The Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Bulgarian Patriarchate (Българска православна църква – Българска патриаршия, Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva – Balgarska patriarshiya) is an autocephalous (self-governing with no superior leader or bishop) Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria today. It is the oldest self-governing Slavic Orthodox Church in the world, the least educated, most bibliolateric / bibliotaphic religion that has nothing in common with the ancient Jewish reformed movement of the New Testament nor the New Testament Jesus. Its ignorance and total lack of charity is equalled only by the Pentecostal pretenders who call themselves clergy.
The novel, imperially created religion called Christianity, invaded and raped the ancient Bulgarian tribes, who were Turkic from Central Asia, and had nestled in the Balkans in the first century CE to war against prehistoric civilizations that had cultivated the land generations before their arrival. These prehistoric cultures were more developed, richer, more tolerant, and more committed to the general good of their individual commonwealths than anything the initial Bulgars carried in their war bags.
Those who came before the Bulgars began developing on what would become known as Bulgaria during the Neolithic period dating to 1,400,000 BCE. Prehistoric cultures in Bulgarian lands were composed of numerous communities. However, three civilizations stood out, paling the pathetic paternalism and patriarchies that would eventually destroy ancient Bulgaria’s productivity and peaceful nature with the introduction of a bastardized form of Christianity that followed neither the teachings of the Jesus of the New Testament nor any of the apostles who preached in the first century CE. Instead, the religion that would enter, slash and burn villages, crops, and boats were sprung from the misogyny of the stylized Paul by a school of redactors in the second century CE. They became the keystone for later Paulinists whose plagiarized writings were eagerly adopted by seventh century Bulgarians eager to do away with the feminist orientation of the past, to squelch human and civil rights that past tribes accepted, and to object to any more of human or sexual expression that was not in compliance with the innovations of the Pauline community.
Hamangia Culture, Bulgaria and Romania, 5000-4600 BCE
The earliest civilization that left its mark on Bulgaria was the Neolithic Hamangia culture (began around 5250/5200 BCE and lasted until around 4550/4500 BCE) that was matriarch in nature and government and excelled in pottery usually making vessels in the shape of standing, faceless, naked women with large breasts and buttocks (Vladimir Slavchev, Vladimir (2004). “Monuments of the final phase of Cultures Hamangia and Savia on the territory of Bulgaria,” Revista Pontica vols. 37-38 (2004-2005), pp. 9-20; cf. Berciu, Dumitru (1966). Cultura Hamangia. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România (1966), text is in Romanian).
An anthropomorphic Vinča figurine with incised lines depicting clothing
Successors to the Hamangi wereknown as the Vinča. The Vinča established their own, more advanced culture (5500–4500 BCE; read Chapman, John (2000). Fragmentation in Archaeology: People, Places, and Broken Objects. London: Routledge, p. 239). They engaged in copper metallurgy, long before it became an art in what would become known as Europe, when not involved in agriculture, animal husbandry and hunting and foraging and producing high yield cereals: introducing common wheat, oat and flax and wool (used to make fine fabrics and actually set into place the movement to various fashion cultures, as described by Cvekic, Ljilja (12 November 2007). “Prehistoric women had passion for fashion”. Reuters) to temperate Europe, and made greater use of barley than other cultures, products that were marketed worldwide along with sculptures and jewelry that was fashioned in the form of women since they were also matriarchal, worshipped the divine female, and had rituals similar to the Qadesh in ancient Canaan (Chapman, John (1981). The Vinča culture of south-east Europe: Studies in chronology, economy and society (2 vols). BAR International Series. 117. Oxford: BAR, pp. 117-131; cp. Vasić, Miloje (1932-1936). Preistorijska Vinča I (1932), Preistorijska Vinča II (1936), Preistorijska Vinča III (1936), Preistorijska Vinča IV (1936). Beograd [Belgrade] Serbia: Izdanje i štampa državne štamparnje kralevine Jugoslavije, 1932-1936, all are published in Croatian).
Burial at Varna (Bulgaria) with some of the world’s oldest gold
The third group was the eneolithic Varna culture (4400-4100 BCE). The Varna culture was hard working and made excellent, highly desired and sought after polychrome pottery. It culture was enriched with elaborate cemeteries, the most famous of which are Varna Necropolis, the eponymous site, and the Durankulak complex. These two burial grounds comprise the largest prehistoric cemetery in southeastern Europe. 294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of copper and gold metallurgy, pottery (about 600 pieces, including gold-painted ones), high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells, emphasizing that the Varna civilization had extensive trade with far distant nations.
The Varna civilization had a sophisticated religious structure and a belief in an afterlife, but near its decline became patriarchal and had declined to patriarchalism by the end of the fifth century BCE and entombed an elite male in much the same way as the Biblical accounts of the entombment of Jesus took place, to mark the final transition to patriarchy.
