Sofia, January 15, 2025
“Metropolitan” Photii of Triaditsa of the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church (left), His Holiness Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria of the canonical Church (right). Photo: rferl.org
Bulgarian MPs adopted on first reading last week three separate bills amending the Religious Denominations Act, identifying the Bulgarian Patriarchate as the sole representative of Eastern Orthodoxy in Bulgaria.
The draft laws emphasize the need to prevent the possibility of registering more than one Orthodox church as a legal entity that could use the name “Orthodox” in its title, reports Dveri.bg.
The issue arose after the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled last month that the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church is to be legally registered, which provoked strong political and public response. His Holiness Patriarch Daniil and members of the Holy Synod met with various institutions seeking state protection against a potential new schism, agreeing on the need to prohibit the use of the word “Orthodox” as a designation for any church in Bulgaria other than the Patriarchate.
The bills explicitly appeal to Orthodox canon law on the question of Church unity and the state constitution, which identifies the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as part of the Universal Church.
This is the first case in Bulgarian legislation where reference to Church canonical law would be explicitly included in a legal text with binding force.
According to the bills, denominations can freely choose their name, but must be clearly distinguished from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The prospective laws would give denominations awaiting registration or already registered two months to change their names, if necessary. This would affect the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church based in Sofia, the True Orthodox Church based in Plovdiv, and the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Since multiple bills were adopted, a committee of MPs will prepare one common bill within 14 days, which will be presented to the Chairman of the National Assembly and MPs for written proposals.
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