Burgas, Bulgaria, August 19, 2026
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Archbishop Job of Shumen concelebrated with the Metropolitan of Sliven at a feast-day Liturgy for St. John of Rila in Burgas, Bulgaria, in a visible display of unity between Ukrainian and Bulgarian clergy amid the schism in Ukraine.
His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Sliven led the Liturgy on August 18, the feast of the Dormition of St. John of Rila, at the church bearing the saint’s name in Burgas. Archbishop Job, rector of the Pochaev Theological Seminary, concelebrated alongside other clergy from Bulgaria and Ukraine, reports the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
He came to the Sliven Diocese as an envoy of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuprhy of Kiev and All Ukraine, to get better acquainted with the parishes where Ukrainian Orthodox priests have been serving for the past year, caring for fellow Ukrainians who’ve found refuge in Bulgaria because of the war. Two of the Ukrainian clergymen are clerics of the Sliven diocese.
Before the Liturgy began, relics of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara were brought to the church for veneration.
At the end of the service, Metropolitan Arseny addressed the clergy and faithful, recalling the spiritual struggle of St. John of Rila on the day marking 1,080 years since the saint’s dormition. He welcomed the guests from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, saying the presence of Archbishop Job and the joint participation of Bulgarian and Ukrainian clergy in the Eucharist testifies to spiritual unity and brotherhood in Christ. A clergyman’s canonicity isn’t determined by his national origin, he said, but by faithfulness to the Orthodox Church, adherence to canonical order and shared faith in Christ. “In the Church there are no ‘ours’ and ‘others’ by flesh. There are brothers and sisters in Christ,” Metropolitan Arseny said.
He added that Christian love can’t be subject to social pressures, fear or temporary human moods, and that a Christian “doesn’t encourage fratricide and doesn’t view a person simply as a representative of some nationality, but instead sees him first and foremost as a person—the image and likeness of God.”
He thanked the Ukrainian Orthodox priests for the spiritual support they provide their fellow Ukrainians living through the hardships of war far from home.
Archbishop Job conveyed heartfelt fraternal greetings from Metropolitan Onuphry to Metropolitan Arseny, along with gratitude for the care shown to Ukrainian clergy and believers, and for the brotherly welcome extended by Burgas clergy. Amid the ongoing war, Metropolitan Arseny called for peace and an end to violence and bloodshed, saying faithfulness to Christ’s teaching requires Christians to be peacemakers.
That same day, Metropolitan Arseny and Archbishop Job met with the mayor of Burgas, Dimitar Nikolov, along with the two Ukrainian priests who serve in the Sliven Diocese. Archbishop Job thanked the mayor for his hospitality toward the Ukrainian people, stressing that their greatest wish is for the war to end and peace to be restored. Nikolov assured him of the municipal leadership’s readiness to keep supporting people seeking refuge from the war.
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