The Communist State Security file of Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim was hidden or destroyed, when the regime decided that he will become Patriarch or when he became such, according to Father Lyubomir Popov.

The priest made the statement in an exclusive interview for Novinite.com and Novinite.bg.

Novinite turned to him for comment after Bulgaria's so-called Files Commission – a panel investigating the Communist era secret files, exposed eleven out of a total of fifteen Bulgarian Metropolitan bishops as former agents of the Communist State Security, DS.

Father Lyubomir Popov is an Orthodox priest in Bulgaria's Black Sea City of Varna. He was expelled from the temple "Athanasiy" and deposed by the ecclesiastical court at the Varna and Veliki Preslav Bishopric, but remains one of the most respected Servants of God in the city and in Bulgaria. He was also Member of the Great National Assembly (Parliament).

In the interview Popov speaks about the ties of all senior clergy with the Communist (now Socialist) party, regardless of who has a DS file, and accuses them of marginalizing the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and driving believers away from the temples.

The Father also talks about his own experience with the Communist regime and DS, the notorious schism in the Church in the 90's of the 20th century, which led to his expulsion from the temple. He further reveals illegal ways of bishops selling lucrative Church properties, particularly of the Varna Metropolitan Kiril, and comments on his scandalous Lincoln automobile acquisition.

The entire interview with Father Popov read HERE.