SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Daniil, a 52-year-old metropolitan considered pro-Russian, as its new leader in a vote that reflected divisions in the church and wider society since Russia invaded Ukraine for more than two years.
Growing divisions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior clergy began after some of them tried to warm relations with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2019. The Russian patriarchs and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept the designation which formalized a split with the Russian church.
Unlike him late predecessor, who in his last prayers criticized Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Daniil took the side of the Moscow Patriarchate in its dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarch over the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Daniil also criticized the expulsion last fall of a Russian clergyman and two Belarusians accused of spying for Moscow and, in his prayers, blamed people who called Russia an “aggressor.”
The 52-year-old bishop, born Atanas Nikolov, studied theology in Sofia and ended up serving as a monk in a monastery. He belongs to the first generation of young Bulgarians who joined the church after the fall of communism.
The bells of the gold-domed Alexander Nevski Cathedral in central Sofia announced the election of a new patriarch by the 138 delegates to the church council. Shortly afterwards, the president of the council, Cyprian, said that “Metropolitan Daniil of Vidin was elected by the clergy and the people as Holy Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia.”
Daniil wore the green and gold patriarchal costume and placed on his head the white veil, a symbol of his position.
In a close vote in the second round, Daniil won the support of 69 delegates against Grigory, the Metropolitan of Vratsa, who was supported by 66 delegates. The patriarch is elected for life unless he resigns.
Daniil succeeded the charismatic and soft-spoken Neophyte Patriarch, who passed away in March at age 78, after leading the church for 11 years.
A church procession accompanied the newly elected patriarch to the cathedral, where he was enthroned in a lavish ceremony attended by other representatives of the Orthodox Church, as well as the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of Christians Orthodox in the world.
Bartholomew is considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, giving him prominence but not the power of a Catholic pope. Large portions of the Eastern Orthodox world are self-governed under their own patriarchs.
Although the Church in Bulgaria is completely separate from the state, its constitution names Eastern Orthodoxy as the “traditional religion”, followed by around 85% of its 6.5 million inhabitants.
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