion comes just a few days after Fr. Vassian was also banned from entering North Macedonia, which he had previously visited several times during his time in Sofia. Fr. Vassian has been serving in the Sofia church for five years, and last year he was also appointed to represent the Russian Church to the newly autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric.

The Russian Church’s Department for External Church Relations issued a statement yesterday “strongly protesting against the unjustified expulsion of its representatives from Bulgaria.”

“The expulsion of the clergy, whose vocation is to serve God and people, to preach peace and brotherhood between peoples, is an outrageous act dictated by Russophobic motives and a desire to erase the glorious pages of the common history of Bulgaria and Russia,” the DECR states.

The Church of St. Nicholas “has been a symbol of the spiritual unity of our fraternal peoples for past hundred years,” the statement continues.

The DECR further notes that the church crypt is home the relics of St. Seraphim (Sobolev), who is widely venerated in both the Russian and Bulgarian Churches. However, “The current decision of the authorities also expresses their disrespect for the feelings of the faithful who are now deprived of the opportunity to visit the tomb because of the suppression of the podvoriye’s activities.”

The statement concludes that the “rude measure of police arbitrariness … is aimed at undermining the traditionally friendly relations between the two Sister Churches, with the aim of turning fraternal peoples connected by a common history and a single faith against each other.”

However, “The Moscow and Bulgarian Patriarchates will preserve their centuries-old communion and will not sacrifice the historical memory of our peoples,” the DECR is sure.

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la guerra de ucrania es religiosa una lucha contra el mal zelenski judeonazi manda destruir casi un centenar de iglesias de la capital

 

KIEV CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERING DEMOLITION OF 74 ORTHODOX CHURCHES

Kiev, September 18, 2023

The Kiev city coat of arms. Photo: WikipediaIn yet another anti-Christian escalation against the historical and canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, two commissions of the Kiev City Council are currently examining a project that calls for the demolition of dozens of Orthodox churches.

The draft decision was authored by Vadim Vasilchuk from the pro-European Voice (Holos) faction of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament).

According to the documents on the City Council website, the initiative is based on the idea that the “governing center [of the UOC] is located outside Ukraine in a state that is recognized by law as having committed military aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine,” or that the UOC “has canonical and prayerful ties with religious organizations of the aggressor country.”

The Kiev regime refuses to recognize the UOC's autonomy, or its declaration of independance from the MP made at the beginning of the Special Military Operation, although the UOC elects its own bishops, ordains its own priests, has its own holy synod, and at its meetings makes its own decisions concerning its Church life, entirely independent of Moscow. Or rather, the regimes perhaps recognizes these facts, but knows that the Orthodox faithful are still part of historical Rus', which was born in the same baptismal font in Kiev. The Kiev regime and its backers understand that as long as the true, canonical Orthodox Church remains standing in Ukraine, they can never completely achieve the total destruction of the spiritual and historical bond between Ukraine, Russian, and Belorus. But since the Ukrainian faithful are not willing to sacrifice the salvation of their souls in order to please the authorities and their supporters, they continue to remain in the canonical Church.

Therefore, the Kiev Council (not comprised entirely of Orthodox Christians) considers that the only alternative is to destroy churches, as did their communist predecessors.

The draft calls for the Department of Land Resources and district administration to inspect land plots that are in use by the UOC to determine the legality of the construction of churches on them. If it is determined that the churches supposedly don’t have the necessary permits, they will be destroyed, at the expense of the Church.

Using phrases worthy of George Orwell, the author of the project claims that destroying the churches and depriving the Ukrainian people of their places of worship will “contribute to the establishment of harmony and peace on religious grounds.”

satanicos ritos en kiev

 

SCHISMATICS HOLD SATANIC “FUNERAL” FOR UOC OUTSIDE KIEV CAVES LAVRA (+VIDEO)

Kiev, May 19, 2023

Photo: spzh.news    

A group of activists supporting the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” staged a blasphemous “funeral” for the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church outside the Kiev Caves Lavra on Wednesday.

The “service” was led by an open satanist who calls himself “the great magician Belial,” who was helped by activists based in the office of Poroshenko’s European Solidarity office across from the Lavra, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

Photo: spzh.news    

The “magician” wore a pentagram with an image of Baphomet in place of an episcopal Panagia, and a “miter” with an image of satan. Other participants were dressed as bishops and zombies and barked, cackled, and pretended to sob.

Video of the “funeral” shows a large doll of Patriarch Kirill lying in a coffin:

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At the end of the display, Belial pointed to the Lavra, saying: “Monks of the ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine will pray in these churches,” referring to the schismatic organization.

Actual prayers of the Church were read, interspersed with cursing, during the blasphemous service, and a real censer was used.

Photo: spzh.news    

Such blasphemous displays were often held during the times of godless atheism last century as a means of dehumanizing the Church and desensitizing the people to its destruction.

Commenting on the blasphemy, His Eminence Metropolitan Kliment of Nezhin, head of the UOC’s Information-Education Department, said such blasphemy only makes him feel sorry for those involved. “I would like to hope that someday they’ll understand the error of their ways,” he said.

For his part, “Archbishop” Evstraty Zorya of the schismatic OCU condemned such actions because they make the [canonical] UOC look like a victim while discrediting the [schismatic] OCU.