Istanbul, October 20, 2026
Photo: Bulgarian National Television
In an interview with Bulgarian National Television on the eve of his visit to Bulgaria, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople spoke of the Bulgarians who opposed his visit, characterizing them and likeminded Orthodox Christians in other countries as “zealots” and “extremists.”
After it was announced that the Bulgarian Holy Synod had invited Patriarch Bartholomew to celebrate the feast of St. John of Rila at Rila Monastery, a petition gathered more than 2,000 signatures from clergy, monastics, and laity, calling for his invitation to be rescinded, given the Patriarch’s ecumenism and the creation of the schismatic “Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”
Asked in the interview “What message would you like to send to Bulgarians? What are your prayers and hopes for Bulgaria?” the Patriarch first responded: “I love Bulgaria and its people… For me it is a joy, an honor, and a blessing to be able to come once more and convey the message of care and the blessing of the Mother Church to her first-born daughter. I am confident that everywhere I will meet love and hospitality, respect and reverence, as on my previous visits.”
He then referred to those who signed the petition, whom he characterizes as having “zeal not according to knowledge”:
I know that some of our brothers and sisters there, who have zeal not according to knowledge, collected signatures and would like my visit to be thwarted. This is a small minority, a drop among the multitude of the Bulgarian people, who on the whole respect and love the Mother Church of Constantinople. Therefore, these brothers of ours will not succeed in thwarting our visit. I am officially invited by His Beatitude the Patriarch and by the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church headed by him, and I will come with great joy, readiness, and pleasure.
And there are such people in Greece and elsewhere, the Patriarch says, calling them “zealots” and “extremists”:
Let me note that there are people of like mind with these brothers of ours, with zeal, I repeat, not according to knowledge, in Greece too, and everywhere. They are zealots, they are extremists. They are isolated from the rest. We love them and pray that they return to the right path and walk together with the official Church, with the Patriarch and the Synod and their local priests.
He also accuses them of “creat[ing] schisms and self-appointed assemblies within the body of the Church,” although it was the Patriarch’s creation of a schism in Ukraine that they were protesting.
During the Liturgy at Rila Monastery yesterday, Patriarch Bartholomew commemorated the schismatic Epiphany Dumenko, which was met with scattered shouts of “Anathema!”
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