2024-03-20 19:31:39
The two are phenomenal diplomats who show character, courage and firmness in decisive moments for the country
The desire of Patriarch Neofitus to be buried next to Exarch Joseph I in the “Holy Week” church managed to surprise even the most skilled clerics, who expected that he would choose to be next to his spiritual father Grandfather Maximus in the Troyan monastery.
“In my opinion, perhaps one of his messages is to preserve the active church-spiritual, educational and diplomatic activity,” Assoc. Kostadin Nushev commented to “24 Hours – 168 Stories”. spiritual son of Patriarch Maxim, rather his desire is to be in the center of the capital – in the metropolitan cathedral, and to continue his presence in some way.”
“Perhaps, in this way, Neophytes chose to remind his spiritual children, the priesthood, of the historical period in which he was the patriarch, and that as the Metropolitan of Sofia he left his will, messages, built the foundation on which the church would develops in these directions – with a face turned to modern society, to youth, to children, public organizations and state institutions.”
Although he has his own explanation, Grandpa Neofit’s decision was a big surprise for Prof. Nushev as well. He, like many others, thought that as two patriarchs were laid to rest in the Bachkovo Monastery – Exarch Stefan and Patriarch Cyril, the second similar holy abode would be the Troyan Monastery.
But in addition, Neophyte gives another strong sign that he wants to associate himself with the personality and memory of Exarch Joseph I. “We must try to understand why this is his last will, what he is trying to tell us with this message – he adds more Nushev. – Let’s not forget that 30 years after Joseph I – from 1915 to 1945 – Bulgaria did not have an elected exarch and the church was governed by deputies.” Is this not some warning of the late patriarch that the synod must remain united?
We will probably be guessing for a long time what exactly Grandpa Neofitus wanted to tell us with his desire to be laid next to Exarch Joseph, but the truth is that the two are very similar.
First of all, in terms of diplomacy and the ability to reconcile even seemingly impossible positions. It was not by chance that Joseph was called “the diplomat in a cassock”, who skillfully maneuvered between the Ottoman and Russian empires, all the while defending Bulgarian interests.
It is clear from his diaries that when he was elected Lovchan metropolitan, the April Uprising broke out in Bulgaria – at that time the dungeons were full of captured revolutionaries. In these troubled times, the cleric began to tactfully mediate and negotiate with the Ottoman authorities to save many of our patriots. Among them is Todor Kableshkov, for whom Yosif strongly advocates, arguing that he is important for the country.
In order to end the repressions, he came to Sofia to try to restore the dialogue between the metropolitan of the capital and the then pasha. An emblematic example of his phenomenal tact is when VMRO sends Yane Sandanski to kill him. But Sandanski was so impressed by the well-read, intelligent and humble clergyman that he became his sincere admirer.
Maybe that’s why later, after the Ilinden-Preobrazhensky Uprising, everyone sent the exarch to Constantinople with tears, since there either a death sentence or exile awaited him. On the one hand, he did nothing to thwart the revolt, on the other hand, he himself tried through education and enlightenment to rejoin Macedonia.
It is clear from his diaries that when he went to the Sultan’s palace, the ruler welcomed him in an apron, as his hobby was to sculpt chairs. Of course, he immediately began to scold the clergyman, who remained humbly silent the whole time.
Apparently moved by his stoicism, the Sultan invited him to coffee and the two talked for an hour and a half on a variety of topics. Finally, the ruler, completely fascinated by the Bulgarian exarch, asked him what gift he wanted to give him. After thinking for a while, the Sultan seemed to say to himself that he would not want to bestow him with an order, because Joseph already had the highest honors of the Ottoman Empire anyway. He mentioned that he did not want to give him money either, because the clergyman would immediately give it to church and educational work in Bulgaria. Therefore, finally the Sultan, overshadowed by what he thought was a wonderful idea, exclaimed that he would please him with a chariot with 4 wonderful horses.
Thus, while everyone mourned him, the Exarch returned smiling. At the same time, the sultan was angry with his cronies for not making better use of the diplomatic cleric to thwart the massacres in Bulgaria, which had caused irreparable damage to the empire.
Along with this, Joseph also maintained excellent relations with the Russian emperor, whom he personally met to thank him for the Liberation. As with the Russian generals.
What it cost the Exarch to make these shuttles between the two warring countries and defend the interests of Bulgaria, today we can only guess. But Joseph, in addition to all this, made the old wooden church in Constantinople become today’s Iron Church.
According to Associate Professor Nushev, Neophyte was also an outstanding diplomat who helped to eliminate the schism over the Macedonian church, because of which it was non-canonical for nearly 50 years.
In 2014, Archbishop Stefan met with Grandfather Neofit, after which he announced that the authority of the Bulgarian patriarch could help to overcome differences in contacts between church authorities and other Orthodox churches.
Although the decision was not easy, Neophyte’s words were: “We must intercede for them, they are our people”. This is how we reached the general prayer service in Ohrid, after which the Bulgarian patriarch and Stefan made a prayer together and Neophyte symbolically handed him the cross to bless the laity.
“I keep this photo and send it to my students,” Nushev said. – In 2022, when they removed the schism, Patriarch Neophyte immediately included Archbishop Stefan in the Christmas service. Along with this, the Synod decided to mention him in the Diptych as Archbishop Stefan of North Macedonia.
