In Sofia, Ukrainian refugees picketed the Russian Orthodox Church
At the entrance to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, several refugees from Ukraine and citizens of Bulgaria staged a picket with anti-Russian slogans.
On December 6, a solemn liturgy took place in the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the patriarchal metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The liturgy was served by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk of the Russian Orthodox Church together with the hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) - the General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the BOC, Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovchansk, and Bishop Gerasim of Melnishk.
As the BOC website noted, Metropolitan Anthony is in Bulgaria “at the invitation of Archimandrite Vassian, the representative of the Russian Patriarch in our country, and with the blessing of His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophytos.”
The liturgy was attended, in particular, by the leader of the Alternative Bulgarian Revival party, Rumen Petkov, and the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Eleonora Mitrofanova. It was the presence of the Russian diplomat that became the reason for the picket at the central entrance to the temple. At the same time, pro-Western Bulgarian politicians on social networks also posted attacks on Metropolitan Anthony, who was called the “Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church.”
A little more than a dozen people took part in the picket under the already familiar, including obscene slogans, including refugees from Ukraine. One of them, in a comment to reporters, stated that she was “from occupied Kherson,” which has been under the control of Kyiv armed forces since mid-November.
The action took place peacefully and under the supervision of the Bulgarian police, but after the end of the liturgy, some of the picketers tried to block the car of the Russian diplomatic mission. The police prevented them from doing this, and the activity of the protesters themselves dropped sharply when they found out that the Russian ambassador had left the temple through a side entrance and left in another car.
Как reported PolitNavigator, at the end of November, protests against arms supplies to Ukraine took place in more than 20 cities in Bulgaria.
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