World Orthodoxy: Official Churches Support Patriarch Maxim
No, Sergianism was not just in Russia. And still isn’t.
(Radio-Bulgaria) Representatives of 12 Orthodox Churches taking part in a working meeting in Sofia organized on the part of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church headed by Patriarch Maxim voiced their united stand and addressed the Bulgarian state calling it to engage with actions for appealing the decision of the European Court on Human Rights on the law suite “Holy Synod under Patriarch Inokentii vs. Bulgaria”. A communiqué of the meeting recommends for the appeal to be launched before the Grand Chamber of the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg.
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Bulgaria rebel priests forced out
(BBC- 2004) Bulgarian police have evicted dissident Orthodox Christian priests from dozens of churches across the country, which they occupied in defiance of the law.
The priests broke from the mainstream church after the fall of communism, saying the patriarch had been too close to the former authoritarian regime.
They have continued to function despite a law passed in 2001 which handed their property to the traditional church.
Several scuffles reportedly broke out during the eviction operation.
The move was condemned by a local human rights group, the Helsinki Committee, which called it church “unification by government decree”.
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The rebel priests disputed the numbers, saying many more churches were shut down around the country.
“We are a living church that is being persecuted, like in Roman times,” priest Inokentii, one of the leaders of dissenting churches, told reporters.
The priests from the unofficial branch have been occupying about 200 churches and monasteries, after accusing the Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church of being illegitimately appointed by the late dictator Todor Zhivkov.
