Cleric of Bulgarian Church calls for prayer for Metropolitan Arseniy
The Bulgarian priest compared the persecution of Metropolitan Arseniy to the repression of the Church after 1917.
On November 5, 2025, Priest Vasil Vasilev of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church published an appeal on his Facebook page in defense of Metropolitan Arseniy (Yakovenko), abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra.
In his message, Fr. Vasil said that what is happening to Metropolitan Arseniy recalls the dark years after 1917, when “Bolshevik godlessness rose up against the Church, and thousands of clergymen were thrown into prisons, camps, and graves.” According to him, history is now repeating itself – “not with the same slogans, but with the same spirit of hatred for the truth of Christ.”
“Metropolitan Arseniy is not a criminal. He is a shepherd who has served God and the people for many years. His only ‘guilt’ lies in the fact that he remains faithful to the Church of Christ, which neither bows before earthly power nor betrays its faith,” the Bulgarian cleric emphasized.
The priest called on all Orthodox Christians of the world – in Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Georgia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia – to pray for the speedy release of Metropolitan Arseniy and for an end to the “unjust and inhumane treatment of God’s archpastor.”
“No country that calls itself democratic has the right to imprison a person for his faith. True power lies not in weapons and laws, but in prayer and love,” Fr. Vasil wrote, concluding his appeal with a prayer for Metropolitan Arseniy.
Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Patriarch of Bulgaria had issued recommendations on teaching the school subject “Virtues and Religions.”
