Bulgaria has decided to expel the rector of the Moscow Patriarchate’s St. Sophia Monastery, Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev), along with two other clergymen. They posed a threat to the national security of the country.
One of the clergymen is Archimandrite Vassian (née Nikolai Zmeev), rector of the Moscow Patriarchate’s St. Sophia Monastery. The other two were ministers of the church of St. George. St. Nicholas of Myra.
All three were banned from entering Bulgaria for five years. An expulsion order with deprivation of the right to reside was issued against them.
These priests “are associated with the implementation of various elements of Russia’s hybrid strategy to target social and political processes in Bulgaria in favor of Russian geopolitical interests.”
Bulgaria’s current leadership “has set itself the task of destroying not only socio-political, cultural and humanitarian ties between the states, but also of severing relations between the sister Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox churches.”
