SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The Bulgarian 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 broader society since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.
Divisions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior clergy grew after some of them sought to forge closer ties with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2019. Russian and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept the designation, which would have formally broken with the Russian church.
Unlike his late predecessor, who in his last prayers criticized Russian aggression in Ukraine, Daniil has sided with the Moscow Patriarchate in the dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarch over the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Daniil also criticized the expulsion last fall of a Russian and two Belarusian clerics accused of spying for Moscow. In his prayers he blamed people who called Russia an “aggressor.”
The 52-year-old bishop, born Atanas Nikolov, studied theology in Sofia and eventually became a monk in a monastery. He is among the first generation of young Bulgarians to join the church after the fall of communism.
The bells of the golden-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in central Sofia announced the election of a new patriarch by the 138 deputies to the church council. Shortly afterwards, Council Chairman Cyprian said that “Vidin Metropolitan Daniil was elected by the clergy and the people as Holy Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia.”
Daniil was dressed in the green and gold patriarchal garments and had placed on his head the white veil, symbol of his office.
In a close second-round vote, Daniil won the support of 69 deputies against Grigory, the Metropolitan of Vratsa, who was supported by 66 deputies. The patriarch is elected for life unless he abdicates.
Daniil succeeded the soft-spoken and charismatic Patriarch Neophyte, who died in March at the age of 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 and by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians.
Bartholomew is considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, which gives him prestige but not the power of a Catholic pope. Large parts of the Eastern Orthodox world are self-governing under their own patriarchs.
Although the church in Bulgaria is completely separated from the state, the constitution calls the Eastern Orthodox Church the “traditional religion”, followed by about 85% of the 6.5 million people.
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