Bulgarian government is going to offer several Bulgarian communities abroad to send them sectional churches because it cannot afford to provide funds for the construction of temples.

This has been announced by Bulgaria’s Diaspora Minister, Bozhidar Dimitrov, as cited by the Trud Daily.

Dimitrov said the government would offer the prefabricated portable churches to the Bulgarians in Pretoria (South Africa), Ottawa (Canada), and Geneva (Switzerland).

The above-mentioned Bulgarian immigrant communities have requested help from the state for starting the construction of churches of their own but because of the economic crisis the government does not have sufficient funds for that purpose.

Dimitrov has specified that smaller sectional chapels would cost about BGN 8 000, whereas the more massive churches would be about BGN 20 000.

The sectional churches are traditionally produced in Greece. A Bulgarian firm based in the city of Burgas, which makes American-type sectional homes, has also expressed interest in a state order for sectional churches.

The only functioning sectional church in Bulgaria is in the village of Smilets, which has about 1 000 inhabitants, in the northeast; the church is 50 square meters.

Dimitrov has pointed out that the budget of the “Religions” Government Directorate which is part of his Diaspora Ministry had a budget of BGN 1,56 M for 2010. The money is for supporting Bulgarian churches abroad. There is a separate fund for the salaries of the 33 Bulgarian priests abroad each of whom gets EUR 500 per month.