Sofia, July 19, 2024
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
In his first full-length interview since his election as primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Daniil spoke about, among other things, the importance of unity in all areas of our lives—both personally and in the Church.
What hinders unity in the Church is pride and a separation from the age-old teachings of the Church. All of the passions blind us and separate us from one another, the Patriarch notes, and the only path back to unity is to humble ourselves and cling to the Orthodox faith.
Just days before his election to the Patriarchal throne, then-Metropolitan Daniil of Vidin spoke about how the Patriarchate of Constantinople unfortunately only caused further division in Ukraine. He has been a fervent supporter of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine since the beginning of the present crisis in 2018.
Below is the section of his interview with the Bulgarian Patriarchate’s press service dealing with unity and the sins that divide us.
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What example from your predecessors on the patriarchal throne will you strive to follow? What about them and their ministry filled you with admiration?
… Although physically frail in his later years, Patriarch Neofit did not waver from his strictly ecclesiastical position despite numerous attempts at influence from powerful political factors in society. Despite controversies that caused discord and divisions between individual Local Churches, thanks to his firm and principled adherence to strictly canonical positions, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church managed to maintain communion with all other sister Orthodox Churches and preserve its internal unity and peace.
This is their example for me—they were bearers and representatives of the unity of our holy Church.
In recent years, due to the complicated political situation, and especially due to the complicated relations between individual sister Orthodox Churches, communion between them has become difficult. In the course of Church history, entire Local Churches, due to various circumstances and reasons, have broken away from the unity of Orthodoxy. Do you think there is a danger of such divisions today? And how, in your opinion, can this be avoided?
In practice, at the moment there is interrupted Eucharistic communion between some Local Orthodox Churches and this inevitably inflicts painful wounds on the entire Body of Christ. Here we are, gathering for such important and joyous occasions as the election of a new Patriarch, but our joy is not complete. When there are broken relations between individual Local Churches, we cannot all participate in the most important thing—to be one in the Holy Eucharist. We cannot be together around the Lord’s Table. This inevitably disrupts Church life and grieves us. The lack of Church communion is a tragedy for every Orthodox Christian. It is no coincidence that at every Divine Liturgy we pray “for the welfare of the holy Churches of God and for their unity.” Therefore, we must strive with all our might not to deepen this division and not to spread it further. We must do everything in our power to overcome this problem.
What should we do? The experience of the Church has shown that when we consistently and persistently stand firmly on canonical positions to defend and uphold the canonical order from innovations, these storms have passed and peace has been restored in the Church. There is no other way, because in this regard there should be no compromises. As St. John Chrysostom says: “The name ‘Church’ means assembly.” Problems in Church life have always been resolved in a conciliar way, within the framework of the Church’s conciliar bodies and in the spirit of conciliarity. Moreover, the Church should not be influenced by specific conjunctural processes in a given Local Church or in geopolitical terms, should not be influenced by momentary trends in politics, but should be aware of its high mission. Let us remember that the Lord has commanded us to bear witness to Him, to His peace, and to lead the human souls entrusted to us by Him to salvation. This is our mission. Not to cause turmoil and division in the Church. If there is no brotherly love, if we allow ourselves to be led by the spirit of discord and division, of hatred, of pride, we move away from God, from His peace, from unity in Christ.
The way to remain in Orthodoxy and in the unity of the Church is to stand on the canonical order, to avoid perverse or tendentious interpretation of basic provisions that regulate the relationships between the Local Churches. We should not repeat mistakes that some Local Churches have made in the past and have fallen away from the unity of Orthodoxy. A specific example of this is the Roman Catholic Church, which after the division, made innovations in the dogmatic truths of the faith and in the canonical order in the Church.
What are the ways to return to unity and is its restoration possible?
The return to unity is possible when there is a return to what was originally professed by all in the Orthodox Church. It is possible, with a return to the unity of faith, to observance of the rules of Church life, to the rules in the relationships between individual Local Churches and between bishops. Then there would be no obstacle to restoring this unity. The difficulty comes from man humbling himself, stepping back from his pride. Once he has stepped on this path of proud self-exaltation, especially when in a high position, it is difficult to step back, to admit his mistake and repent. It is even more difficult when so much time has passed and things have accumulated that aggravate and deepen the division. But nothing is impossible for God and we must be ready to support any attempt to restore interrupted communion.
There has been much talk lately about “disunity”—in the Church, but also in society and among us, on a personal level. What actually divides us? What do we lack to be united?
Everything starts with the faith. What does faith teach us? Our faith is very specific and has concrete dimensions in our daily lives. In the Creed we profess the truths about the Triune God, about the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, about the resurrection of the dead—these are basic truths of our faith. But at the same time, our faith teaches us how to practically persevere in our communion, our union with God, how the life that the Lord Jesus Christ brought and gives us to revive our hearts, what to do to purify our hearts from passions and little by little to establish the joy of which St. Paul says, the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
For many, the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov about the purpose of Christian life—“To acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit”—are abstract, but our faith teaches us what we must do to achieve this.
Our faith teaches us how to overcome our selfishness, our self-love, our envy, our hatred, and how to persevere in prayer. St. Paul says to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:16). Have we heard these words of his? Have we accepted them? Or the words the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17)? Do we seek this joy and how to find it? Our faith teaches us all this. That is why I say that our faith is very practical and has dimensions in our daily lives. It teaches us how God’s grace can dwell in us so that we may all be one (cf. Jn. 17:21), according to the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if we acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23)—will everything be alright in our relationships, and will we have peace and joy in our lives?
Of course. The Lord has told us, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33) Why are we so confused, divided, desperate? Because we do not believe in these basic words that the Lord has told us, we do not hear them, we do not reflect on them, we do not accept them with faith, we do not put them into practice, we do not live them and therefore the connection with God has been broken. For what does He say?—If a man love me, he will keep my words (Jn. 14:23). And if we do not keep His word and do not live it, we do not fulfill the most important commandment: Love the Lord Thy God, and the one like it: Love thy neighbor as thyself. If we keep this commandment of love, we will not be divided, because we will see God’s image in our neighbor. When we pay attention to our conscience, we will see our mistakes towards others, conscience will show us where we are going wrong so that these contradictions, mistrust, alienation between us occur.
We tend to see fault in others and blame them, but if we examine our conscience, we will understand how we have given reason for division, we will see our personal responsibility in order to repent and free ourselves from everything that prevents us from having joy. What prevents us from having joy?
We are hindered by envy, pride, vanity in us, our little faith that gives rise to fears...
Exactly. They are in us and it depends on us to free ourselves from them and then our joy will be complete. These passions prevent us from experiencing joy, because everyone around us may be rejoicing, but if we have envy in us, for example, it does not allow us to taste the joy that befalls other people.
So, we must strive to overcome this defect in our soul, to heal it with the grace of the Holy Spirit. The faith of Christ teaches us all this.
And if we follow the faith taught by the devil—the faith of pride, faith in ourselves, in our own strength, if we follow faith in invented human values, in well-being here on earth, then this faith will not lead us to unity, nor to joy, nor to peace. Such faith is vain, empty and does not bear good fruit.
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