< p>The election of Metropolitan Daniil as the Bulgarian patriarch was unexpected for many, and some Bulgarian priests consider this election a real catastrophe for the Bulgarian church and are thinking of switching to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, writes the editor of the Public Orthodoxy site Sergey Chapnin in a comment on the Russian service of BBC. In his words, the face of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church will now have a "Moscow grimace”.
As Chapnin tells, of the three candidates elected by the Synod of the Bulgarian Church a week ago, the favorite was Metropolitan Grigoriy of Vratsa, and the weakest figure was Metropolitan Daniil. "Pro-Moscow Party” however, she managed to have two candidates nominated from them – Lovchan Metropolitan Gavriil and Vidin Metropolitan Daniil.
"It is possible that the decisive factor for Daniil's choice was not so much the pro-Moscow sentiments of the participants in the council of the Bulgarian Church, but rather their historically complex relations with the Greeks," the commentator suggests. "Perhaps a negative factor was the invitation of a large and representative delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, led by Patriarch Bartholomew, to the enthronement of the new Bulgarian patriarch."
At the same time, the expert recalls, it should be borne in mind that in Bulgaria, from the point of view of the church administration, the patriarch is the ruling bishop of the metropolitan metropolis and chairman of the Synod. He does not have that absolute power that Patriarch Kirill has concentrated in his hands in the Russian Orthodox Church.
"At the same time, from a symbolic point of view, Patriarch Daniil is the face of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. And now there will be a Moscow grimace on that face“, summarizes Chapnin.