site.btaThree Candidates for Patriarch Elected

At an eight-hour meeting on Thursday, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church elected by secret ballot three diocesan metropolitans as worthy candidates for Patriarch in place of Patriarch Neophyte, who died aged 78 after a long illness on March 13.

The Holy Synod now has a full complement of 14 metropolitans. The elected candidates are Metropolitan Gregory of Vratsa, the Locum Tenens of the Holy Synod, with 11 votes in the first round; Metropolitan Daniel of Vidin with nine votes in the 32nd round, and Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech with nine votes in the 42nd round of voting.

The new Patriarch will be elected on June 30 by the Patriarchal Electoral Church Council. The Bulgarian Patriarch, who is also Metropolitan of Sofia, will be enthroned on the same day in the St Alexander Nevsky Patriarchal Cathedral.