site.btaBishop Pahomii of Branitsa Elected Metropolitan of Vidin

Bishop Pahomii of Branitsa was elected Metropolitan of Vidin on Sunday by a unanimous vote of 14 "in favour," cast by Patriarch Daniil and the members of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The election was held in the Synodal Palace in Sofia.

Pahomii (secular name Petar Lozanov) was born on April 25, 1978, in Sofia. He finished a parallel course at the Sofia Theological Seminary in 2000. In 2004, he was appointed hegumen of the Divotino Monastery, where he set up a monastic brotherhood and re-activated religious life. In 2010, Pahomii graduated from the Theology Faculty at the University of Sofia. He became rector of the Sofia Theological Seminary in 2017, and was ordained as Bishop of Btanitsa in 2021.

Before Daniil headed the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in June 2024, he was metropolitan of Vidin. Pahomii is First Vicar of the Patriarch.