RPTs HEAD PROVOKES CONFLICTS IN BULGARIA BECAUSE OF ATTITUDE TO WAR IN UKRAINE AND PRAISE OF RUSSIA
Religiia v Ukraine, 5 March 2018
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPTs), Patriarch Kirill, who was in Bulgaria for a visit from 2 to 4 March, provoked several conflicts connected with the interpretation of historical events in Bulgaria and Ukraine, Religiia v Ukraine reports, citing the federal Rossiiskaia Gazeta and RIA Novosti.
Thus, after the appearance of the head of the RPTs on the program "Oshche ot denia" of Bulgarian National Television, the Ukrainian embassy in Bulgaria published on 2 March a statement in which it expressed outrage over statements by Patriarch Kirill about the "civil war" in the Donbass.
"Indeed, there is a very difficult situation in Ukraine and very real persecution has struck the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," the head of the RPTs said. "Just recently 50 church buildings have been seized by force. There are continual attacks on church buildings and priests and laity are beaten. . . . It is a monstrous situation but unfortunately one does not hear that Ukraine is seriously criticized for violation of human rights and religious liberty."
In the opinion of Vladyka Kirill, the UPTsMP today is the only peace-making force in Ukraine. "You know, Ukrainian society is very divided, and what is happening in the Donbass is a civil war because part of Ukraine does not accept what is accepted in the other part of the country," he explained.
In connection with this, the Ukrainian embassy in Bulgaria issued a statement. "We regard the patriarch's claim about a 'civil war' in the Donbass to be an anti-Ukrainian provocation," it says.
The embassy mentioned international documents according to which the Russian federation is recognized as an aggressor, conducting the occupation of Crimea and part of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The Ukrainian embassy also expressed dismay because the Bulgarian national television "was used by the leadership of the RPTs as a tribune for publicizing explicitly anti-Ukrainian statements that are synchronized with the official position of the Kremlin."
In addition, while in Bulgaria Patriarch Kirill expressed public discontent with the fact that the president of the country, during a solemn ceremony in honor of the National Holiday of Bulgaria, expressed thanks not only to the Russian people for the attempt to liberate Bulgarians from Turkish rule in the 19th century, but also to other nations who constituted the Russian army. In the opinion of the head of the RPTs, only the Russian people deserve thanks.
"I reminded you," he addressed Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, "that after the Crimean War, Russia was in a most difficult position. The Crimean War was practically a battle of a united Europe against Russia, who interceded for the Orthodox in the Near East and the holy places. And the country suffered defeat in that war."
From the quotation it is obvious that the head of the RPTs interprets the events of those years in a tendentious way. As is known from the admission of the Russian diplomat Konstantin Leontiev, who was in diplomatic service in Turkey in 1863 to 1871, Russia's main goal in the war was not political freedom of fellow believers but predominance in Turkey.
The Bulgarian president tried to justify himself. "In no way do we underestimate the contribution of the Russian army in the liberation of Bulgaria. But the Russian army was multinational, and we honor the memory of each nation," he responded to the patriarch. "We respect our history. In it is written that this was the Russo-Turkish war of liberation. And not the Polish-Turkish or any other."
Nevertheless, Vladyka Kirill continued to admonish the Bulgarians. In conclusion of the dialogue he told Rumen Radev: "In soviet times the Bulgarian comrades were considered to be the worst orators, who were not at all able to speak without notes. When I listened to you, I greatly enjoyed it. I would only ask you always to remember in your political activity what it was that happened in the history of Russia and Bulgaria. And however the political trajectory of Europe may have developed, I would ask you and your colleagues never to forget about Shipka and about that love that exists on a deep national level."
The incident did not end with this. At the conclusion of his visit, the head of the RPTs addressed journalists in the Sofia airport: "I am very grieved that in official rhetoric of representatives of the government, the role of liberators, it turns out, was played by Poland, Lithuania, and Finland equally with Russia. When I asked where this strange historiosophy came from, I was told: the Imperial Guard of the Finnish regiment of the Russian army participated in the liberation struggle. But this was a Russian regiment, stationed in Finland, just as a regiment of the Russian army was stationed also in Poland!"
Apparently the patriarch had not been told that the regiments he was talking about consisted not only of Russians but also of natives of the Baltic, Polish, Ukrainian, and other nations.
Patriarch Kirill said that the exclusive meaning of Russia for Bulgarians is "the main message that the patriarch delivers today to Bulgaria, its leadership, and its people." Here the head of the RPTs recalled his visit to Shipka of Bulgaria. "We did not see there either Finnish flags, or Polish, or Romanian, but only the flags of Russia and Bulgaria. What enthusiasm the Bulgarian people received the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus in Shipka with!" Vladyka Kirill exclaimed in commenting on his visit.
Earlier the head of the RPTs, at a meeting with the recently named American ambassador to Russia, told him about the great contribution of the RPTs to the spiritual and cultural development of America, forgetting to mention the contribution of the American people to the development of Russia, particularly in the large-scale humanitarian aid from the U.S.A. in 1891-92 to the starving Russian empire. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 March 2018)
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