Mormons Rush into Orthodox Church in Bulgaria's Burgas, Interrupt Service

[Richard Davies]

I just received the following news alert:

Mormons Rush into Orthodox Church in Bulgaria's Burgas, Interrupt Service

5 June 2008, Thursday

Two mormon preachers rushed Thursday into "Saints Cyril and Methodius" orthodox church in Bulgaria's coastal city of Burgas to interrupt the morning service, held to mark the Ascension of Jesus.

The missionaries entered the temple and announced in Bulgarian before the people inside they were going to preach.

The young men refused to leave even after priest Zahari asked them to. The scandal lasted for about half an hour before the mormons were taken out of the church almost by force.

"Such an incident happened for the first time and that aggressive behaviour was a precedent," father Zahari said.

"I have ceased all responsible institutions and will insist on removing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Bulgaria's creed register as well as extraditing of its missionaries," he added.

Does anyone have any additional information on this? Is this true or just another grossly inaccurate news report by the Bulgarian media?

I sure hope this report isn't true and I'm willing to bet there's more to the story than is being reported here. Please post a reply and let us know if you have any additional information on this incident.

[Brinton]

Ah, I love the Bulgarian media!  Once Elder Ritchie Hill and I were quoted in the news paper as being subversive CIA operatives who went to orpanages to corrupt the children.  In reality we were there askiing about their humanitarian needs.  Anyway, the paper said we were working directly for Bill Clinton, the president at the time, and earning $2500 a month, I'm still waiting for my back pay!  Good times in the summers of fear.

Anyway, I think more it's more than likely these poor Elders stepped into the Church to look around and found themselves in a service.  What a shame that in their quest for understanding they were blasted as civil disobedients!  But as Pres Partridge used to say, even bad publicity is good publicity.  I hope for everyone's sake the fall out is not too bad.

[Richard Davies]

According to this news report, it sounds like my suspicions about the the veracity of this report are true:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released this statement: "Contrary to erroneous media reports, two missionaries serving in Burgas, Bulgaria, did nothing to disrupt the services of a local church, and when asked to leave, did so immediately. The missionaries were invited to attend the church service by a member of the congregation."

[Blindspot]

Here's the straight dope:

The missionaries were invited to the service by an investigator.  They stood in the corner in the back.  The Priest is aligned with the Ataka party and was previously involved in the attempt to remove all "outside" religions and "sects" from Burgas.  He saw them and immediately yelled at them.  The lady who invited them protested that she had invited them, but the priest wouldn't listen.  The missionaries left immediately.  There was no scene made by the missionaries, no material passed out, or attempts to preach. 

This is just a case a politically motivated priest trying to make points with his party, which is extremely anti-western and is brimming with bigots (look up cases of the party leadership denigrating the Romas in the European parliament if you have the stomach) and communists (most of the party is made up of former communists - also a fact that can be confirmed with a little Google.)

Like all falsehoods, it will eventually blow over. 

[Richard Davies]

Thanks Blindspot! I was hoping you might know something about what really happened here... 

[Richard Davies]

A reporter for the Deseret News has done a follow up report on this story. He conducted a phone interview with President Bennett and was able to gain additional insight into what really happened:

Bulgarian missionary incident called a misunderstanding

[dlwerden]

I saw the article in the Sofia Echo a couple of days ago and asked my son (who is serving in Shumen) about it.  Here's what he said in his e-mail today:

"We were told that the stuff about the missionaries in Burgas hit international news. It's not true, though. I know every one of those missionaries personally. In fact, I played football and ultimate frisbee with them yesterday in Byala. They are all good missionaries. What happened was what the comment said: They were invited to the services by a member of the congregation. Then the priest told them to leave, so they did."

[Richard Davies]

Deb, thanks for sharing your son's comments on this incident. Each additional report that has emerged in the last couple of days has helped to confirm the truthfulness and the accuracy of the church's initial response.

This news story has received considerable attention. Due to the different stories reported by the Bulgarian news media and the church many people have been unsure which side was telling the truth. I think it is becoming pretty clear what really happened in this case. 

[bulgarboy]

Ah, I love the Bulgarian media!  Once Elder Ritchie Hill and I were quoted in the news paper as being subversive CIA operatives who went to orpanages to corrupt the children.  In reality we were there askiing about their humanitarian needs.  Anyway, the paper said we were working directly for Bill Clinton, the president at the time, and earning $2500 a month, I'm still waiting for my back pay!  Good times in the summers of fear.

Anyway, I think more it's more than likely these poor Elders stepped into the Church to look around and found themselves in a service.  What a shame that in their quest for understanding they were blasted as civil disobedients!  But as Pres Partridge used to say, even bad publicity is good publicity.  I hope for everyone's sake the fall out is not too bad.

So, let's get this straight:  You worked directly for Bill Clinton, you were CIA operatives, and you were willing to do extensive work in Eastern Europe for two years on a $30,000 annual salary.  Poor Bulgarian media...

[jcbraz]

Here is a quote from my sons email this week. I got on the website to find out if there was anymore information - so I will pass on what I have.

"I heard that this got on the news in Utah, so maybe you know something about it. I got a phone call from a member in our branch saying that there was a scandal in Burgas and that we had better tell President Bennett. I thought he was overreacting, but I called the missionaries in burgas just to check it out. They said that they were invited to an Orthodox Church for services by one of their investigators. They went, and as we always do, they took off their nametags before entering and were reverent. Evidently one of the priests recognized them and told them to leave the church grounds. They were a little disappointed and left, and their investigator stood up for them and told everyone there that she had invited them. Later that day, a reporter came up and took the name of one of the Elders and ran away.  Also, the Media thinks it is good business to slander our church because it makes for a good story. So the story got put on the internet and our member saw it first and told me. These kinds of things happen regularly, but evidently this time all the media jumped on the bandwagon and the priest told outrageous lies. Things like the elders invaded the church and passed out brochures, interrupted the services, refused to leave, that the priest called the cops to remove them by force, and that the "Mormons" are trying to destroy the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and by doing that, destroy Bulgaria and its Culture. This stuff made headlines, instead of the usual hidden, small column that often is found in most newspapers, and so, because of this, almost everyone in Bulgaria heard the outrageous version and probably believed it."

[Brinton]

So, let's get this straight:  You worked directly for Bill Clinton, you were CIA operatives, and you were willing to do extensive work in Eastern Europe for two years on a $30,000 annual salary.  Poor Bulgarian media...

Yes, that is exactly right! HAHA  But no, I can't get you a job...sorry.

I have to say, though hearing this story, and I think just about everyone in my family has sent me various links about it via email, has brought back some memories for me.  One friend asked me, "I can't even imagine that people would really say such lies and how do these missionaries deal with these kinds of situations?"  All I could say was this is typical of what a Bulgarian missionary will face in the course of his or her mission.  Granted not all days are like this, and the missionary is not always the subject of persecution, but I do know that the Devil and his agents work very hard in Bulgaria to thwart the work of the Church, because the Bulgarians are good people.  But on the same line, I also know very strongly that the Lord does in fact send his angles down to "be round about them" and to lift the missionaries up.  When I think back to many of the tight spots we found ourselves in, I know that we were protected and guided from on high.  It's upsetting to hear that the Bulgarian media and the Orthodox Church are still up to some of their old tricks, but at the same time to know that the work continues and that the missionaries are great men and women!  I say to them, keep on going, we've all been there at one time or another, and you have our prayers and good wishes.