/ 
Exarh of the Bulgarian Church metropolitan Stephen and the Moscow Patriarchy
Abstract
The article covers the last period of church-administrative activity of the Sofia’s metropolitan Stephаn (Shokov). The author describes the testimonies of contemporaries about the character and personal qualities of this ambiguous hierarch. In 1945–1948 metropolitan Stephan was the exarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and participated in the Meeting of heads and representatives of Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in 1948. The author considers the circumstances of the dismissal of metropolitan Stephаn and his exile as especially important and interesting ones. The meeting of 1948 became the critical event in the exarch’s destiny. Being the supporter of ecumenism, metropolitan Stephen tried unsuccessfully to convince Patriarch Alexis of his rightness in order not to allow the condemnation of ecumenical contacts by the Moscow meeting. However Moscow looked on ecumenism differently in those days. In Moscow the Soviet management aspired to establishment of the centre of World Orthodoxy and tried to cite the Moscow Patriarchy against Constantinople that was under the influence of the USA and the Great Britain. As the Constantinople Patriarchy approved the ecumenical movement, the Moscow Patriarchy has been forced to take of an opposite position. Therefore, the participation of the Russian Church and Churches of the socialist countries in the ecumenical movement was impossible. Metropolitan Stephan, supporting the superiority of the Moscow Patriarchy in the World Orthodoxy, supported the active participation of all Local Churches in the ecumenical movement. The communistic management applied the maximum force to the exarch in order he has not made undesirable statements at the meeting. The fate of metropolitan Stephan has been decided after this meeting. In 1948 he was fired and exiled. The Moscow Patriarchy did not exclude the possibility of moving of metropolitan Stephаn to Russia and his location in any monastery. However metropolitan Stephаn remained in Bulgaria. The destiny of the exarh confirms once again, that the independent position of the hierarch threatened him with full elimination from a church-public life in those years.
Keywords
he Russian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexis I, metropolitan Stephаn (Shokov), the Meeting of the heads and representatives of Local Orthodox Churches in 1948, the Affairs’ Counc
References
1. Bojkikeva A. Bolgarskaja Pravoslavnaja Cerkov'. Istoricheskij ocherk (Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Historical Survey). Sofija: 2005.
2. Blhova M. (2009) “Bolgarskaja Pravoslavnaja Cerkov' (1945-1953): rol' Jekzarha Stefana v vozrozhdenii Cerkvi” (Bulgarian Orthodox Church (1945–1953): Role of Exarch Stefan in the Rebirth of the Church), in Gosudarstvo, religija, cerkov' v Rossii i za rubezhom, 2009, vol. 2, pp. 191-214.
3. Blhova M. (2009) “Jekzarh Stefan i novaja vlast': primirenie i protivostojanie” (Exarch Stefan and the New Power: Reconciliation and Confrontation), in Cerkov' v istorii Rossii, M., 2009, vol. 8, pp. 378-387.
4. Jovanovich M. Russkaja jemigracija na Balkanah 1920-1940 (Russian Emigration on Balkans 1920–1940). M., 2005.
5. Kadkandzhieva D. Blgarskata Pravoslavna Crkva i drzhavata: 1944-1953 (Bulgarian Orthodox Church and State). Sofija. 1997;
6. Kosik V. (2003) “Russkaja Cerkov' v Bolgarii (1940-1950-e gody)” (Russian Church in Bulgaria (1940–1950)), in Slavjanovedenie. 2003. № 6.
7. Kostrjukov A. (2010) „Predposylki uchastija arhiepiskopa Serafima (Soboleva) vo Vsepravoslavnom soveshhanii 1948 goda“ (Premises of Participation of Archbishop Serafim (Sobolev) in the Allorthodox Council of 1948), in Vestnik PSTGU: II, 2010, vol. 2 (35).
8. Lazov D. Ekzarh Stefan I: zhivot, apostolstvo i tvorchestvo (Exarch Stefan I: Life, Apostoly and Work). Sofija. 1947.
9. Pantev A. i dr. 100-te naj vlijatelni blgari v nashata istorija (Centenary of Bulgarian Influence in Our History). Sofija. 1997;
10. Pis'ma Patriarha Aleksija I v Sovet po delam Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi pri Sovete narodnyh komissarov — Sovete ministrov SSSR. 1945-1963 gg. (Letters of Patriarch Alexiy I to the Council for Cases of Russian Orthodox Church by Council of People’s Ministers of USSR, 1945–1963), vol. 1. M., 2009.
11. Stefan, mitr. (1938) „Nel'zja bol'she molchat'“ (We Can Keep Silence Any More), in Cerkovnaja zhizn'. 1938, vol. 2.
12. Shkarovskij M. Istorija russkoj cerkovnoj jemigracii (History of Russian Church Emigration). SPb, 2009.
13. Shpiller I. Vospominanija ob o. Vsevolode Shpillere (Memoires about f. Vsevolod Shpiller).