Information has reached Keston College …concerning the plight of Fr. Hristophor Subev, a local Orthodox priest from Veliko Turnovo, an important town in north central Bulgaria. Fr. Hristophor is stated to have been active in his church, trying consistently to keep religious traditions alive and to make provision for the religious upbringing of the young. (In Bulgaria priests are forbidden to give formal religious instruction to those under 16.) He apparantly organized church processions with icons through the streets of Velikovo Turneve on religious feast days, and managed to get nearly 200 Christians together on at least one such occasion.

      Just before the new year, he is stated to have been takct~ by the militia to Arbanasi, just outside Velikovo Turnovo, for interrogation. One Bulgarian believer is quoted as saying: “He is not a political man, he bas (committed) no offense against the law. He only strives (for) the rights of the church in Bulgaria-for all churches and monasteries to be independent, and (for) all those people who have been driven away from their church to be allowed back.”

      Fr. Hristophor is now reported to have been sent “into exile” to Cherepish Monastery, in northwest Bulgaria, some 125 miles from his parish. His octogenarian parents are bedridden and in need of constant daily care. They are desperately worried and his parishioners fear that their priest’s life may even be threatened.

(Keston News 3/16/89)