Bulgaria, Macedonia orthodox church committees meet to discuss autocephaly

Committees comprised of senior officials from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Macedonian Orthodox Church met in Sofia to discuss further actions on the status of the Macedonian church, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church said in a statement on December 22.

The two committees discussed a roadmap for implementation of the decision by the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which decided last month to hold talks with other Orthodox Christian churches on recognising the neighbouring country’s church as autocephalous. The statement did not offer additional details on the specifics of that roadmap.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was represented by Stara Zagora Metropolitan Kipiryan, who is also chair of the committee, Lovech Metropolitan Gavriil, Plovdiv Metropolitan Nikolai, Varna Metropolitan Yoan, Nevrokop Metropolitan Serafim and Vratsa Metropolitan Grigorii. The Macedonian church was represented by its head, archbishop Stefan, along with metropolitan Petar of Prespa and Pelagonia, metropolitan Timotej of Debar and Kičevo, and bishop Kliment of Heraclea.

Archbishop Stefan also met with Patriarch Neofit, the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, on December 21, the first meeting between the two since the Macedonian church asked, on November 9, for assistance in being recognised as autocephalous, specialist church news portal Dveri reported.

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(Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg)

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