Ivelin Mihaylov: Why We Will Not Celebrate Christmas and New Year — We Have Unfinished Work

“Hello everyone. We’re doing a brief live address to explain how we are spending the Christmas and New Year holidays. First, there are many people who say they are alone during the holidays. A person cannot be alone when God is with them. If God is with us, there is always someone there—not just someone, but the One who alone can give us true companionship and keep us from feeling lonely.

We are at the Church of Saint Petka. The master builder is here—I won’t film him so they don’t come after him—but he says, ‘Hey boss, how come you don’t come by for a coffee to treat us?’ The truth is, I don’t even have money for coffee, but they don’t believe me. Look at what these people are doing on the 24th—people who give their heart and soul. Truly, a bow to them. It’s raining lightly now, but we don’t stop working, because we have a mission. Where could we be better during the holidays than at the construction of God’s temple?

Solidarity with the Detained

There is another reason why we are not celebrating. Five of our comrades have been detained in the most brutal way by the authorities, solely so that we would kneel and do something contrary to what God teaches us. I cannot understand how Delyan Peevski is not ashamed to place an icon in his office. This man has darkened the fate of so many people, yet that does not stop him from profaning the image of God.

We will not celebrate Christmas, Christmas Eve, or New Year’s, because there is no way our brothers can be unjustly imprisoned—among bedbugs, cockroaches, centipedes, without heating, without water, without the ability to wash, and far from their families—while we sit down to eat and drink. They are there because of us. We cannot eat now and then, tomorrow, when we are in their place, let them eat. We stand in solidarity—what applies to one applies to the other.

Institutional Pressure and Financial Speculation

What is power used for? Today, one of the servants of power wrote to me saying that Pavel Stoimonov gives me 20,000 a week. I was astonished—where did he come up with these amounts? First, they undervalued me. If someone could buy me for 80,000 a month, I would end my own life, because for such a paltry sum no one could truly buy me.

What turned out to be the case? Pavel and I had made some quarterly transactions related to finishing something that had to be completed. They have nothing to do with money given personally to me. But when they audited him, they saw three transactions of 80,000 leva per month and immediately concluded that the man gives me 20,000 leva a week.

What do those in power use state institutions for? They use the Commission for Counteracting Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property, the National Revenue Agency, the State Agency for National Security, and all other institutions to intrude into your life—to examine your cash flows, your property, and everything else—and then to construct some theory. They think we are like them—setting out to look for someone to give us money. First, I want to tell those in power that they have taken at least 150 million from me. And now someone would buy me for 80,000 leva a month? They are gravely mistaken. They will pay back everything to the last cent—and not only to me, but to everyone they have taken from.

A Fight to the End for Justice

These people—the accomplices who dig into people’s lives—intrude into everything: phones, computers. They conduct audits to form opinions and destroy you. These are the people in power. They cannot place an icon, nor can any of them make the sign of the cross, because their hand should wither. These are very filthy, despicable creatures.

A bow to our five martyrs. They are not only five—there are many others. Several thousand people from among us are suffering, and we fight because we believe in what we are doing. I wish everyone bright holidays, but a person should celebrate when the work is finished. We have not finished it. We have worked and given everything of ourselves, but the work is not done while there is even one unjustly detained person in Bulgaria, one person unjustly crushed—whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist.

That is why we will not rest. We continue to act. The Church is a symbol of the justice we want to exist in Bulgaria. With the help of the Lord and by His will, we will make it so that, at last, our people come to know justice. Happy holidays to all. Be alive, healthy, strong, and never lose faith.”

~ Ivelin Mihaylov