Why does God allow deception? Moreover, just as we respond to what we feel in our bodies, so also God responds to each felt occasion, and in that instant does two things: runs through a catalog of all possible next occasions, next moves as it were, and then “lures the world forward” with suggestions for the best next moves to actualize in the next occasion. However, already weakened, it experienced serious problems both within itself and in its relationship with society: its ecclesiastical hierarchy did not renew itself after communism and therefore was seen as a continuation of the communist bureaucracy, and within society heated debates broke out about its involvement with the erstwhile regime; moreover, in 1992 part of the clergy claimed that the election of Patriarch Maxim was invalid as he was in fact installed by the communists. Moreover, since the 10th century Bulgarian Christianity was deeply characterised by the Gnostic doctrine of Bogomilism, developed in Bulgaria itself by the priest Bogomil, as well as by the ascetic doctrine of Hesychasm.

This tradition is credited to Frigga, the Scandinavian goddess of love and beauty, and is said to date back to the eighth century. The late 20th and early 21st century have also seen the appearance of Neopagan religious movements in Bulgaria, including Slavic Rodnovery (often with elements of Turco-Mongol Tengrism), Celtic Druidry, and Thracian Hellenism. His minions are portrayed by “The Radishes.” This not-so-sweet potato made his first appearance in the Larry Boy movie series in 2015. He is voiced by Rob Paulsen, but is not featured outside of the “Larry Boy” universe. In 1950, the Holy Synod of the church adopted a new constitution which turned the church from an exarchate of Constantinople into a patriarchate of its own; Kiril (1901-1971) was elected as the first Patriarch of the fully restored auctocephalous church, which he remained until his death in 1971, when Maxim (1914-2012) was elected as his successor. Georgi Dimitrov’s Constitution of 1947, which followed Stalin’s Constitution of the Soviet Union of 1936, proclaimed freedom of religion and worship and the separation of religion and state; Todor Zhivkov’s Constitution of 1971 declared freedom of both religious rites and antireligious activities, and the principles of both constitutions were reinforced with a 1949 Law on Religious Denominations.

Articles 13 of the Constitution of Bulgaria designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the traditional religion of the country, but guarantees the free exercise of any religion, that religion is separate from the state, and that it shall not be used for political aims; Article 37 affirms that the freedom of choice of different religious or irreligious views is inviolable, and the state shall safeguard the harmony between them. The Bulgarians strongly opposed such tendency: Father Paisius of Hilendar (1722-1773), a native Bulgarian from the south-western town of Bansko, wrote a Slavo-Bulgarian History in the contemporary Bulgarian vernacular as a response to the “monastic nationalism” promoted by Mount Athos in Greece, and a call for Bulgarian national awakening and freedom from the yoke of Greek language and culture. Alongside academic traditions like astronomy, meteorology and medicine, the public widely considered astrology a scholarly practice for much of human history. Sixteen years before, in 893, an ecclesiastical council decided to switch to Old Church Slavonic (Old Bulgarian) as the liturgical language, and in the meanwhile the Cyrillic alphabet was developed for writing the Slavic language; such changes protected the Bulgarians from Hellenisation, and ultimately would have been fundamental for the later history of part of the Slavic peoples.

Islam and the Turkicised minority of the population who practised it faced a worse treatment than Christianity under communism; in the 1970s and 1980s mosques were closed and Islamic religious practice was restricted, the properties of Islamic charities (waqf) were confiscated, Islamic imams were persecuted, traditional Islamic names were forbidden and forcibly changed to Bulgarian ones, and severe restrictions were placed on Turkish language, so that many Bulgarian Muslims left the country for Turkey. Georgi Dimitrov, who was communist leader from 1946 to 1949 and was born in a Protestant family, in a 1946 speech on the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of John of Rila, the patron saint of Bulgaria, praised the Orthodox Church for its historical role and for preserving national identity and culture. Additionally, during the communist period, the daughter of the leader Todor Zhivkov, Lyudmila Zhivkova (1942-1981), developed a strong interest in Eastern teachings and Russian Roerichism – itself, like Dunovism, being a Neo-Theosophical movement incorporating Eastern elements -, and popularised them in Bulgaria.