Khebela’s (Cybele) temple in Bulgaria fifth century BCE
The Varna’s followed the goddess Cybele as the source of life, agricultural, and productivity. Cybele’s temple in Bulgaria was carved into a mountain side, of which it is written:
Това са останки от храм на Кибела. Той се намира на север от тайнствените гробници, където видяхме изсечената глава на бик.
Възрастта на храма е около две хиляди и петстотин години. Това не е сериозна възраст, защото до него е каменно селище на комай осем хиляди години.
То се намира в Добруджа и е най-старото в континентална Европа.
Cybele’ -Çatal Hüyük
Автентичното име на древното селище (съществувало от 5 400 до 4 100 години преди Христа) не е известно. Затова си позволявам да го нарека Езерния град.
that can be translated as: These are the remains of a temple of Cybele. It is located north of the mysterious tombs hewn where we saw a bull’s head [a symbol of the ritual of the god Mithras].
The age of the temple is about two thousand five hundred years. This is not a serious [old] age, because until it is [a] stone village that is eight thousand years [its antiquity is not considered].
It is located in Dobrogea and is the oldest in continental Europe.
The original name of the ancient settlement (existed from 5400 to 4100 years BC) is not known. So I venture to call it Lake City.
The decline of the Varna civilization can be addressed to the direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors who brought with them, muck like the illiterate Abrahamic cults from Iraq carried into Canaan, the concept of male superiority, the mythology of a world flood, male superiority, and the need for redemption (Todorova, Henrieta (1982). Kupferzeitliche Siedlungen in Nordostbulgarien. München, Germany: Beck 1982. Materialien zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie 13. In German).
Constantine burning Arius’ books 325 CE
Varna’s ancient history was marred by the presence of the Thracians who were invaders and occupiers of settlement on the order of Lot who commanded a seat in the gateway of the City of Sodom. The Tracians were followed later by the Greeks and Romans. Ultimately the Christians came carrying a message of “convert or die”. It was the Christian clergy who pushed the invented religion by Constantine I crafted at his Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. Much of what had been ancient Christianity was destroyed in the fires lit by the Emperor to silence opposition; this silencing was hailed as a divine revelation by those who traveled from Bulgaria to the city that then was known as Constantinople, and would be taken back as a method to convert the Bulgars and other people by force.
The Christians who were two separate groups (chrestianos and christianos) emerging from violent paganism that some wanted to be the standard of the new faith from the Middle East, based on Matthew 10:34: that Jesus came as a warrior who would use his sword to separate families and communities: Да не мислите, че дойдох да поставя мир на земята; не дойдох да поставя мир, а нож. The most radical of the group held a belief in the supremacy of man and subordination of woman based on the mangled message found in Paulinity (Ephesians 5:22: Жени, [подчинявайте се] на своите мъже, като [длъжност] към Господа). They demanded that all dissenters submit to the emperor (Mark 12:17: Исус им рече: Отдавайте Кесаревото на Кесаря, и Божието на Бога. И те много се зачудиха на Него)and his attendants fatalistic fantasies that were restyled from the theology of Constantine’s soldiers who worshipped and followed the gospels of the god Mithras (Μίθρας) a religion found in Old Persia and in Sanskrit lore (Ulansey, David (1991). Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 8.).
It did not become a dominant religion until the early fourth century and then only with the aid of the Roman (Eastern) Empire. Christianity was not universally loved nor wanted by the majority of Bulgarians. They revolted against its proscriptions and slaughtered its missionaries until the emperor sent out troops to suppress the rebellion against his religion in which he saw himself as a god before he died (he never converted to Christianity–that is a popular myth that has circulated on the Internet for years, and in fundamentalist schools and churches; the only remaining texts state that Eusebius of Nicodemia baptized the emperor as he was dying; after the emperor’s death, the Roman Senate declared Constantine to be a god, and his church declared him to be Saint Constantine the Great even after he killed his wife and son) and was acclaimed as a god after his death (May 22, 337 CE). Constantine’s establishment of a “catholic [universal] church” was not supported by many, leading the emperors who followed Constantine to quicken the penalties for what they defined as heresy and apostacy that were termed the enemies of Rome and Constantinople. Christianity was to be a stablizing force, but it was not until Constantine brought pagan statues into the Church, elevated Mithras to the “sun of righteousness” and changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday in honor of Mithras.
