Historical day for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. 140 delegates will elect the new Bulgarian patriarch today, BNT reported.
Exactly ten days ago, the Holy Synod chose the three metropolitans who have the right to participate in the procedure. These are Gavrail Lovchanski, Grigoriy Vrachanski and Daniil Vidinski.
According to the statutes of our Orthodox Church, only a clergyman who has reached the age of 50 and has held a diocesan post for at least five years can be elected as patriarch. 9 were the metropolitans who met the condition, among them the Plovdiv - Nikolay, who officially refused to be nominated.
Under the ringing of bells and after a roll call check by the Credentials Commission of the presence of the electors and the regularity of their credentials, the vice-president of the Holy Synod and all the diocesan metropolitans, followed by the bishops, led the delegates to the electoral assembly from the reception hall of the Synodal Palace to the academic hall of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). There, with a short prayer given by the vice-president of the Holy Synod, the assembly will be opened and the electoral bureau will be appointed, BTA reported.
After that, the delegates of the council leave from BAS to the Synodal Palace, where the ballot box will be officially sealed. Voting will also begin.
The name of the newly elected Bulgarian patriarch is expected to be announced in the afternoon. After that, the new patriarch, the metropolitans and the bishops of the BOC-BP will go to the patriarchal cathedral "St. Alexander Nevsky", where the heads and representatives of the local Orthodox churches, who came to us for the council, will be waiting for them. The enthronement of the newly elected Bulgarian patriarch will begin and a prayer service will be held.
The ceremony will end with a joint photo in front of the Patriarchal Cathedral.