Bulgaria's Orthodox Church elects new pro-Russian patriarch

Bulgaria's Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Metropolitan Daniil -- who experts see as pro-Russian in a church  traditionally considered very close to Moscow -- as its new leader after Patriarch Neophyte died in March aged 78.

Metropolitan Daniil, 52, won support from 69 out of 138 delegates present at the church council, the Saint Synode announced.

He won in a run-off against Hryhoriy, 50, who was backed by 66 delegates and whom experts consider as more neutral with regard to the Kremlin.

The bells of the imposing golden-domed Alexander Nevski cathedral announced the result with a church procession planned ahead of his enthronement later Sunday.

The Bulgarian patriarch is elected for life unless he himself decides to step down.

Daniil succeeds the charismatic Patriarch Neophyte, who died in March after leading the church for over ten years.

The Bulgarian Christian Orthodox Church, which represents more than two-thirds of the population, usually avoids commenting on current events.

But Neophyte had urged an end of the war in Ukraine.

Daniil, on the other hand, had supported the Kremlin in a lengthy video message published in 2023, analysts recalled.

He strongly criticised the expulsion in September 2023 of the head of the Russian Church in Sofia and two Belarusian priests, accused of serving Russia's geopolitical interests.

Born Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov, Daniil started studying English philology at the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1996 before transferring to the theology faculty during his second year.

He took holy orders in 1999 and graduated his theology studies in 2002. Between 2011 and 2018 he served as vicar of the Metropolitan of the US, Canada and Australia Joseph. In 2018, he was elected metropolitan of the northwestern town of Vidin.

In November 2022, a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Daniil issued instructions to his priests, criticising a tendency "to sow hatred towards one of the belligerent parties designated as the sole unprovoked aggressor".

In a break with tradition, Russian Patriarch Kirill, who supports Russia's war in Ukraine, was not expected to attend the sumptuous enthronement ceremony in Sofia on Sunday.

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, was to be present.

In July 2023, Bartholomew served a mass in Istanbul in memory of the victims of the war in Ukraine, in the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He also backed Ukraine's Orthodox Church when it announced its break with Russia in May 2022, declaring its "full independence" from the Russian spiritual authorities.

Since the end of communism, which imposed atheism, many Bulgarians have turned to religion, with 53 percent of the people polled in a recent Gallup survey saying they were religious.