St. and Tsar Boris I of Bulgaria
In an effort to stop the divisions and exodus from the Bulgarian church, Boris I (died 907 CE) known as the Knyaz (Prince Борис I / Борис-Михаил) of First Bulgarian Empire (852–889) shuttled between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Roman Pope from 865 – 870 CE in an effort to gain autonomy for the Bulgarian church. It was finally granted at the Fourth Council of Constantinople, and its patriarch took charge of appointing its first primate, clergy, and determining “theological books” that were redactions of earlier texts and had excised from them any writing deemed unfit for the empire by Constantine I in his infamous book burning (and all were Greek Orthodox propaganda). For his efforts, Boris I was called Tsar (emperor: Бакалов, Георги. Средновековният български владетел. (Титулатура и инсигнии), София 1995, с. 144, 146, Бобчев, С. С. Княз или цар Борис? (към историята на старобългарското право). Титлите на българските владетели, Българска сбирка, ХІV, 5, 1907, с. 311) of Bulgaria, and after he died was proclaimed a saint and declared Equal-to-the-Apostles ( Ὁ Ἅγιος Βόρις – Μιχαὴλ ὁ Ἱσαπόστολος ὁ πρίγκιπας καὶ Φωτιστῆς τοῦ Βουλγαρικοῦ λαοῦ. 2 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. In Greek).
Cyril and Methodius missionaries to the Slavs
It was not until the arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius (whose historicity is questionable) in 886 CE that Bulgaria had the appearance of enjoying some freedom, for the disciples were instructed to teach future Bulgarian clergy in the Glagolitic alphabet and Slavonic liturgy prepared, allegedly, by Cyril. Cyril’s edition was based on the vernacular Macedonian Slavs from the region of Thessaloniki. Once this was done, Boris expelled the Greek clergy and replaced the Greek language with the Slav-Bulgarian vernacular with testaments elevating the recent Bulgarian version of Christianity complete with many sadistic traits of pagan Bulgarian theology to the level Boris I considered acceptable. This was necessary as Boris was attacking the Byzantines at Acheloos and Katasyrtia (the last city near Constantinople).
Byzantium, attempting to buy time, ordered that the Bulgarian church be recognized as autonomous and its archbishopric as autocephalous and equal in rank to a Patriarchate in 919 CE. Religion became a weapon for emperors and tsars to rule people. Prelates and patriarchs were nothing less than princelings who followed royal dictates so that their luxuries would be paid for out of the thin purposes of the poor and the foolishness of the wealthy who were told they could buy their salvation from misery in the current life to everlasting joy in the life that was promised to come after death.
The final peace between the warring nations was concluded in 927 when the Patriarchate of Constantinople recognized the autocephalous status of the still-primitive Bulgarian Orthodox Church and acknowledged its patriarchal dignity. This favor would not be granted to the Russian Orthodox Church until 1596.
In an effort to keep Bulgaria on a war-footing, various restrictions were made in theological definitions. The role of the woman was to be a mother and produce children for the war machine and sons for the church that had, by that time, become intertwined with the government. Unlike what would ultimately happen in the west, the eastern churches encouraged their priests and prelates to produce more children, as celibacy was considered against the will of god. Any deviation, such as a person refusing to marry or produce children or to remain a virgin by taking holy orders (primarily men, as women were expected to give up any idea of sex) met with severe judgment and the penalty of death, with the Bulgarian church citing scripture’s mythology that the gods had mandated that all people “be fruitful and multiply” a contradiction to Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 7:9 where marriage was held to be the last resort rather than sin: εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἐγκρατεύονται γαμησάτωσαν, κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν γαμεῖν ἢ πυροῦσθαι.
Basil II (Βασίλειος Β’ ο Βουλγαροκτόνος)
When Bulgaria fell to Byzantium in 1018, the Bulgarian church was divided again along Greek lines while its clergy began to preach more in earnest for Bulgarians to marry and raise families to fight the Emperor Basil II Bulgaroktonus (Βασίλειος Β΄Βουλγαροκτόνος: Basil II the “Bulgar-Slayer”) who had reduced the Bulgarian people to a second class role. For his cruelty in war that was hailed as bringing souls to the Church, Basil II was acclaimed a saint upon his death.
Ivan Asen I coin
Bulgaria did not re-emerge as a force until 1185/1186 when the brothers Peter IV (Петър IV tsar 1185-1197; his real name was Theodore (Todor) but it was changed at the time he was proclaimed emperor, and indication that he was not a native born) and Ivan Asen I (Иван Асен I) laid the foundations for a new (second) Bulgarian state (while Bulgarian apologists insist both males were Bulgarians from birth, the Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates (Νικήτας Χωνιάτης, ca. 1155 to 1215 or 1216), refers to the people of Peter and Ivan Asen as “the barbarians around Mount Haimos, who were earlier called Mysoi, and are now called Blachoi” (Choniates, 482 in Nicetae Choniatae Historia, ed. Jan Louis van Dieten, Jan Louis (1975) Berlin,
Nicetas Choniates
Germany: Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae #11, p. 368). This was achieved when the brothers restored the Bulgarian Patriarchate (that the Greeks had reduced to an archbishopric) which occurred when Bulgaria united with the Roman Catholic Church in 1203 to the dismay of the Greek Church who worked to call a council in the town of Lampsakos to restore the dignity of the Patriarchy as an Orthodox Church and return to writing along Slavic lines: sermons addressing the obligations of the woman (including remaining silent) and the need for marriage and the production of children.
