Bulgarian priests also worked for Communist-era state security

Jan 17, 2012, 15:26 GMT

Sofia - Most of Bulgaria's Orhtodox Church leaders collaborated with the feared state security during the Communist era, a parliamentary committee in charge of secret files said Tuesday.

A routine procedure by the committee exposed 11 out of the 15 membes of the Holy Synod as collaborators of the Darzhavna Sigurnost (DS), a key instrument of repression during the 45 years of Communist rule in Bulgaria, ending in 1989.

The head of the church, Patriarch Maksim, was not among those who worked for the DS, the so-called 'dossiers commission' said. But bishops of the Western and Central European diocese and those in charge of the United States and Canada were.

Several other diocese heads were also named as collaborators.

The vast majority of Bulgarians declare themselves as Orthodox Christians. But the country's small catholic community was also pocked by agents. According to the latest disclosure, two out of three priests worked for the DS.

The same applied to Bulgarian Muslims, mostly ethnic Turks who make up around 10 per cent of the population. Mufti Alish Haji and his predecessor, Nedim Gendzhev, were both Communist collaborators.

The DS had widely hassled and encouraged people to 'collaborate,' even if it meant the submission of trivial information.

The issue of collaborators drew plenty of attention in late 2010, when the commission reported that many of the present ambassadors, some of whom are serving in delicate positions, had in past spied for the DS.

Bulgarian law, however, does not envisage sanctions for former Communist collaborators. President Georgi Parvanov, whose second term in office ends on January 22, was also one of them.

After the fall of Communism in Bulgaria, the Balkan country took a pro-Western course which led it to NATO membership in 2004 and the European Union three years later.