SOFIA, September 21. /TASS/. The Bulgarian authorities have decided to expel the dean of the Sofia Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Vassian, from the country, the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria told TASS.

"[The Bulgarian authorities] said that Archimandrite Vassian poses a threat to national security," the Russian diplomats said.

According to Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Russian Orthodox priests "were summoned to the immigration office on Thursday, where they were informed that they pose a threat to Bulgaria's national security and must leave the country today." "Then, they were put in a car and taken to their homes to collect their belongings, after which they will be taken to the church and on to the border with Serbia," she said.

"This is an unprecedented event. The church is separate from the state, and it is incomprehensible how clerics can threaten national security," the ambassador added. According to her, "many parishioners go to the Russian Church in Sofia," and such an event is "a descent into the abyss." "It’s fair to say that they just spit in the face of our church, especially since it happened on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary," Mitrofanova pointed out.