site.btaMemorial Liturgy, Panikhida Service Mark Anniversary of Late Patriarch Neophyte’s Repose in 2024

A hierarchical divine liturgy in memory of the late Patriarch Neophyte was celebrated by Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil Saturday at the St. Nedelya metropolitan church, the Bulgarian Patriarchate said. It was followed by a panikhida service in memory of Patriarch Neophyte who passed away on March 13, 2024.

"We profess and believe that our God 'is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him' (Lk 20:38). It is with this faith that we have gathered today to pray together, with one heart and one mouth, for the Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte. We know and remember Patriarch Neophyte as a man of faith, of proverbial meekness, of humble endurance of trials, difficulties and temptations. We have learned and continue to learn from his gentleness, meekness and long-suffering, from all the nobility, spirituality and wisdom that he radiated and that he was able to transmit and cultivate in the minds and hearts of those who encountered him," His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil said at the memorial service, as quoted by the Bulgarian Patriarchate on its website.

"Father Neophyte was a clergyman with singular tact, spiritual sensitivity, with the amazing ability to unite people, to reconcile the hostile, to achieve peace and agreement. We will always remember and honour him as a selflessly loving archpastor, our faithful mentor in God's righteousness and in the way of salvation, and a tireless promoter of our ecclesial unity," Patriarch Daniil said.

"Today, just a day before Forgiveness Sunday and the beginning of holy period of Great Lent, let us once again ask our Most Generous Lord for His forgiveness and His great mercy for our Most Holy Patriarch Neophyte, forgiving him for every transgression, be that voluntary or involuntary, with which he may have sinned as a human being, remembering well how he himself was always the first to forgive everyone, because this is also God's command to us all: '... forgive, and you will be forgiven' (Lk 6:37)."

Patriarch Daniil ended the service by saying: "May God rest the late Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Neophyte and receive him into His Kingdom of light, peace and joy, and have mercy upon us! Eternal and blessed be his memory!"

Earlier in the day, the Holy Synod and Sofia Metropolitanate said: "The blessed Patriarch Neophyte remains forever alive in our hearts and memory with his sincere humanity, fatherly love, patience, monastic humility and angelic singing. He fulfilled the most important commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ to man: that we love one another (Jn 15:12), and with the hope of the resurrection and eternal life he set out for the quiet and peaceful heavenly haven of the kingdom of God. The good fight has been fought, the race has been finished, the faith has been kept... (2 Tim. 4:7). Eternal and blessed be his bright memory."