Nevrokop Bishop Nathaniel: We have not been informers and will not become now

25/1/2012
FOCUS News Agency

Dissenting opinion of Bishop of Nevrokop Nathaniel stated at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the full composition, report № 1 on January 23, 2012, the decision in paragraph 7: “To be prepared and sent a letter to all bishops, by which to be forwarded the letter by Evtim Kostadinov for consideration and implementation. Diocesan bishops should, within 15 days of receipt of the letter to send responses to the Office of the Holy Synod.”

We would like to announce that we support our dissenting opinion declared on December 13, 2011, Protocol № 41 and presented in the Holy Synod on December 15 of the same year and that remain a dissenting opinion on the decision of the Holy Synod of January 23, 2012, Protocol № 1 to provide data of persons occupying managerial positions, according to Art. 140, para. 4 and Art. 150, para. 1, Art. 161, para. 3 of the Statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – BP.
We declare that we were not informers, we will not become now as giving a list of names and ID numbers of the clergy – heads of the church boards and church wardens, and abbots / nuns and members of the monastic convocations in the diocese of our Nevrokop diocese.
We believe that this aims at new total control of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, worse and more insidious than the communistic one. Would not that be a reason for creating a new schism that to break, and why not to destroy the former Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which is the continual support of the Bulgarian people??

We stand up and defend at any cost our principle position. The Church must defend its independence and constitutional rights available to it.
Interference in the internal ecclesiastical life of the party of anyone, is blatant violation of the separation of the church from the state. The democracy and rule of law observes the supreme law-the Constitution. Yet in 1992 the Constitutional Court ruled that interference in the internal life of religious institutions and their public expression is unacceptable.

God to save His Church in our country from all kinds of new attacks.

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