The inspection run by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bulgaria found grounds to formalize state ownership of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Sofia, which is currently operated by the Russian Orthodox Church.
This was stated by the Minister of Regional Development and Construction of Bulgaria, Andrey Tsekov, after a meeting with the head of the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Borislav Sarafov, writes News.bg.
He explained that today the Ministry of Internal Affairs received a letter from the prosecutor’s office, which checked the facts and circumstances regarding the ROC assets. Since the Ministry of Regional Development is the authorized body for the implementation of state property rights, the Ministry of Regional Development has been instructed to take action to establish ownership.
Viktor Malinov with the High Appeal Prosecutor’s Office of Bulgaria noted the large scale of the investigation into the property of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The case file exposed reasons to believe that the Russian Orthodox Church’s ownership of the building is dubious, and the grounds for its acquisition do not comply with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Law on Property, Viktor Malinov, a representative of the prosecutor’s office, clarified to journalists.
“The state acquires property on the territory of another state with the consent of the host state, but there are no such decisions of the competent Bulgarian authorities,” he explained.
It was also found that there is no evidence that the Soviet Union fulfilled its obligations to rebuild the church after the Second World War (it then undertook to pay a third of the cost of the repair works).
It should be recalled that in September, Bulgaria expelled three Russian clergymen over espionage charges. The ambassador of Russia closed the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with the argument that there is no one to serve there. Against this background, Patriarch Kirill expressed regret for the breakdown of relations.
