2024-03-13 12:22:31
The inspection in one of the richest ecclesiastical areas starts from the maritime properties, it can last about 6 months
Metropolitan John of Varna – as the deputy of the widowed Sliven throne, begins the selection of the bishop from the beginning. The decision to repeat the procedure was made by the Holy Synod on Tuesday amid protests outside its windows. But all members were adamant that according to the statute of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, if an election is canceled, the decision is final.
Before the second attempt to elect a bishop, the Synod ordered a complete administrative and financial audit of churches, monasteries, land leases in the Sliven Diocese – one of the largest and richest Bulgarian church districts.
A detailed check will also be made of each of the 42 diocesan voters, who indicated which candidates to elect the new metropolitan. It will be established whether they comply with the statutes of the BOC – whether they lead a proper life, what virtues they observe, whether they have been convicted.
The reason – according to letters and complaints to the Synod among these voters there were people with effective and suspended sentences.
However, the checks will mainly affect thousands of acres of church land leased to determine whether the contracts were determined in the most correct way.
The audits will also include properties such as the concession land in the “Utopia” complex in the Rosenets park in Burgas, large agricultural plots in Sozopol and Topolovgrad.
All this may take more than 6 months before the large diocese, which, in addition to Sliven, also includes today’s Burgas, Yambol and part of the Haskovo region, receives a metropolitan in the place of the deceased Ioanikiy.
Why are the usually quiet church affairs reverberating publicly this time?
A week after the diocesan election in Sliven on February 18, it was canceled and a new regulation was adopted, which empowered only the members of the Holy Synod to elect metropolitans – without elections in dioceses with the participation of laymen and clerics. The move sparked outrage in the diocese.
Two days later, one after the other, Metropolitans John, Nicholas, Gregory they asked for people’s forgiveness and renounced the decision The Synod should choose metropolitans by itself.
The Ordinance was eventually forwarded for consideration by the next Church Council. There hasn’t been one since 2008.
While 11 bishops were looking for a solution to the complicated case with the Sliven Diocese, they met in front of the building two groups of protesters.
The first were priests and laymen who wanted to cancel the ordinance and hold an election between those who were broadcast by the diocesan electors – Bishop Michael of Constantia and Hieroteus of Agathopol. The two reached the final on February 18.
The second group had come to support the decisions of the synod.
One of the metropolitans who regretted the vote on the ordinance of February 26 was Nicholas of Plovdiv. In his opinion, he called for its cancellation, as well as for the continuation of the election for Metropolitan of Sliven between Hierotei and Michael. Nevertheless, 8 buses with clergy and laity arrived from Plovdiv on Tuesday, who took part in a counter-protest in support of the ordinance, which the bishop refused. And those from Sliven, among whom there were many people from Plovdiv, were in favor of its cancellation, because it deprives the laity of participating in the election of their metropolitan.
Many also saw Grandpa Nikolay’s intervention in the elections for the Bishop of Sliven. His vicar, Bishop Arseniy of Zniepol, also took part in the race. He was among the 10 from the list of the Holy Synod, from among which the local clergy and the dioceses of Sliven, Yambol and Burgas had to choose 3 in the first round. Then the first in terms of votes was Bishop Hierotei, vicar of the late Sliven Metropolitan Ioannikiy. Arsenius, the vicar of Nicholas, ranked second, and Bishop Michael, vicar of Metropolitan Gabriel, who voted against the disputed ordinance, came in third. Only Metropolitan Seraphim of Neurokop and Daniil of Vidin supported him.
However, the rules provide for a second round in the diocese, in which two of the three are elected. Just then, Grandfather Nicholas’ vicar dropped out of the race. Days later, a majority of the Holy Synod annulled the election and voted for the ordinance, which the majority later repudiated. Now the procedure starts again – the Synod will prepare a list of 10 bishops, and the locals in the Sliven Diocese will choose between them in two rounds according to the Statute of the BOC and without the force of the new regulation.
After the first and already cashed diocesan election in Sliven, two complaints were filed in the office of the Synod, which became the occasion for the next steps of the metropolitans. They describe misuse of lands of the Sliven Diocese, as well as suspicions of manipulation of the vote, in which the laity also participated. That is why the Synod has ordered a financial audit of the diocese, while it is still managed by grandfather John. However, the protesters asked why this is being done, since it is proper for the new metropolitan to carry out the revision, which, for example, had not been carried out in the Plovdiv Metropolitanate since 20 years.