Communistic Government BCP epoch deliberately
tried to destroy the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
As a Child I've been baptized in the Orthodox Church and since then
I've been a complete atheist until the age of 21.
What is the reason to get my faith in God in 21? This is a short
post to shed some light on the great efforts of communism to
erradicate faith in God in Communistic countries and change faith
in God with faith in man and how this kind of approach devastates
societies.
During the communism it's a well known fact that communists, all
the members in the Bulgarian Communist's Party (BCP), has led an
anti Bulgarian Orthodox Church government politics. The fact that
Communistic Governments are fighting Churches and faith in God is
less known among youngesters and hardly known by people part of
western democratic societies.
I did not lived this time myself, but I heard many stories about
the stupidities of communism.
Many older people say, when communism came to rule the Communist
Government did immediately destroy some Orthodox Christian temples,
some priests were convinced in crimes they were not responsible for
etc...
Other priests were send in the Concentration camps and many of them
never returned in the society.
"Access" to the Churches was limited and sometimes prohibited to
the orthodox layman and often to clergy.
During these terrible communism era, it was prohibited to everybody
who is a member of BPC to attend Orthodox Church services or
identify himself as christian in public.
I've heard from my grandma an interesting story she witnessed,
while she was working as a cleaner in the militia (police).
Here is the story:
One day my grandma wanted to go to the Church St. George located on
the city centre of Dobrich city Bulgaria.
A policeman stopped her when she was entering the temple and since
he knew her as an employee in the police called her by name and
told her that she is not allowed to enter the church building,
because she is working in the police.
My grandma asked the militiaman to let her enter the temple to pray
for just few minutes and light up a candle (just for this time)
without reporting for that in the police.
The policeman agreed to let us in and keep silent that she entered
the Church this time,but warned her that if he sees her another
time entering the church he is going to report to the respective
authorities.
Another part of the Government active politics against the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church was by placing an ex-criminals who were
sentenced for thefts, rapings, agression or other crimes as a
priests in the Church.
By this move the supreme counsel of the bulgarian communist party
wanted to break the people confidence in the Church as the true
holy apostolic Church. The most fierce communists during these days
did their best to present the church of God as a corrupted and void
institution who only steals from people and exists only to deceive
society.
Yet many years after the fall of communism this people distrust in
the church that communists sow through the years.
What is pity is even after the communism is gone for a long, time
the churches are only full on biggest feasts and no more than 5% of
the citizens are regularly going for Church service or have even
the basic knowledge on the Church truths and mysteries.
Following the fall of communism the democratic governments who come
to power, elected in a citizen democratic elections did not do much
to help the church either, some of them does lead politics openly
hostile to our Bulgarian Church.
The last government selected, seems to be less hostile to our
Church, but people have once been cut away from the Church and now
its really hard for our nation to get back to faith.
The severe crisis (a word that means judgement in greek) and the
hardships many people experience started to make some people
rethink about what is the meaning of life and made them
occasionally go back to faith of our fathers orthodoxy.
What will happen further nobody knows, we need to pray and hope God
will have mercy and people will repent for their sins and come back
to faith again.