When the Ottomans (Muslims) conquered Bulgaria (cf. Васил Н. Златарски, История на българската държава през средните векове, Част I, II изд., Наука и изкуство, София 1970), the majority of Bulgarian churches and monasteries (including the Patriarchal Cathedral church of the Holy Ascension in Tarnovo) were razed to the ground, although a few churches were converted into mosques, and the majority of the clergy killed, with the rest of the clergy and most people being converted subtley to Islam, as Thomas Walker Arnold wrote that Islam was not spread by force in the areas under the control of the Ottoman Sultan. A 17th century author wrote:
Meanwhile he [the Turk] wins [converts] by craft more than by force, and snatches away Christ by fraud out of the hearts of men. For the Turk, it is true, at the present time compels no country by violence to apostatise; but he uses other means whereby imperceptibly he roots out Christianity…
(Arnold, Sir Thomas Walker (1896). The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation of the Muslim faith. Westminster, UK: A. Constable & C., pg. 135-144).
Ottoman Janissaries – I Turchi. Codex Vindobonensis 8626
Arnold is not totally correct, as there were exceptions. For example: The Sultan imposed the infamous blood tax (кръвен данък), also known as devşirme, whereby every fifth young boy was taken from his family (the families were very large then due to the Christian preaching of being “fruitful and multiply) to be trained as a warrior of the Empire. The boys who were taken from their families (although some were sent by their families who wanted their sons to have a comfortable life, and gain some coins for themselves) went through harsh religious and military training that turned them into an elite corps subservient to the Sultan. These corps were called Janissaries (yeni çeri or “new soldier”) and were an elite and loyal unit of the Ottoman army.
When the Muslims first entered Bulgaria, some monks and faithful escaped to Mount Athos, where the preserved Bulgaria’s language, heritage, culture, and religion along with an inbuilt hatred for all things Greek and with a renewed zeal to repopulate the Bulgarian lands with Bulgarians and the Bulgarian faith. This led to a surge of intolerance for anyone or anything that did not follow the Bulgarian Patriarchate interpretation of the meaning of life and a reemphasis on the most violent penalties described in the Old Testament: stoning homosexuals and adulteresses, shunning or executing non-believers, and repelling foreign influences. Biblical literalism became bibliolatry, and the custom of kissing the Bible was made mandatory under pain of death. Those who refused were tortured, and if the refusal was by a female she was literally branded a whore without chance of marriage or forgiveness–a branding that became not only of hot metal but also of words that are found even today in the ranting of autocrats and theocrats such as Rush Limbaugh and Scott Voorhees who claim to be Christian but follow in the footsteps of the Grand Inquisitor immortalized in The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Paisius of Hilendar
Under Paisius of Hilendar (Свети Паисий Хилендарски: 1722-1773), a monk from the southwestern Bulgarian town of Bansko (who is now considered a saint), a volume (История славяноболгарская or History of Slav-Bulgarians; I am using the Cyrillic edition; the modern Bulgarian edition is: История славянобългарска, Istoriya slavyanobalgarska) was written in what was then modern Bulgarian vernacular, called for a national awakening.
Bulgaria national call written in 1762 by Macedonia-born St Paisius of Hilendar
Paisius called for the erasing all traces of Greek language and culture, and ending any connection with the Greek Empire. His guide was his version of the Bible (Daskalov, Rumen (2004). The Making of a Nation in the Balkans: Historiography of the Bulgarian Revival. Central European University Press. pp. 7–8; the monk’s life is the subject of “История на България”, Издателство на Българската академия на науките, т. 5, София 1985, с. 128).
This changed first with the world wars, then with the takeover of communism, although the Bulgarian Communist Party attempted to work with the Bulgarian church and the Bulgarian church cooperated. The main point of agreement was the distain for human and civil rights that the church claimed were not Biblical rights (although many disagree in Bulgaria).
