Письмо митрополита Ловчанского Гавриила судьям Шестого апелляционного административного суда г. Киева в поддержку УПЦ, 22 июля 2026 г.

Письмо митрополита Ловчанского Гавриила судьям Шестого апелляционного административного суда г. Киева в поддержку УПЦ, 22 июля 2026 г.

В день третьего судебного заседания в деле ГЭСС против Киевской Митрополии УПЦ адвокатом протоиереем Никитой Чекманом было опубликовано письмо митрополита Ловчанского Гавриила судьям Шестого апелляционного административного суда г. Киева

Сам процесс является частью государственной кампании нарушения прав и дискриминации верующих и духовенства УПЦ.

Профильное ведомство, отвечающее за религиозную политику государства, добивается ликвидации юридического лица Киевской Митрополии УПЦ.

Митрополит Гавриил подчеркнул противоправность преследования УПЦ и заявил об опасности ликвидации Киевской Митрополии УПЦ для всего Православного мира.

(Источник: Telegram-канал адвоката Никиты Чекмана)

22 июля 2026 года адвокат Киевской Митрополии УПЦ протоиерей Никита Чекман опубликовал письмо Митрополита Ловчанского Гавриила, адресованное судьям Шестого апелляционного административного суда города Киев.

Митрополит Ловчанский Гавриил выступил в защиту Украинской Православной Церкви, направив обращение судьям, рассматривающим иск ГЭСС против Киевской Митрополии.

Поводом для обращения стало судебное заседание, состоявшееся 22 июля 2026 года. Иерарх подчеркнул, что разбирательство имеет исключительное значение для миллионов граждан Украины и всего Православия.

«Ваше решение в этом деле, достопочтенные судьи, окажет влияние на жизнь всех поместных Православных Церквей, а также на общение между ними; следовательно, оно будет иметь общеправославное измерение», – отметил митрополит Гавриил в своем письме.

Иерарх указал, что Церковь является Телом Христовым, и забота о православных братьях в Украине, включая лиц болгарского происхождения, заставляет Болгарскую Церковь возвысить свой голос.

Архиерей предупредил, что любое ущемление интересов УПЦ может стать разрушительным как для украинского народа, так и для государственности.

Болгарский иерарх напомнил украинскому суду об опыте преодоления раскола в Болгарской Церкви (1992–2004 гг.), который сопровождался преследованиями и захватами храмов. Основываясь на этом историческом уроке, он заявил, что юридическое уничтожение УПЦ нанесет непоправимый вред всей Церкви Христовой.

«Согласно принятому вами закону... Украинская Православная Церковь была "заранее осуждена" просто потому, что она КАНОНИЧНА», – заявил болгарский иерарх.

Он подчеркнул, что вмешательство светских властей в дела Церкви недопустимо с точки зрения священных канонов и правил Вселенских Соборов.

Завершая обращение, иерарх призвал судей проявить сдержанность и беспристрастность, руководствуясь при принятии решения словами Священного Писания.

Оригинальный текст письма:

TO THE SIXTH ADMINISTRATIVE COURT OF APPEAL IN KYIV

APPEAL

BY METROPOLITAN GAVRIIL OF LOVECH,
TOGETHER WITH CLERGY AND FAITHFUL
OF THE DIOCESE OF LOVECH – BULGARIAN
ORTHODOX CHURCH

Court Case No. 855/11/25

HONOURABLE JUDGES,

The reason for addressing you is the court hearing scheduled for 22 July 2026 in the case brought by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (SSEPFC) against the Kyiv Metropolis of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

The forthcoming case is of exceptional importance for millions of citizens of Ukraine and for Orthodoxy.

Your decision in this case, Honourable Judges, will have an impact on the life of all Local Orthodox Churches, as well as on communion among them; therefore, it will have a pan-Orthodox dimension.

We justify this assertion with the theological understanding that the Church is the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head, and from Him the whole body is "joined and knit together by every supporting ligament, as each part does its work according to its proper measure" (Ephesians 4:15–16).

Proceeding from this position, and guided by our concern for our Orthodox brethren living within the borders of Ukraine (including those of Bulgarian origin), we consider it our duty to address this appeal to you.

It continues the position consistently maintained by our blessed Patriarchs Maxim and Neophyte, who always defended and remained in communion solely and exclusively with the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church existing on the territory of Ukraine.

In two letters, dated 2015¹ and 2017², addressed to President Poroshenko and to the Primate of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onuphry, and the second of them also to Mr. Parubiy, then Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Patriarch Neophyte warned that the Verkhovna Rada was considering "legislative proposals anti-church in their very essence," "of an openly discriminatory character," and "without precedent in the contemporary civilized world," which create "a legal basis for the seizure of churches of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church by schismatics and extremists."

In these letters, he categorically stated: "The only canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

His words also proved prophetic: "Any infringement of its interests may prove disastrous and destructive both for the entire Ukrainian people and for Ukrainian statehood."

The consistent position we have taken in defence of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is also based on the experience we accumulated during the schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church between 1992 and 2004.

With God's help, through the joint efforts of the clergy and the faithful, with the support of our sister Orthodox Churches, through the determination of prudent and enlightened statesmen, as well as through the decisions of the Bulgarian courts and the European Court of Human Rights, we overcame it.

For more than thirty years, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has likewise been passing through the furnace of this harsh trial—the schism—accompanied by persecution and repression, judicial prosecution, external pressure, the legitimization and empowerment of a schismatic pseudo-church, and violence against bishops, monks, and laypeople.

Churches and monasteries have been seized and occupied, Orthodox holy sites and relics have been desecrated, and the property of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been confiscated.

More than twenty years ago, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church addressed Bulgarian society with the following words: "The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is being crucified by ill-intentioned officials, ambitious schismatics, compliant magistrates, and shortsighted politicians."

The schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church left a deep wound that continues to heal to this day, because it affected the lives and inner spiritual well-being of hundreds of thousands of people in Bulgaria.

These experiences of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church give us sufficient grounds to state that the juridical destruction of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church would constitute an irreparable act of harm against the Church of Christ, to which it belongs, and would be far more difficult to overcome than a schism.

Under your adopted Law No. 3894-IX concerning the protection of the constitutional order in the sphere of the activities of religious organizations, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been "pre-condemned" simply because it is CANONICAL.

The interference of the secular authorities in the affairs and very existence of a canonical Orthodox Church is impermissible from the standpoint of the Sacred Canons and the rules of the Ecumenical Councils, to which the Church, as a divine-human organism, is subject.

Therefore, we appeal to you with hope to exercise restraint when assessing the right of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to exist in light of its canonical status, bearing in mind also the position expressed in the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that Ukraine has failed to demonstrate the necessity and proportionality of its measures aimed at dissolving religious organizations, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

"Now therefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and act carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or taking of bribes." (2 Chronicles 19:7)

Our plea to you, Honourable Judges, is expressed in the words of the Prophet Moses from the Book of Deuteronomy 1:16–17:

"...Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's..."

¹ https://bg-patriarshia.bg/news/bpts-bp-se-zastapva-za-svetinite-na-upts-pred-prezidenta-na
² https://bg-patriarshia.bg/news/pismo-do-negovo-prevazhoditelstvo-g-n-petro-poroshenko-prezi

† Ловчански митрополит
Гавриил