2024-03-18 00:13:32
If the Bulgarians had a real connection with the church, they would have gathered with candles and prayers in front of the VMA at the news that Patriarch Neofitus had died. This was commented by the journalist and historian Goran Blagoev on the air of “120 minutes” on BBC.
And he continued: “Because if we, as Orthodox, really had a living relationship with our church, even on the day when, without excuse, they started burying him from noon on social networks – he died, he didn’t die, it’s bad, people should have they go with candles in front of the VMA, as we have seen with other church heads, to pray”.
“I am afraid that the believers in Sofia had a longer opportunity to say goodbye to their Metropolitan of Sofia, because from Thursday afternoon this opportunity was suspended for them. The body of the patriarch was exposed in the chapel of St. Marina” in the yard of the Sofia Metropolis, and I expected that from Thursday noon to Friday morning, when the body of the Patriarch was to be carried to the Patriarchal Temple, the doors of the Temple would be open, and they were unclear why they were closed, i.e. almost one 24/7 was spared from worshiping the patriarch,” Blagoev said.
As “absolute kitsch and lack of taste”, he described the decision of the APC to tow the patriarch’s coffin to the Church of St. Nedelya.
“It’s as if the lack of authorities makes us look for authorities precisely in the patriarch, the head, the head of the church”, pointed out Prof. Momchil Metodiev on the air of “120 minutes” on BBC.
According to the two, the attitude of the candidates for patriarch to the war in Ukraine will not be a leading factor in the selection.