The visit of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Bulgaria put on the agenda many issues and there was a controversial response to awarding him an order by the Bulgarian President. According to the information disseminated in the Bulgarian media, Bartholomew has forbidden the performing of services in the Bulgarian language in the church of "St. George" in Edirne, the reason for this being the refusal of the Bulgarian state to remove the monument of Antim I in the courtyard of the other Bulgarian church, "Sts. Konstantin and Elena". According to the same publications, the Holy Synod is now waiting, not taking any actions for the time being.
In this connection we asked, "What do you think of the dispute between the Bulgarian state and the Ecumenical Patriarch?" As always, the reaction and opinions of our readers are very interesting and diverse.
The largest group of readers of the Bulgarian page of our website unites around the option that Bartholomew did not deserve to be awarded the order. It is the preference of 41% of readers and the reason for it is the policy of the Ecumenical Patriarch against Orthodox Bulgarians in Turkey. 28% of respondents believe that Bartholomew should not have raised forgotten controversial issues between Bulgaria and Greece. 19% think that the media overexposed the subject, and that the clergy has to deal with religion and politicians with politics. According to about 11% of our readers, the return of the disputed relics does not concern Greece as the monasteries are under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The voting on the English page of GRReporter is different. 60% of readers agree that the media and politicians should not interfere in church matters and that the media unnecessarily fanned the issues in question. The second most popular options share 20%. The first expresses the view that Bartholomew did not deserve an order because of his policy towards Orthodox Bulgarians in Turkey. The second 20% goes to the thesis that the Ecumenical Patriarch should not have raised forgotten issues. There is no single vote in favour of the last option that the return of relics does not concern Greece, because the monasteries are under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The opinion of the Greek-speaking readers of GRReporter is similar to that of the readers of our English-language page. 46% believe that the media overexposed the dispute and that the political intervention was unnecessary. 23% support the view that Bartholomew did not deserve to be awarded the order. The two last options share 15%: one states that the Ecumenical Patriarch should not have raised already forgotten conflicts of the past and the other that the return of relics does not concern Greece as the monasteries are under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Our latest poll seeks your opinion on one of the global headlines this week, asking, "What do you think of the idea of a mini-Schengen?"
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