The cleric proved that he was a born diplomat as early as the Metropolitan of Rousse, when he received the relics of St. George from the Roman Pope. In 2019, Pope Francis made a new gesture in front of Neophyte, presenting the relics of St. Clement of Rome, one of the ancient Roman popes, who had previously been the bishop of Serdica. It was a symbolic gesture.”
In this way, Neophyte shows that he can build bridges and that for him the most important thing is the general respect for Christian traditions, for the bishops and martyrs of our lands.
His talent as a skilled negotiator was also strongly revealed during the schism, when Neophyte was the Metropolitan of Ruse. Then the government of Philip Dimitrov stood behind the separatists, accusing the others of not being Orthodox Christians, but representatives of foreign interests. A Neophyte was then cast as spokesman and general secretary charged with the task of maintaining dialogue with the schismatics.
What was everyone’s astonishment when it was the separatists who insisted on negotiating with Neophyte alone. Prof. Hristo Matanov recalled that they themselves gave him the key and thus he entered the Synodal Palace when the schismatics liberated it. After that, every time he was asked how he got there, Grandpa Neophyte answered modestly that the door was simply unlocked.
Ivan Kostov’s cabinet both supported Innocent from the alternative synod, and whenever the prime minister or the president had to go to Rome to see the Pope, they invited Neophyte with them. “They knew that they could not bring a schismatic to the head of the Roman Catholic Church – explained the scientist. – Here is an example of successful church diplomacy.”
Finally, in 2002, thanks to the incredible efforts of Neophyte, the schism was ended, which marked the beginning of the unification of the church.
But this does not end the similarities between Neophytes and Exarch Joseph. The two felt an insatiable need to take care of the education of the young.
As a result, in the period 1912 – 1913, the exarchate had 1,373 schools, 13 high schools, 87 junior high schools, with over 78,000 students, and Joseph personally saw to it that all 2,266 teachers received their salaries.
Neophyte had the same vision as Metropolitan of Ruse. Talked with the regional inspectorates and with the Ministry of Education to introduce the study of religion in the school.
Along with this, the patriarch was active as an exarch. “He contacted all the ministers – recalls Nushev. – Anyone who came to greet him as the newly elected patriarch, he began to discuss his ideas with him. For example, he talked with the Ministry of Culture about churches and monasteries that are cultural monuments and those of UNESCO, with the Ministry of Justice about the priests in prisons, with the Minister of War about the monuments that are ossuaries, military chapels, etc. So churches began to be renovated under European rural development programs and all the governments were very surprised that he was so well prepared.”
Another significant similarity between Exarch Joseph and Grandfather Neophyte is that when necessary, they did not hesitate to be firm. An emblematic example is when Joseph in 1913 met Prince Ferdinand at the station, who at that moment was angrily looking for someone to blame for the loss of the war and the national catastrophe.
“Stop looking for the culprits outside of Bulgaria, they are in Bulgaria, in the person of Your Majesty, these are your former and current advisors, if you will and in my humbleness, in your personal regime – said the Exarch without batting an eye. – Now you have one way out, Your Majesty, abdicate and let the Orthodox successor group parties and people and with God’s help return the glory and greatness of Bulgaria. Your remaining on the throne will be fatal, no one can trust you and no one can conduct honest politics with you.”
A similar firmness was characteristic of grandfather Neophyte. Those who remember better remember how in the period 2013 – 2014 they often invited him to Moscow to present him with various awards.
“When the International Fund for the Unity of the Orthodox Peoples gave him some very large monetary reward, everyone decided that it was an attempt to buy him and tie him to the Russian Church – Associate Professor Nushev said. – But he immediately donated it to a department for the treatment of children with oncohematological diseases at ISUL. In doing so, he very subtly showed them that he was not willing to take such funds, and it was a very strong move on his part.”
According to the scientist, Neophyte distanced himself very seriously from the Russian patriarch, who in 2018 came instead of Putin to meet with President Rumen Radev. Then Cyril angrily began to blame the Bulgarians, who prayed for all the Ukrainian, Finnish and Romanian soldiers who died for our Liberation. The Russian patriarch’s argument was that they were all under the command of the Russian Empire, that is, Bulgaria owed its liberation entirely to Russia.
“It was a very rude and undiplomatic statement, and I remember that from that moment on, our patriarch distanced himself,” Nushev said. Subsequently, relations between the two churches escalated with the closure of the Russian Church, with which Moscow demonstrated that it did not respect the rights of Neophytes as Metropolitan of Sofia.
But on January 6 of this year, the Bulgarian patriarch gave another strong signal that he had finally broken with the Russian clergy when, on the occasion of the war against Ukraine, he announced: “God and the Holy Church bless only that army that does not show aggression, but its only goal is to protect and defend its people and country, within its internationally recognized territorial borders. So is our Bulgarian army.”
The patriarch publicly supported the Ukrainian refugees, which visibly irritated the Russian embassy and the Kremlin.
“It was so easy to contact him,” Nushev says. – He carefully listened, understood who needed what, gave support to everyone. As rector he was demanding, but above all he inspired without moralizing.”
For us today, it remains only to remember the covenants of the good man and possibly unravel whether there is another plot hidden behind Neophyte’s desire to be laid next to Exarch Joseph.