Bulgarians pay last respects to Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte
Bulgarian worshippers thronged Sofia’s golden-domed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Friday to pay their last respects to Orthodox Christian Patriarch Neophyte, the first elected head of the church in the post-communist Balkan country, who died this week aged 78.
Neophyte, a soft-spoken theologian who sought to restore the reputation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church hurt by links to businessmen and communist secret police, succeeded Patriarch Maxim in 2013.
Neophyte lay in state in an open casket, dressed in an ornate white robe and crown, as black-clad clergymen prayed and hundreds of faithful passed by in a somber memorial service. He died on Wednesday after a long illness.
Neophyte’s burial is scheduled for Saturday and the funeral rites will be led by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Churches worldwide, and Bulgarian clergy.
About 80% of the population in the 6.8 million-strong Bulgaria are Orthodox Christians.
The reputation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was damaged after a history commission in January 2012 showed that 11 of its 15 bishops collaborated with the former communist-era secret police.
Born in Sofia on October 15, 1945, as Simeon Nikolov Dimitrov, he graduated from the Theological Academy in Sofia in 1971. He took the name Neophyte and was sworn in as a monk in the Troyan Monastery in 1975. He taught church singing at the Theological Academy, led its choir and was its rector before becoming a bishop in 1994.
Neophyte welcomed Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to Sofia in 2019, a trip seen as warming the frosty relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican.
The Holy Synod of 15 senior clergy will choose an interim patriarch until a larger church council picks Patriarch Neophyte’s successor within the next four months, church officials said. [Reuters/AP]
