Bulgaria bids farewell to its spiritual leader His Holiness Patriarch Neophyte in the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. March 15 and 16 have been declared a day of mourning by the Bulgarian government, BGNES reported.
The patriarch left us at the age of 78 after a long illness. Bulgarian citizens and clergy will be able to pay their last respects to him from 9:00 a.m. on March 15 in the Patriarchal Cathedral, the next day at 9:30 a.m. a funeral Holy Liturgy will be held by the hierarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and then there will be a funeral service, which will be headed by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who came from Istanbul at the head of a large delegation.
With a lithic procession, the body of the blessedly deceased Patriarch will be carried from the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral to the "Palm Sunday" Metropolitan Cathedral, where he will be laid to rest.
The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is already Metropolitan John of Varna, as he is the most senior bishop of the reduced composition of the Synod. Only after the burial of the patriarch should the metropolitans elect their deputy president.
"Next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday, the Holy Synod must meet to elect a vice-president of the Synod, who together with St. Synod organize the election of a new Bulgarian patriarch", said the Metropolitan of Stara Zagora and the spokesman of the Synod, Metropolitan Kyprian.
BGNES reminds that His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan Neophyte of Sofia died at the age of 78. The news was confirmed by the Bulgarian Holy Synod late in the evening of March 13.
The Bulgarian patriarch was admitted to hospital at the end of November last year due to a lung disease. Since the Nativity of Christ, dozens of prayers have been offered for his health, and in recent weeks many patriarchates have called for prayers for Neophyte.
His Holiness Neophyte was born on October 15, 1945, in Sofia with the secular name Simeon Dimitrov. After completing his secondary education, he was accepted as a student at the Sofia Theological Seminary, graduating in 1965.
Since September 1967, he has been a student at the Theological Academy "St. Kliment Ohridski" in Sofia, which graduated in 1971.
From the fall of 1971 to 1973, he studied theology at the Department of "Church Singing" at the Moscow Theological Academy. From September 1, 1973, he was appointed a teacher of Eastern church singing and conductor of the student choir at the Theological Academy "St. Kliment Ohridski" in Sofia.
In 1975, he was ordained a monk in the Troyan Monastery with the name Neophyte by Patriarch Maxim. In 1977, in the capital's cathedral church "St. Sunday" was elevated to Archimandrite dignity. Since December 1985, he has been proto-single of the Sofia metropolis, and as such, on December 8, he was coronated in the episcopal rank with the title of Leukius.
Since December 1989, Bishop Neofit has been rector of the Theological Academy "St. Kliment Ohridski" in Sofia, and on July 26, 1991 he was elected as the first dean of the restored Faculty of Theology at the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". He held this position until January 1992. In the same year, he was appointed the chief secretary of St. Synod and Chairman of the Church Board at the Patriarchal Cathedral "St. Alexander Nevsky".
In 1994, he was elected Metropolitan of Dorostol and Cherven. In 2008, he became an honorary doctor of the Sofia University (SU). The title was awarded for his overall contribution to the development of spirituality at SU and his active participation.
In 2010, he was awarded by the President with the Order of "St. Cyril and Methodius" - necklace "for his particularly significant merits for the development of the Theological Academy "St. Kliment Ohridski", for his contribution to the development of scientific and educational ties and relationships between Eastern and Western Christians and on the occasion of his 65th anniversary".
On February 24, 2013, Sunday, at the Patriarchal Electoral Church Council in Sofia, Metropolitan Neofit of Ruse was elected Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia.
The enthronement of His Holiness Neophyte as Patriarch of Bulgaria took place the same day in "St. Alexander Nevsky".
In his last public appearance at the end of October, His Holiness welcomed the relics of St. Euthymius - Patriarch of Turnovo. /BGNES
