Rila, Bulgaria, October 19, 2026
Photo: Bulgarian Orthodox Church
At the invitation of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople celebrated the Divine Liturgy today at the famous Rila Monastery for the feast of St. John of Rila, Bulgaria’s most beloved saint.
He was concelebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Daniil and a host of Bulgarian hierarchs.
During the Great Entrance, when the primates of the Local Churches commemorate the other primates they’re in communion with, Patriarch Bartholomew commemorated the head of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Epiphany Dumenko, as can be seen at 1:11:25 in the livestream published by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church:
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church doesn’t recognize the canonicity of the schismatic OCU and has therefore not entered into communion with it. Despite being a guest of the Bulgarian Church, Patriarch Bartholomew chose not to respect this stance, but went ahead with commemorating Dumenko.
The commemoration of Dumenko was met with a few shouts of “Anathema!”
According to sources who were present at the Liturgy, those who shouted were removed by Patriarch Bartholomew’s security team.
When Patriarch Bartholomew arrived at the Synodal Chambers in Sofia on Saturday, he was met by a small group of protestors repeatedly shouting “anaxios!” meaning “unworthy”—the opposite of what the people proclaim at the ordination of a new cleric.
Leading up to his visit, more than 2,000 clergy, monastics, and laymen of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church signed a petition calling for the invitation to Patriarch Bartholomew to be rescinded, citing his ecumenistic stance and his anti-canonical interference in Ukrainian Church matters.
Patriarch Bartholomew did the same in Bucharest last October, commemorating Dumenko despite being a guest of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which also hasn’t recognized the OCU. This was also met with shouts of “anathema!”
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