The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, traditionally close to Russia even though it does not depend on the Moscow Patriarchate, elected a new patriarch on Sunday, June 30, Danaïl, aged 52. This former metropolitan of the diocese of Vidin (North-West) had taken positions in favor of the Kremlin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Supported by 69 votes out of 138 within an assembly of delegates and by the holy synod, he won against his competitor Grigory, judged neutral by the experts, who received 66 (three votes having been judged invalid ).
He succeeds the charismatic patriarch Néophyte, who died in March after having officiated for more than ten years, who had called for an end to the war in Ukraine. Danaïl had, conversely, supported the Russian invasion in Ukraine, in a long video message broadcast in 2023, analysts recall.
Patriarch Bartholomew present at the celebration
He also strongly criticized the expulsion decided by the Bulgarian government in September 2023 of the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian, and two Belarusian priests accused of serving Russian geopolitical interests.
Russian Patriarch Kirill, who supports the war, was not present at the patriarch’s enthronement ceremony, which was held in Sofia’s St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. The celebration was attended by his international rival, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.
In July 2023, Bartholomew celebrated a mass in Istanbul in memory of the victims of the war in Ukraine in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
