Bulgarian Bishops Agree to Lobby for Macedonian Church

Following a meeting on Monday, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church's Patriarchate announced that it has formed a committee to lead talks with other Orthodox churches on the status of Macedonian Orthodox Church, which remains unrecognised as a result of a long-lasting dispute with Serbian Orthodox Church.

The move came after Macedonia's Orthodox Church asked the Bulgarian Church to assume a form of parental authority over it.

The Patriarchal website stated that, that following the Macedonian request, the Bulgarian Church felt it had a "sacred duty" to offer its full support for Macedonia's Orthodox Church and to advocate among the other Orthodox Churches for recognition of its canonical status.

"The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has never been indifferent to the sufferings of Macedonian Orthodox Church," the Bulgarian Patriarchal website wrote.

Patriarch Neofit had restated his position that Bulgaria should support the Macedonian Church, as they are "our brothers and our people", it added.

However, in a Sunday interview for 24 hours newspaper, one of the appointees to the committee intended to lead the talks with other churches, Metropolitan Gavrail of Lovech, warned that if Bulgaria recognized the Macedonian Church unilaterally, "we won't help our Macedonian brothers and will harm ourselves".

Earlier this month, the Macedonian Church sent an official request for the Bulgarian Church to become its "mother" Church, and so encourage its acceptance as an equal among the other Orthodox churches.

The Macedonian Church remains unrecognized by other Orthodox Churches owing to a long-lasting dispute over its ecclesiastical independence from the Serbian Orthodox Church, to which it was formerly united.

The two churches remain...

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