The rector of the metochion, Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev), told TASS that Bulgarian priests appointed by the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Neophyte to the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia have no right to serve there - the Moscow Patriarchate itself must appoint new ROC clerics there instead of those expelled by the Bulgarian side.
Earlier, the Bulgarian authorities ordered Archimandrite Vassian, secretary of the metochion Archpriest Yevgeny Pavelchuk and another employee to leave the country within 24 hours under the pretext that their stay in Bulgaria "poses a threat to state security." After that, the Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) announced that Patriarch Neophyte had appointed priests to work in the Russian Church, who would "take care of the temple and perform the usual services." It was also reported that the primate of the BOC informed Patriarch Kirill about this in a letter.
"Strictly speaking, this parish is ours - the Russian Church, and only the Moscow Patriarch can appoint [priests] there. I cannot anticipate the decisions, but as far as I understand, another abbot should be appointed instead of me. We have two full-time clerics on the farmstead. Two have been extradited, and the other two may come," said Archimandrite Vassian.
Russian Russian Church compound in Sofia is now closed and Bulgarian priests will not be able to get there, because "a parish of the Russian Church is registered there." As Archimandrite Vassian noted, the church will be opened only when a new rector - a cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church, appointed by Patriarch Kirill, arrives.
"At this stage, so. If some other decision is made, they will probably announce it, but I have such information. <...> Just because everything happened very unexpectedly, unpredictably, it is impossible to find a quick solution right away," the agency interlocutor added.
When asked to comment on the claims of the Bulgarian side that local priests will support the work of the temple, the rector of the metochion expressed the opinion that in Bulgaria they give wishful thinking. "That is, they create a certain information background, and then they say that we did not agree with it. But in fact, the decision is made by our, the Russian side," he stressed.

The situation around the farmstead
On Monday, the Bulgarian government announced its readiness to assist the Bulgarian Patriarchate in restoring liturgical activities in the Church of St. Nicholas in Sofia. This was stated in the message of the government press service following the conversation of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov with representatives of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Synod of the BOC, which will discuss, among other things, "necessary secular legal and administrative issues" related to the functioning of the Russian church, is scheduled for October 3.
On Wednesday, representatives of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SGP) announced at a briefing that the ownership of the church of St. Nicholas, which is a compound and the official representative office of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, has begun to be verified.
As the representatives of the SRP clarified, the inspection is carried out on the basis of signals received from deputies of the country's parliament and one of the civil associations, and it should clarify all the details of the receipt by the Russian Embassy of a notarial act on the ownership of the temple. The Embassy of Russia is the official owner of the temple and has a corresponding notarial act about it.
In the Department of External Church Relations (DECR) After the expulsion of the employees of the Moscow Patriarchate, they stated that the Bulgarian authorities were trying to undermine the traditionally friendly relations between the Russian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches and turn the fraternal peoples in these countries against each other. The DECR noted that the Russian church of St. Nicholas in Sofia, where the ROC compound is located, has been a symbol of the spiritual unity of Russians and Bulgarians for the past hundred years.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also identified what was happening as an anti-Russian provocation by the Bulgarian authorities.