Representatives of the Alternate Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church will be visiting Strasbourg from February 12th to the 15th. They will be calling on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to put pressure on the Bulgarian government to address the state confiscation of Church property and the forcible expulsion of 160 priests from their churches and monasteries.

Bishop Kiril Kostantiiski and Father Jordan Kirilov Lesov have been forced to subsist on the charity of friends and members of their congregations since the loss of their churches in July 2004.

While they supported Bulgaria's entry into the EU, they will raise concerns that the European Union has not pushed for a just resolution to these apparent contraventions of religious freedom. Countries are required to meet European human rights standards as part of the accession process.

The priests represent the Alternate Synod - a group which does not recognise the leadership of Patriarch Maxim, who was appointed as the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church under the Communist Regime in the 1970's.

The group was forced out of their churches on 21 July 2004, after the State Prosecutor decreed that their churches and monasteries should be turned over to the segment of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Maxim. Police carried out the expulsion in a coordinated action across the country. A number of priests and laypeople were reportedly beaten in the process.

Since the expulsions the priests have been forced to hold services for their congregations in the open air which, over the winter, means freezing temperatures, snow and rain.