Sofia, May 15, 2025
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church published a statement on Tuesday in support of compulsory religious education in the nation’s schools—something the Church has been working for ever since the fall of communism more than 30 years ago.
The Synod states that it supports the introduction of the course with the working title “Virtues and Religion” and also supports the “Virtues and Religion in School” procession that will be held on Saturday, May 17, in front of the St. Alexander Nevsky Patriarchal Cathedral, the Bulgarian Church reports.
“We call on all Orthodox Christians and all people who wish to take part in the procession to jointly declare our convinced civic position on the necessity for the children of Bulgaria to become acquainted with the timeless Orthodox Christian values and moral virtues, and with our centuries-old Orthodox culture and history built on these values,” the hierarchs state.
Religious education has long been available as an elective course, but there has been a major push recently to introduce a relevant course into the regular curriculum. According to news.bg, more than 80% of Bulgarians support the initiative, though there have also been protests against it.
According to Minister of Education Krassimir Valchev, incorporating religious and ethical subject matter into school programs is not incompatible with broader educational objectives. Valchev emphasized that Christian foundations underpin both Bulgarian and European cultural heritage, providing essential contextual knowledge for students’ comprehensive development.
From 2020 to 2023, the Holy Synod created new textbooks on Religion-Christianity-Orthodoxy for all students from 1st to 12th grades that received the approval of the Ministry of Education.
“Guided by its millennial experience in the exceptional educational power of Orthodox Christianity, our Church does not cease emphasizing the great importance of spiritual and moral education of children from an early age—in the family, in the church, in kindergarten, in school. This our Holy Church does out of love for its people, out of concern for the growing generations and out of compassion for the pains and problems of modern man,” the Synod said in a statement in August 2023.
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