„In the Holy Church, no one is endowed with any ministry in it, just like that, by itself. Even in apostolic times, the Holy Apostle Paul said – in the Church, God places some as apostles, others as prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. It is still like this today.“
This was stated in an exclusive interview for bTV by His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil.
He talked about his path from monk to spiritual leader of Bulgaria.
„Specifically, when I went to Grandfather Nathanael, our ever-memorable Metropolitan of Neurokop, my spiritual elder, and expressed my desire to enter a monastery, and that I wanted to take the monastic path, he accepted me for obedience. And from now on, I have not been concerned about the question of when he will cut my hair, whether he will cut my hair, whether he will ordain me - a myrodeacon, a hieromonk“, His Holiness also shared.
„People who know grandfather Nathanael know very well that he did not do anything that he did not consider necessary and useful for the church. So here - and about the ordination to hierodeaconry, hieromonkry, then he elevated me to the dignity of archimandrite. Then, at his suggestion, the Holy Synod made a decision and ordained me to the episcopal rank. So from the very beginning we see that this is the voice of the Church and obedience. I think these are the factors that guide monastic life“, said Patriarch Daniel.
“Today, every member of the Church is a warrior who stands up and fights for the salvation of his soul. The Holy Apostle Paul told us – our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the heavenly spirits of evil. And there is no Christian who is daily uninvolved, who is not involved in this spiritual struggle, a spiritual struggle with his thoughts, a struggle with his passions, a struggle with himself, his selfishness and the evils, limitations, weaknesses that every person has“, declared His Holiness.
“So in the first place is this. Nowadays, I think that first of all, the archpastors, the pastors, the archpastors in the Church, should be warriors of peace, because what we have received from God is his peace. The Lord says “My peace I give to you. I give it, not you, as the world gives“. And nowadays many souls are troubled. Rather, uncertainty, fears, confusion excite people“, he said.
In his words, to instill the peace of Christ in souls is not an easy thing.
“I think this is our responsibility. It is also a very great challenge to preserve the unity of the church, that is, to be able to fight against the divided, because the enemy of human salvation - this is precisely what sows weeds that sprout in the soul of man. That is why we are obliged to guard our souls after this - the division between us, which breaks unity and poses a danger to both the individual and the community,“ the patriarch added.
For him, war is evil.
“I said a moment ago that every pastor and archpastor should be vigilant and be a warrior to preserve peace, peace of mind. "And the peace of mind and relationships between people are disturbed by many things," he believes.
Asked if he shares the view of the late Patriarch Neophyte, who in his last address stated: "The Lord, God and the Holy Church bless only that army that does not show aggression, and whose sole purpose is to protect and defend its people," Patriarch Daniel stated:
“I think that in such conflicts, when an awful lot of forces are involved - nowadays, the trends that are with the election of the new American president, I think that normality is returning to society and these conflicts will be looked at in a different way. So let's leave politics to politicians. And let us look at our pastoral activity, because if we fight to preserve peace within ourselves so as not to do harm to the people around us, there will be no wars.“
According to him, it is necessary for people to protect themselves from bias and from sowing things that lead to hatred, to division.
„In a war, it has been said „the first victim is the truth“. It is a great responsibility for both politicians and spiritual shepherds to still bear witness to the truth, to protect their flock, to protect the people entrusted to them from being involved in things that lead to passions, to aggravating conflict, to intensifying the problem. On the contrary - to look soberly. We have always called for conversation, not escalation,” added Patriarch Daniil.
“The interesting thing about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was that dialogue was being hindered. It is strange why. Everyone talks about peace, and at the same time they say “there will be none“. Negotiations are being banned, dialogue is being banned. This is not normal“, His Holiness also stated.
The Patriarch believes that Donald Trump's voice is the voice of reason.
“Donald Trump had stated that even before he took office, he would settle this conflict. Now he says that it takes six months, and maybe even less time. He has clearly stated his intention to settle this conflict, because he spoke very soberly. He says: “People are dying there, people are dying there. It is necessary to stop the killing in this fratricidal war“. And this is a voice of reason. I think this is a voice of reason, and God forbid that this fratricidal war should end“, the spiritual leader also stated.