Following the decay of many societies, Bulgaria continued to oppress marginalized groups through the draconic power of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Women demanding equality with men were denounced as lesbians even if they were married and had children. Racial injustices were ignored by the patriarchate, and priests from small villages openly, targeted the LGBT community with violence, social stigmatization, and so forth. The Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization (NGO) has been at the forefront cataloging, filming and taking depositions of these abuses dedicating their organization to defending and protecting human rights. One of the main targets of the NGO is against the special mephostophelean ministry of the flagitiously foul Father Evgeni Yanakiev from Sliven. Identical to Adolf Hitler of Germany or Charles Worley of Maiden, North Carolina, USA, Father Evgeni Yanakiev cries out for a genocide of all LGBT by stoning.
Uttering only words of evil that have been embellished energumenical, ejaculations, Evgeni has repeatedly denounced the phantom devil that has a firm old over his withered mind in an effort to control villagers to act as mass assassins. His carping cacodemonic ramblings have brought in international observers to see the fireband in action, and led Human Rights Watch to send a letter to the Bulgarian minister of justice, Diana Kovacheva.
Diana Kovacheva. Minister of Justice (Bulgaria)
In the letter, the Bulgarian minister of justice Diana Kovacheva was urged to publicly denounce the statements inciting hatred and violence against LGBT people made by the parochial predatory priest in defiance of the European Union and Bulgarian law. She smiled. She is a loyal daughter of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church that takes precedence over law.
The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle
The Rev. Canon Albert Ogle, founder of St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation, decried the words of Yanakiev and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He went on record, stating:
It is a sad day when clergy who proclaim the gospel in churches to love one’s enemies and “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” can turn around and incite the faithful to act violently toward others who are different from them. … The church has an obligation to respect the dignity of every human being even when we disagree with them. For church leaders to align with violence and persecution of any minority by the state or the mob is a gross violation of the values and call of Jesus to his followers.
The attitudes of Yanakiev and the Bulgarian church are throwbacks to horrid attitudes of the past, Ogle said:
The history of the Orthodox churches has been tragically marred by persecution, violence and martyrdom by political and religious zealots in the name of God or of the state. We should learn from our own history not only how we should be treated but how to treat others who hold different views than our own. If we forget our own history and our gospel values, we have lost the intrinsic value of our Christian heritage.
It is a sad day when the secular state appears more Christian than the church itself. We not only diminish our credibility but align ourselves once again with the same religious movements who persecuted the Jews of Europe and asked for state sanction and laws to do so. It is not so long ago that the church justified this attitude towards their fellow neighbors and citizens and Europe nearly destroyed itself in bloody and violent acts. The sin of amnesia can cause us to make the same mistakes. If the church has forgotten her own history of persecution and of being the persecutor, we are part of the problem and have lost our ministry of reconciliation in our time.
Human Rights Watch noted for the minister of justice Article 4.1 of the Bulgarian Protection against Discrimination Act that Bulgarian law prohibits all direct or indirect discrimination on many grounds, including sexual orientation. Evgeni elevates himself above the law as if he were a new Elijah and a witness to a new era consumed in the fires of hate.
Father Evgeni Yanakiev is from the town of Sliven, where I had once planned on buying a house, building a library and school. The more I knew of Sliven, the more rapidly I changed my mind and unpacked my library and furniture.
Stoning LGBT people (common in 79 countries)
In an interview for the Bulgarian ‘Standard’ on 6 June this Prince of Darkness in clerical robes roared: “Our whole society must in every possible way oppose the gay parade that is being planned. For this reason today, I appeal to all those who consider themselves Christians and Bulgarians-throwing stones at gays is an appropriate way.”
Pastor Scott Lively
Like the Nigerian Neanderthals and unctious Ugandans who claim they are Christians and sponsor legislation to “kill the gays” urged on by USA fundamentalist preachers like Scott Lively (who hired a convicted sex offender to operate his coffee shop) who have never studied the original scrolls, Father Evgeni Yanakiev yells for a holocaust showing his total ignorance of the message of the Jesus of the New Testament, and the injunction in Matthew 5:9: Блажени миротворците, защото те ще се нарекат Божии чада. that in the Greek reads: μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, ὅτι [αὐτοὶ] υἱοὶ θεοῦ κληθήσονται. Yanakiev shows no comprehension of the depth of interpretation of Matthew 7:3-5: И защо гледаш съчицата в окото на брата си, а не внимаваш на гредата в твоето око?(4) Или как ще речеш на брата си. Остави ме да извадя съчицата из окото ти; а ето гредата в твоето око? (5) Лицемерецо, първо извади гредата от твоето око, и тогава ще видиш ясно за да извадиш съчицата от братовото си око with the Greek reading: τί δὲ βλέπεις τὸ κάρφος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, τὴν δὲ ἐν τῷ σῷ ὀφθαλμῷ δοκὸν οὐ κατανοεῖς; 4 ἢ πῶς ἐρεῖς τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου· ἄφες ἔκβαλω τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σου, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἡ δοκὸς ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ σοῦ; 5 ὑποκριτά ἔκβαλε πρῶτον ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σοῦ τὴν δοκόν, καὶ τότε διαβλέψεις ἐκβαλεῖν τὸ κάρφος ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου.
