For the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Christmas of 2011 is not proving to be a season to be jolly.

After the strange spectacle of the controversy about Varna Metropolitan Kiril’s new car, a somewhat more serious issue has arisen, the issue of the church’s leaders being scrutinised by the Dossier Commission, the body in charge of examining the records to identify those who worked with Bulgaria’s communist-era secret services.

As it is, the church in this country – a church given a special place in public life by act of Parliament – has serious image problems. Seen as subverted by the officially atheist communist state, its performance since the advent of the transition to democracy has been lacklustre.

Unfortunately, those who have criticised the church as seldom sounding its voice on issues other than Harry Potter and Madonna (the musician) are correct.

This is even more unfortunate because a country which continues to wrestle with problems of corruption and other serious moral failings needs a strong voice to speak out about right and wrong. The church, so far, has failed in this duty.

Further, the church is also the subject of speculation and urban legends. To hear people talk, every priest actually doubled as a State Security officer; every move made by the church was ultimately controlled by Moscow. Serious historical research indicates that relations between church and state during the communist era were much more complex than that, and by no means did everyone sell his soul to State Security.

The church would be well-advised to accept reality and co-operate with the Dossier Commission, which in any case appears well within its legal rights and duties to do so. Once that process is over, and a clearer truth known, the church could work on improving its role in society.