Ukrainian media publish a fake about recognition of OCU by Bulgarian Church

Украинские СМИ опубликовали фейк о признании ПЦУ Болгарской Церковью. Фото: Geektimes

On May 23, 2019, Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, commented on Facebook false information about the recognition of the OCU by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which was published by the website of the “Information Resistance” group headed by MP Dmitry Tymchuk.

In the article entitled “The Bulgarian Orthodox Church recognized the OCU – breaking the pro-Russian lobby”, published on May 21, the authors state that “the pro-Russian priests made a demarche, but supporters of the OCU gave 1 vote more – 8 against 7”, and “Patriarch Neophyte of the BOC defended the position according to which in case of an independent state it is advisable to have an independent Church." At the same time, they recognize that "the number of pro-Russian bishops in the Synod of the BOC is steadily increasing".

 The information is completely refuted by Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich.

"It's a lie. The word "untruth" will be too noble in this case.

Firstly, the previous session of the Synod of the Bulgarian Church was on April 2-3, and the next one will be closer to the middle of June. Therefore, no decision could be made in those days when the news was published since there was no session of the Synod.

Secondly, the Bulgarian Church does not intend to recognize the OCU. I know that more and more hierarchs of the Bulgarian Church openly oppose the possibility of recognizing the "OCU". They recognize the UOC led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

And thirdly, as I was informed from Bulgaria, the site www.faktor.bg, on which this false information was first published and then reprinted in Ukraine, is connected with some American non-governmental organizations. The site has a pro-Western focus in presenting information,” writes the priest.

As the UOJ reported, three months ago, the Chancellor of the UOC, Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, met with His Beatitude Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria in the Bulgarian city of Varna.

Also, the bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Cyprian (Kazandzhiev) of Stara Zagora, expressed support for His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and said that with such a Primate, the UOC would be one, apostolic and catholic. He expressed the hope that the "Ukrainian issue" would be resolved in a canonical way.

We recall that the “Information Resistance” group regularly makes statements that as a result turn out to be a fake, such as the information about an attempt to poison Patriarch Bartholomew during a meeting with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The group coordinator, MP Dmitry Tymchuk, is known for his false accusations against the UOC and the incorrect presentation of statistics on the conflict in the Donbass. He accused the Gorlovka Eparchy of collaborating with the separatists and also saw the “Russian world” in the lessons of Christian ethics. Tymchuk, one of the co-authors of the anti-church bill No. 4511, openly admitted that the new law was directed exclusively against the UOC.

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