Father Evgeni’s mental immaturity includes the repeating of fables created to discredit the LGBT when he stated that he could not remain indifferent if someone is “debauching children” and called on his religious followers to throw mayors and state ministers who allow gay pride marches “in the deepest part of the sea with a millstone hung from their necks” misquoting Matthew 18:6 which specifically uses the word “offend” that must be translated as to strike against or cause anger (стачка или причина гняв): А който съблазни едно от тия малките, които вярват в Мене, за него би било по-добре да се окачеше на врата му един воденичен камък, и да потънеше в морските дълбочини. A week later the priest repeated his words in an interview on the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), proving total illiteracy in his Bulgarian bible misinterpreting John 8:7: Но като постоянствуваха да Го питат, Той се изправи и рече им: Който от вас е безгрешен нека пръв хвърли камък на нея. Cp. With the Russian Synod of 1876: Когда же продолжали спрашивать Его, Он, восклонившись,сказал им: кто из вас без греха, первый брось на нее камень.
On Monday, June 11, the organizing committee of the fifth annual Sofia Pride Parade (the largest human rights event in Bulgaria) issued an open letter to the Holy Synod (the highest authority in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church that consists of poorly trained linguists and philologists (and does not have a single psychologist or psychiatrist on staff) who have no understanding of Acts 10:34: А Петър отвори уста и рече: Наистина виждам, че Бог не гледа на лице). The committee asked the archbishops to withdraw any calls for violence from the Church, following the injunction of Jesus of the New Testament that not one on the Holy Synod has ever met in literature or in life who said in Matthew 7:7: Искайте, и ще ви се даде; търсете, и ще намерите; хлопайте, и ще ви се отвори.
On the following Wednesday, the Holy Synod reaffirmed its strong stand against homosexuality (a word that does not exist until 1862, and is not used to address any psychological action or stte of being until 1892) and “immoral manifestations”. This Christian terrorists argued that it held immutable and immature convictions that homosexuality is “an unnatural lust” that “unconditionally harms both the personality of those who commit and the society as a whole”, thereby going on record in favor of genocide. What these “saviors of mankind” (спасители на човечеството) ignore is that homosexuality is found in all species in nature (Bagemihl, Bruce (1999). Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. New York, NY, USA: St. Martin’s Press), and who live a normal or traditional life. The archbishops, many who have been accused of pedophile practices, asked all parents and teachers to keep children “away from even seeing the parade” in order to “protect them from seduction.” All major psychological and psychiatric organizations have noted that vocalized homophobia is frequently an indication that the persons condemning a natural state such as homosexuality are most likely closeted homosexuals (cf. Zeichner, Amos; Reidy, Dennis E. (2009). “Are homophobic men attracted to or repulsed by homosexual men? Effects of gay male erotica on anger, fear, happiness, and disgust,” Psychology of Men & Masculinity, Vol. 10(3), Jul 2009, 231-236. doi: 10.1037/a0014955; Sánchez, Francisco J.; Westefeld, John S.; Liu, William Ming; Vilain, Eric (2010). “Masculine gender role conflict and negative feelings about being gay.” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Vol 41(2), Apr 2010, 104-111. doi: 10.1037/a0015805. Herek, Gregory M.; Gillis, J. Roy; Cogan, Jeanine C. (2009). “Internalized stigma among sexual minority adults: Insights from a social psychological perspective.” Journal of Counseling Psychology. Vol. 56(1) Jan 2009), 32-43) doi: 10.1037/a0014672). From the statement released by the Holy Synod, it is more than likely that either a large number or the most vocal opponents of personal freedom are homosexual.
The archbishops’ message was read from church and to public gatherings, including in the erstwhile priest’s town. There is a house is for sale only 30 km from Father Evgeni’s graffiti (here and here) and it is a background for the spewing of more hatred. The graffiti also indicates that most likely Evgeni is a homosexual and is desperate to hide its reality even though he is subject to the laws of the European Union of which Bulgaria is a member.
Bulgaria, as a member state of the Council of Europe, is subject to a recommendation (CM/Rec (2010) 5) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The recommendation was unanimously adopted by the Committee of Ministers on March 31, 2010.
Paragraph six under B Hate Speech reads:
Member States should take appropriate measures to combat all forms of expression, including in the media and on the Internet, which may be reasonably understood as likely to produce the effect of inciting, spreading or promoting hatred or other forms of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. Such ‘hate speech’ should be prohibited and publicly disavowed whenever it occurs.
