Bulgarians to Bartholomew: You Are not Welcome At Sacred Rila Monastery!

ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ

PHOTO: Catholic Bishops are seen on the left (Photo credit: Orthodox Times/Mike and Julie Agiannidis).

Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful Challenge the Ecumenical Patriarch’s Planned Rila Monastery Visit (October 19), Citing Ukraine, Ecumenism, and the Widening Fractures in World Orthodoxy

By Helleniscope’s Editorial Team

EDITORIAL NOTE – Before presenting the news below: Helleniscope reminds readers that Patriarch Bartholomew was in Sofia on June 30, 2024, when Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin was elected and enthroned as Patriarch of Bulgaria (both he and Karloutsos, who also was present unannounced – in his usual secret fashion as a “CIA operative” – made a hard but failed effort to influence the election). Pat. Daniel was not their choice. Only months later, Bartholomew traveled to the Bulgarian capital for Patriarch Neophyte’s funeral. Daniel entered the patriarchal throne with positions sharply at odds with the Phanar on one of the defining ecclesiastical controversies of our time, publicly rejecting the legitimacy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and criticizing Bartholomew’s intervention in the Ukrainian question.

Helleniscope also recalls that Karloutsos participated in a high-level delegation of the Archons that traveled through Romania and Bulgaria in June 2022, meeting political leaders, church officials, and American diplomats, including the U.S. ambassador in Sofia. The Archons have documented extensive interaction and cooperation with the State Department, acting as agents for both the State Department and, secretly, the CIA. Their “extra-institutional” acts raise serious questions about their true role and also the role of their “spiritual father”, Karloutsos. Do they have no shame at all in calling themselves members of the Church? THEY ARE AGENTS OF POLITICAL INTERESTS!!

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PHOTO: The sacred Rila Monastery

Patriarch Bartholomew is preparing to travel to Bulgaria in October for what was supposed to be a solemn celebration honoring Saint John of Rila, but instead of an uncomplicated ceremonial welcome, he is being met by an increasingly public wave of resistance from Bulgarian clergy, monastics, and faithful who are making their message unmistakably clear: they do not want the Patriarch of Constantinople standing at the altar of Bulgaria’s most revered monastery as though nothing has happened in the Orthodox world over the past several years.

The controversy centers on the Divine Liturgy scheduled for October 19 at the historic Rila Monastery, where Bartholomew is expected to preside during commemorations marking 1,150 years since the birth and 1,080 years since the repose of Saint John of Rila, Bulgaria’s great national saint and spiritual protector, and while Constantinople has emphasized that the visit comes through an “official and honorary invitation” from the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, a growing body of opposition is insisting that an invitation from the hierarchy should not be confused with unanimous acceptance among the clergy and faithful. (Ecumenical Patriarchate)

The first major sign of trouble came through a petition addressed to Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel and the members of the Holy Synod, whose authors questioned why Bartholomew had been given such a prominent role in the celebration and argued that his recent ecclesiastical actions and theological statements have placed him at odds with what they understand to be the canonical and doctrinal tradition of Orthodoxy, particularly on relations with Rome, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and the continuing fracture produced by Constantinople’s intervention in Ukraine. (Darik Bulgaria)

Then the rhetoric escalated dramatically, as an open “Letter of Sorrow,” presented as coming from Bulgarian clergy, monastics, and lay faithful, was addressed directly to Bartholomew and urged him not to come to Rila Monastery at all, with its authors going so far as to declare that they would not enter into Eucharistic communion with him, an extraordinary statement in the context of a visit that Constantinople has portrayed as a celebration of Orthodox brotherhood and ecclesiastical unity. (EEOD)

At the heart of the Bulgarian objections is the same question that has destabilized relations throughout the Orthodox world since 2018: Ukraine, because the protesters reject Constantinople’s decision to grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and describe the move as an intrusion into another Church’s canonical territory, while they also fear that Bartholomew’s liturgical presence at Rila could be interpreted as quietly drawing the Bulgarian Church closer to Constantinople’s position in a dispute that continues to divide bishops, monasteries, clergy, and faithful across national borders.

The protesters also accuse Bartholomew of advancing an ecumenical theology that, in their view, blurs the boundaries between Orthodoxy and other Christian confessions, and they cite his public remarks about Christian unity and interreligious dialogue as evidence of a direction they believe conflicts with the traditional self-understanding of the Orthodox Church, although these accusations remain the interpretation of his Bulgarian critics and have not been adopted as an official judgment of the Bulgarian Holy Synod. (EEOD)

The controversy exposes a deeper problem for Bartholomew: formal invitations from church hierarchies no longer guarantee acceptance among the clergy and faithful. In Bulgaria, the polished language of fraternity and Orthodox unity is colliding with open resistance from those who believe his decisions, especially in Ukraine, have deepened division rather than healed it.

Rila Monastery is not merely another stop on a ceremonial itinerary, but a sacred place that should not be used to project an image of unquestioned authority or consensus where none exists. Their message is blunt: Bartholomew may have been invited to Bulgaria, but he should not mistake protocol for welcome.

As Ukraine collapses, and along with it the failed policies of the Deep State establishment (whose goal has been, since day one, to divide Orthodoxy) and the Constantinople Patriarchate, Bartholomew should expect more rejections anywhere he plans to visit.

He has proven himself an ecumenical failure… 

Sources:

EEOD — “Αντιδράσεις στη Βουλγαρία για την επίσκεψη του Πατριάρχη Βαρθολομαίου”
Darik Bulgaria — Petition opposing the visit to Rila Monastery
Ecumenical Patriarchate — Announcement of Bartholomew’s October visit to Bulgaria

September 21, 2026, www.helleniscope.com, n.stamatakis@aol.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.

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