Patriarch Neophyte will be laid to rest in the metropolitan church “Holy Sunday” next to the grave of Exarch Joseph, as was his wish during his lifetime. The funeral will be on March 16 – Saturday, the Holy Synod announced on Thursday, after its extraordinary session due to the death of the Bulgarian patriarch on Wednesday evening.
Patriarch Neophyte’s funeral on Saturday will be held in the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Temple and will be led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is arriving with his delegation from Istanbul, Western and Central European Metropolitan Antony told BNT. He added that at the moment it is not clear from which other churches from abroad there will be delegations, because the invitations were sent hours ago.
Already on Thursday, the mortal remains of the patriarch were placed for worship in the small church “Saint Marina” in the courtyard of the Holy Metropolis of Sofia, where senior clergy and representatives of secular power flocked.
On Friday, March 15, at 9 a.m., the worship before Neophyte begins in the Patriarchal Church “St. Alexander Nevsky”.
Patriarch Neophyte died at the age of 78 in the intensive care unit of the Military Medical Academy in Sofia at 22:22 on March 13. He spent over four months in the hospital because of lung disease.
A black flag was lowered from the Patriarchal Cathedral “St. Alexander Nevsky”. Sn. BGNES
Metropolitan John of Varna and Veliky Preslav temporarily assumed the functions of Deputy Chairman of the Holy Synod. He will be in charge of the patriarch’s burial.
The sending off of the Neophyte on his last earthly journey will begin on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with a funeral mass. After her, there will be a memorial service and a liturgy procession to the Metropolitan Cathedral “Holy Sunday”, where he will be laid to rest, Metropolitan Cyprian announced. He specified that such was the will of the deceased Bulgarian patriarch and the Holy Synod complied with it.
A curious detail is whether the Russian Patriarch Kirill will arrive at the pilgrimage, as well as representatives of the church in North Macedonia.
The will of Partiarch Neofitus is also expected to be opened.
March 15 and 16 have been declared days of national mourning. President Rumen Radev changed the date of handing over the mandate to GERB to form a government. According to the original plan, the procedure was supposed to be on Friday, but it was moved to Monday, March 18, at noon.
“The death of Patriarch Neofit is a huge loss for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and for the entire Bulgarian people. I will remember him as a person, as a patriarch who taught us humility and wisdom. In these days of universal humility and worship before his memory, political passions are irrelevant and therefore I am postponing the delivery of the mandate to form a government until Monday at 12 o’clock”declared Radev after his worship before the mortal remains of Patriarch Neofitus.
The election of a new patriarch begins
With the death of Neophyte, the election of a new patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church began. From now on, observers and senior clerics are commenting that it will depend on whether the church will unite or whether it will lead to an even greater division, which Neophyte was able to mitigate.
Sn. BGNES
It was also seen publicly in the protests and counter-protests surrounding the election of the successor of the deceased Sliven Metropolitan Ioanikiy. They were provoked by a decision of the Holy Synod to exclude priests and laymen from participating in the metropolitan elections. The protest against the election held under this ordinance was by representatives of the Sliven Diocese. Mainly people from the Plovdiv Diocese came out in a counter-protest against them.
In any case, the election of the Metropolitan of Sliven will probably be postponed after the vote for the Patriarch.
According to the rules, a new vice president will be elected next Tuesday or Wednesday, who will now be in charge of electing a new patriarch. It should take place within the next 4 months – until the middle of July 2024, Metropolitan Kyprian said.
What is the procedure
The Holy Synod must set the date for convening the Patriarchal Electoral Church Council, which actually elects the patriarch. It is attended by bishops, representatives of dioceses, elected after voting, representatives of stauropygial monasteries, diocesan monasteries and theological schools.
At least 7 days before the date for electing a patriarch from the electoral church council, the Holy Synod determines the contenders. They must be a minimum of three and receive the votes of two-thirds of the members of the Holy Synod. Applicants must meet 4 conditions:
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to be diocesan metropolitans;
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to be no younger than 50 years;
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to have ruled a diocese as a metropolitan for at least 5 years;
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to be distinguished by correct thoughts on the Orthodox faith and by exact observance of church order.
If in the voting less than three metropolitans gather the necessary two-thirds majority of the votes, the vote is repeated until at least one or two more metropolitans gather the necessary votes.
Metropolitan John of Varna and Great Preslav. Sn. BGNES
The Patriarchal Electoral Church Council is necessarily held on Sundays in the Synodal Palace. The future patriarch must receive 2/3 of the votes of those participating in the council. If none of the nominees gets the necessary majority, the voting is repeated, but the two metropolitans with the most votes after the first round already participate in it. The one who received the most votes is declared elected. In case of a tie, the vote is repeated.
The Holy Synod held a thanksgiving prayer and performed the enthronement of the newly elected Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia, who assumed the powers associated with his title.
After that, the name of the newly elected Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia is announced to the heads of the Local Orthodox Churches, the President of Bulgaria, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister and announced to the public.
Nine metropolitan areas are eligible
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has 13 dioceses in our country (Sofia, Varna and Velikopreslavska, Velikoturnovska, Vidinska, Vrachanska, Dorostolska, Lovchanska, Nevrokopska, Plevenska, Plovdivska, Ruseska, Slivenska and Starozagorska) and 2 abroad (American, Canadian and Australian dioceses and West- and Central European Diocese).
Currently, the Sliven Diocese does not have an elected metropolitan after the death of Ioanikiy. According to theologians, the death of the patriarch will postpone the election of a new metropolitan of Sliven. Thus, nine members of the Holy Synod can claim to be the successor of Neophyte.
Metropolitan Nikolay of Plovdiv. Sn. BGNES
Four of the current metropolitans do not meet the requirements. Three of them – Western and Central European Metropolitan Anthonythe Neurokopian Metropolitan Seraphim and Starozagorski Metropolitan Cyprian have not reached the age of 50.
Dorostolsky Metropolitan Yakov, on the other hand, does not meet the requirement of having ruled a diocese for at least 5 years – he was elected in 2020.
Thus, the nine from among whom the new Bulgarian patriarch will be elected are:
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The Metropolitan of the USA, Canada and Australia Joseph
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Metropolitan Grigory of Veliko Tarnovo
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Metropolitan Ignatius of Pleven
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Lovchan Metropolitan Gavriil
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Metropolitan Nikolay of Plovdiv
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Metropolitan John of Varna and Great Preslav
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Rousse Metropolitan Naum
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Grigoriy, Metropolitan of Vrachan
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Daniil, Metropolitan of Vidin
