Bulgarian Orthodox Old Church

On July 18, 1968, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church published a special “Message to the clergy and all the children of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church” , which contained news of the reform of the church calendar, the day of which was determined on December 6/19, 1968. ^[2] This calendar reform was carried out with the aim of establishing uniformity in church timescales with the Macedonian Orthodox Church , which shortly before that announced its autocephaly in a non-canonical manner. At the same time, the territory of the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was considered by many Bulgarians to be the original part of Bulgaria, illegally torn away from it. The unification of the church calendar was to be the first step towards unification of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the non-canonical Macedonian Orthodox Church.

In general, the calendar reform was adopted calmly, but several conservative leaders of the Bulgarian clergy opposed it. Archimandrite Serafim (Alexiev) , archimandrite Sergius (Yazadzhiev) , Panteleimon (Staritsky) , hieromonk Serafim (Dmitrievsky) and abbess of Knyazhevsky Pokrovsky convent in Sofia abbess Seraphim (Princess Liven) sent their protest to the Patriarch of Bulgaria. All of them at one time were spiritual followers of the Archbishop Seraphim of Bogucharsky (Sobolev) , known in Bulgaria for his conservative and sharply anti-ecumenical views. The reaction of the clergy of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to the emerging turmoil was the prohibition of rebellious clergy in the priesthood, as well as the removal of archimandrites Serafim (Aleksiev) and Sergius (Yazadzhiev) from teaching at the Sofia Theological Academy. Until the death of the patriarch of Bulgaria, Cyril, various measures of influence were applied to the separated clergy and monks, after which a period of relatively quiet existence began ^{[3] [4]} .

In the second half of the 1980s, one of the closest followers of Archimandrite Seraphim (Aleksiev) Rosen Dmitrov Siromakhov made contact with the Greek old-style Synod of Opposing , from whom he received monastic tonsure with the name Photius, deacon and priestly ordination. After the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria, the “Synod of Opposing” established the Triaditsian Diocese on the territory of Bulgaria (Triaditsa is one of the ancient names of Sofia), which was later transformed into an independent ("autocephalous") Bulgarian Old Church Orthodox Church (BSPTS). January 4/17, 1993, in the monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justinia ( Fili , Greece ), the spiritual and administrative center of the “Synod of Opposing”, the bishop consecration of Photius (Siromakhov) took place ^[5] . It should be noted that not all the followers of Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) went into schism, following Photius (Siromakhov).

In 1994, a one-time establishment of church and Eucharistic communion between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCA) with the Bulgarian Old-Church and the Synod of Opposing Church of the Greek Orthodox Church was held ^[6] . The visible result of establishing communication with the ROCA was the bringing of the myrrh-streaming Iveron Montreal Icon of the Mother of God to Bulgaria on October 10-17, 1995 ^[7] .

In 1999, Bishop Photius glorified the Rhodope holy martyr, Bishop , and three years later he canonized Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev). In 2006, the Batashi new martyrs were canonized ^[8] .

In 2006, at the initiative of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Eucharistic communion between the ROCOR and the BSPC was interrupted, which was a consequence of the fulfillment by the latter of the indispensable condition necessary for signing the Act of Canonical Communion with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate .

On January 26, 2015, the Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Church Church Bishop Photius Triaditsky (Siromakhov) met with the hierarchs and the Chairperson of the “Chrysostomovsky” (“florinite”) Synod of the Church of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greece, Archbishop of Athens and All Hellas Kallinikos (Sarandopoulos) (a year earlier unification was achieved cypriaths). The result of the interview was the signing of a general ecclesiological confession called “The True Orthodox Church in the face of an ecumenical heresy. Dogmatic and canonical issues. ” Both sides confirmed that the problems of an administrative-canonical nature associated with the presence of structures of the “Chrysostom” Synod in Bulgaria will be resolved on the basis of the rules of the Holy Orthodox Church that determine relations between self-governing Churches ^[9] .

On November 10, 2018, the BJCC was canonized by Metropolitan Boris Nevrokopsky (Razumov) . Earlier, in 2016, he was canonized by the official Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Since January 17, 1993 (in a new style), the Primate of the BSPC is Bishop Photius Triaditsky (Siromakhov) ^[10] , whose residence is located in Sofia .

On the basis of the decree of Bishop Photius No. 0001 of December 5 (18), 2014 and in accordance with decision No. 5 of October 24 (November 6), 2014 , the Church Council formed the Holy Synod of the BCC, including two temporary members ^[11] .

Holy Synod of the BCC

• Fotiy (Siromakhov) , chairman
• George (Kravchenko) , Archbishop of Chisinau and Moldova ( ROCOR (A) ), temporarily
• Nikon (Jost) , Bishop of Ishim and Siberia ( ROCOR (A) ), temporarily

The BSPC has 24 clergymen: 1 archimandrite + 4 hieromonks + 14 priests and 5 deacons , 17 churches and 5 chapels (5 of them in Sofia). The total number of parishes is 16. The official body of the BSPC is the magazine “Orthodox Word”.

In May 2019, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the BCC, the monk Victor (Todorov) was elected to be ordained Bishop of Nikopol (ordination took place on May 26) ^{[12] [13]} .

Monasteries

• Monastic fraternity at the bishop's house; Chapel of St. Mark of Ephesus. It consists of the managing bishop, one hierodeacon and three monks.
• Pokrovsky Knyazhevsky Convent (St. Luke St. No. 6, Knyazhevo quarter, Sofia 1619 Tel: +359 (0) 2-857-30-90). There are 42 nuns and novices in the monastery. Monastery churches: "St. Apostle and Evangelist Luke ”,“ St. Seraphim, St. Sophia the Wonderworker ”, paraclis of the“ Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos ”.
• Male monastery in honor of St. Theodosius of Tarnovsky (in the village of Bogdan , Karlovo . Tel 0889981906). Rector: Archimandrite Savva. 2 monks live in the monastery. Monastery Church Introduction to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Relations with other denominations

Adherents of the Bulgarian Orthodox Old-Church Church continue to take a tough stance that the New Julian calendar was introduced into the life of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church without a general church discussion, which violates a number of church canons.

The BSPC canonical and Eucharistic communion with the Romanian old- style Orthodox Church , led by Archbishop and Metropolitan Vlasy (Mogyrzan) , the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad under the omophorion of Metropolitan Agafangel (Pashkovsky) and the Greek Orthodox Church (Florinite Synod) (Synod of the Holy See) ) ).

BSPTS uses the Byzantine rite , the liturgical language - Church Slavonic .

• Bulgarian Orthodox Church

• Bulgarian Old-Church Church (official site) (Bulgarian) (Russian ) (Russian )
• Bulgarian Old Church Orthodox Church