Metropolitan Luka of Zaporozhye announced on his Telegram channel that he had fraternal communion with bishops from other Local Churches, after which he received a response from one of them, Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech.
Metropolitan Gabriel noted that the letter of the UOC hierarch “touched us with pain to the depths of our souls. We were aware of the enormous problems in the life of the fraternal canonical UOC, but we did not at all think that the struggle for the destruction of your holy Church had reached such extreme limits.
After your letter was translated into Bulgarian, we published it on the church website of the Diocese of Lovech, then it was published in a number of other public electronic media and one national newspaper in Bulgaria.”
It is reported that after the publications there were a lot of comments from readers who, firstly, were very surprised that this was possible in such a democratic country as Ukraine, and expressed great sympathy and support for the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the spiritual salt for your homeland, the grace of the Holy Spirit dwells in it to the full extent, your Church prays to God day and night for peace, prosperity and God’s blessing to your homeland Ukraine and for the peace of the whole world. Therefore, any war against the UOC is a war against the Shepherd and Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ,” wrote the hierarch of the Bulgarian Church.
The bishop Gabriel also added that “one worthy Orthodox bishop said: ‘Metropolitan Onufry has become a symbol of prayer, a symbol of standing for the purity of the faith and canonical dispensation for all Orthodoxy.’ You, like all your bishops, sufferers-confessors, imitate Your Beatitude Onufry and follow the saving path of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.”
According to the hierarch, since the beginning of the war in his diocese, at every holy Liturgy, a prayer has been raised for peace in fraternal Ukraine.
Metropolitan Gabriel also wished God’s blessing and the blessed Protection of the Mother of God to our holy Church.
