Saying their priest put his trucking business ahead of his parish duties, the lay leaders of an Eastern Orthodox church in Des Plaines have fired him--a move that has put them at odds with the bishop, required police intervention and prompted a lawsuit from the ousted priest.
On April 13, leaders of St. Sophia Bulgarian Orthodox Church fired Rev. Grouu Tzonkov, the congregation's leader for 10 years, contending that he was delinquent in his duties.
But the bishop says the church, which serves Bulgarian Orthodox Christians throughout the Chicago area, didn't have the power to fire the priest.
The conflict could result in the church being excommunicated.
Church leaders, elected in February by a majority of the approximately 100 parish members, contend that Tzonkov, 50, was spending more time running his trucking business, which he started in 1997, than attending to church business, including the teaching of religion classes.
In 2001, Tzonkov's Bulgarian of the Americans Truck Co., also known as Bul Am, was linked to the federal licenses-for-bribes investigation of the Illinois secretary of state's office. Tzonkov was never charged with wrongdoing.
Tzonkov referred dozens of his parishioners to a Florida driving school where some students paid bribes to obtain their truck-driving licenses. They then exchanged the licenses for Illinois credentials. Several of the drivers went to work for Tzonkov, who said he was unaware they were paying bribes.
In February 2001, when Tzonkov's company was mentioned in the federal investigation, he told church leaders and parishioners that he would get out of the trucking business and concentrate on his church duties, said Angel Georgiev, a member of St. Sophia's lay leadership.
But he continues to operate the trucking business, secretary of state spokeswoman Beth Kaufman confirmed this month.
Georgiev said Tzonkov has been given until the end of this month to vacate the church hall's second-floor apartment, where he lives with his wife.
Marc S. Levin, Tzonkov's attorney, said his client, who makes $30,000 a year as a priest, needs to work outside the church to support his family.
"On his salary, he has to do something," Levin said. "He shouldn't be fired because he's a better holy man than a businessman."
St. Sophia's leaders say the church has the authority to govern itself independent of the bishop. But Tzonkov argues in his lawsuit that diocesan law does not empower lay church leaders to hire or fire priests.
In an April 20 letter to Tzonkov, Metropolitan Joseph, the New York-based bishop of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the United States, Canada and Australia, wrote that only a bishop is authorized to remove or appoint a priest.
"Any parishioners attempting to bar you from your pulpit and substituting another priest are in strict violation of diocesan law," he wrote.
The bishop has demanded that the church return holy relics that belong to the diocese, Levin said. Without these antimens--cushions blessed by the bishop and used in sacraments--services can't be held.
Georgiev contends the relics belong to the church.
Church leaders acknowledge the bishop's support for Tzonkov and have appealed to a higher authority, Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria.
The patriarch can elect to have a council of bishops hear the church's case or can defer to the bishop, said Lewis Patsavos, a professor of canon law at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass. If the patriarch defers to the bishop or if the council votes to support the bishop, the church could be excommunicated, he said.
The evening after he was fired, Tzonkov went to the Des Plaines police to report that several members of the church's executive committee had threatened his family. Police investigated and concluded that the complaint had no merit.
On April 20, Tzonkov phoned police when he discovered that church officials had changed the locks on the church hall and sanctuary, according to police reports.
"Officers advised him to take up the matter with his superiors and the civil courts," Des Plaines City Atty. Dave Wiltse said.
On May 6, Tzonkov and a group of parishioners filed separate suits in Cook County Circuit Court against church leaders and the City of Des Plaines.
Longtime St. Sophia parishioner Roza Gregory wrote to Cook County Circuit Judge Richard Siebel in support of Tzonkov. In firing Tzonkov, the executive committee usurped the church's authority, she said.
"For religious reasons based upon my faith and my church's membership in the diocese," the priest should be reinstated, Gregory wrote.
In a hearing the next day, Siebel dismissed Tzonkov's petition for a restraining order against church leaders who prevented him from entering the church. He ruled that Tzonkov had not established the need for the court's emergency intervention.
On May 8, a few hours before an evening concert in the church hall, several dozen Tzonkov supporters gathered in the church courtyard to protest, police reported. As parishioners began to arrive for the events, discussion about the priest's termination became heated, police said.
By the time the crowd had been dispersed around 7 p.m., nine squad cars, including a K-9 unit, had arrived, police reported.
Church leaders said they expect to prevail in their appeal to Patriarch Maxim, but Georgiev said it is only a formality. The church will continue to exist even without the diocese's approval, he said.
"As a registered not-for-profit organization in Illinois, we have the right to self-govern and to act independently of the diocese, spiritually and administratively," Georgiev said. "All we want is to live our lives as good, peaceful Christians."