The archbishops of Bulgaria ignored openly The international NGO expressed concern in the letter that ‘the call to stone gay people is incitement to hatred and violence’. The letter added: ‘therefore, it should be condemned by you in the clearest terms and in the most public way possible’. “The call to stone gay people is a heinous threat to the security of peaceful people who want to use their freedom of assembly,” said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. “It is incitement to hatred and violence and should be condemned by the justice minister in the clearest terms and in the most public way possible.”
4th annual Sofia Pride 2011
The Human Rights Watch document, furthermore, contains information about the two previous editions of the gay parade in Sofia which took place in 2008 and 2011. The organization recapped that in 2008 right-wing extremist groups and football hooligans violently attacked participants in the first LGBT pride parade in Bulgaria, while in 2011, three volunteers from the parade in Sofia were attacked and beaten.
5th annual Sofia Gay Pride parade 2012
In 2012, the march was for equal rights of persons of different sexual orientation or gender identity. One person was attacked, but gay participants went to his rescue and the attackers disappeared without any police stopping them or their attack.
The human rights spokesperson reminded the justice minister that Bulgaria, as a member state of the Council of Europe, was subject to Recommendation CM/Rec (2010) 5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, advocating member states to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The letter revealed that article 4.1 of the Bulgarian Act for protection against discrimination prohibited all direct or indirect discrimination on many grounds, including sexual orientation. In addition, the NGO stated the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, to which Bulgaria is a party, prohibited explicitly in its article 21 discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Human Rights Watch urged the Bulgarian minister of justice to ‘publicly disavow this call for violence and to investigate if Father Yanakiev’s statements can be prosecuted under Bulgaria’s Penal Code’. Father Yanakiev’s statements equal those of Adolf Hitler and Idi Amin.
It seems that Bulgarian society is not ready to accept the LGBT ostentation yet. It has stimulated a lot of discussions, but it has fueled even more protests and negative reactions. The debate remains fierce, but the only difference is that LGBT ostentation is more and more supported by people of high standing in the country, like former foreign ambassadors for example.
Plovdiv Bishop Nikolay of Bulgaria has handed out awards to the Mayor of the city of Pazarzhik Todor Popov and the Pazardzhik Prosecutor Stefan Yanev for “standing up for Christian values, defending Orthodox Christian morality and spirituality, the sanctity of marriage, family, and statehood,” the Sofia News Agency reports. Plovdiv bishop Nikolay awarded the highest distinction of the Plovdiv Bishopric to Pazardzhik mayor Todor Popov and prosecutor Stefan Yanev for upholding a municipal ban on displaying one’s sexual orientation, reports www.Dnevnik.bg.
Nikolai metropolitan Plovdiv awarded mayors and others who supported his program of family values and “kill the gays” 2012
Metropolitan bishop Nikolai, who is notorious in Bulgaria for his hardline Christian stance, praised the Pazardzhik officials for “honorably upholding of Christian values and defending Orthodox morality” and went on to muse on the unity of law, ethics, and religion. Life has no value to this cleric.
Nikolai metropolitan of Plovdiv
After blessing children, the Metropolitan (bishop) quickly lost himself in prayer begging his god to murder those who opposed him as Moses called on his god to dispatch those who warred against his design to steal Canaan from its rightful owners. He was but the church’s Joshua, sent to preach war against disbelievers.
“With his professional position, Prosecutor Yanev has shown that when looked at through the prism of common values, law and morality can be in harmony with each other, which harmony lies in the foundations of the Orthodox understanding of a legal order based on faith in Christ and the norms of public propriety and order confessed by Christians,” reads the official statement of the Plovdiv Bishopric.
Nikolai Metropolitan bishop of Plovdiv
Metropolitan Nikolay has thus effectively expressed his desire for formal legislation based on what he considered to be Christian scripture and dogma. Nothing he has said follows anything found in Q or other ancient gospels, but follows the transmogrified texts in Constantine’s bible that he had the Arian bishop Eusebius prepare for 50 churches in the east.
Prosecutor Oleg Yanev upheld the Pazardzhik municipal ordinance in an official decision filled with extensive deliberations on human sexuality, “natural law,” and “propriety”, and essentially determined that public display of one’s sexual orientation constitutes “debauchery.”
Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim celebrates the occasion of his 95th birthday (40 years as Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
The Pazardzhik ban was manifestly seen as directed against gay persons and has provoked ire from rights organizations and glee among some in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Meaning, they have been leaders in stomping down the gays:
About a month ago, the local authorities in Pazardzhik stirred a controversy after coming up with an order banning the displays of one’s sexuality in public, a measure which was directed at homosexuals. The ordinance came about a month after Bulgaria’s third ever gay pride parade in Sofia that rallied several hundred people in June. When a gay rights organization appealed the ordinance before the local Prosecutor’s Office, Prosecutor Yanev upheld the Pazardzhik municipal ordinance in an official decision filled with extensive deliberations on human sexuality, ‘natural law,’ and ‘propriety’, and essentially determining that public display of one’s sexual orientation constitutes ‘debauchery.’ Yanev’s decision was subsequently overruled by the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office in Sofia.
There is something called public morality. The society is not obliged to watch how somebody is sticking into its eyes their own travesty, and to watch how somebody is destroying the souls of our children, and pours poison into the very idea about the sanctity of the bond between a man and a woman that forms a family. The task of the Orthodox Church assigned by our God Jesus Christ himself, is to protect the moral and ethical principles of scripture. The job of the church is to condemn the devil when he tries to destroy this holy order…The Holy Synod is resisting decisively any public and shameful demonstration of sodomic sin that destroyes the traditional foundations and values of the Bulgarian people and brings enticement into the views of our children and youth.
Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. His only comment made about sex was that he would forgive adultery but then the person committing adultery was not to repeat the act (John 7:53-8:11, with special emphasis on 8:11: И тя отговори: Никой Господи. Исус рече: Нито Аз те осъждам; иди си, отсега не съгрешавай вече; the Greek reads ἡ δὲ εἶπεν· οὐδείς, κύριε. εἶπεν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· οὐδὲ ἐγώ σε κατακρίνω· πορεύου, [καὶ] ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε. The Latin Vulgate is quae dixit nemo Domine dixit autem Iesus nec ego te condemnabo vade et amplius iam noli peccare with the Russian concurring: Она отвечала: никто, Господи. Иисус сказал ей: и Я не осуждаю тебя; иди и впредь не греши).
Yanev’s decision was fortunately overruled by the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office in Sofia. Large billboards have appeared in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv condemning the upcoming LGBT parade in the capital Sofia, declaring:
Billboard in Sofia taunting gay parade by far-right in Bulgaria
The gay parade is allowed! Smoking is banned! Which is more harmful for the nation?
The name of marginal far-right party VMRO-NIE is written below. The “smoking banned” part of VMRO-NIE’s billboards refers to the full smoking ban in closed public spaces introduced in Bulgaria at the beginning of June.
In a declaration, VMRO-NIE says it “respects the rights of everyone to have a sexual choice.” However, the party states it cannot tolerate a group of people “brutally imposing their sexual orientation to [sic: on] us, demanding special attention.” The party further claimed that the LGBT parade would be harmful and confusing to children, who will “not understand why men are walking around in pink thongs.” Yet psychological studies show that there is no confusion with children who are not indoctrinated by force.
Skinheads in Pazardzhick (Bulgaria) attack 6 gay activists
Skinheads in the central Bulgaria town of Pazardzhik attacked a group of six activists who had arrived there from Sofia to protest the city council’s ban on displays of homosexuality in public. Novinvite reports:
The (activists) arranged large banners on which they started writing articles from the Bulgarian Constitution and the UN Human Rights Charter. No local gay rights activists joined them, Darik Radio reported. However, about 100 local young men most of them with shaved heads and in black clothes staged an anti-rally claiming they had gathered to express their support for the order issued by the City Council. As several of skin heads members attacked the gay rights activists they were immediately knocked down to the ground and arrested by the policemen guarding the rally, who were led personally by the head of the Pazardzhik Police Directorate, Commissar Stoyan Stoyanov. No-one was hurt during the skirmish. However, the anti-rally protestors shouted offensive slogans directed against the gay rights activists such as ‘No one wants you, losers’, ‘Out of Pazardzhik’, ‘Go to Uganda, freaks’.
Yane Yanev, head of the conservative party RZS (“Order, Law, Justice”) on the right
The posters say that the gay parade is being organized by the Bulgarian Socialist Youth, an organization attached to the Bulgarian Socialist Party; “Spartacus”, a gay/straight disco club in downtown Sofia which was shut down several years ago, and the RZS party, and with the media support of SKAT TV… The message of the posters seems to play on the allegations made by the nationalist party Ataka that the RZS leader Yane Yanev is gay and should admit his sexual orientation because otherwise he would be susceptible to blackmailing – something which Yanev has refuted; various publications over the years have point to former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev as being gay of which there has been no evidence.
The creator of the posters has not been identified, but the date and location on the posters “coincide(d) with the national protest rally organized by the conservative RZS party.” The RZS has frequently been compared in Bulgaria to the NAZI party in Germany and the Tea Party in the USA.
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