Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Movement after the Second World War

Abstract

The article, based on archival materials, examines the history of unsuccessfiil attempts by the leadership of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the first post-war years to restore and continue the ecumenical contacts interrupted during World War II. The article covers the activities of the Bulgarian Exarch Stefan (Shokov) and Professor Stefan Zankov; the efforts of the Bulgarian communist government to cut the ecumenical contacts of the Church; the pressure by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarch Alexii I, Metropolitan Nikolai of Krutitsy) on Exarch Stefan to stop relations with ecumenical organizations.