2024-03-16 05:34:25
The statute of the BOC does not provide for such a case, the Synod will decide on its own. However, according to the former head of the Directorate for Religious Confessions, Prof. Ivan Zhelev, the diocese, which was widowed 2 months earlier, should be the first to receive a leader
The election of the metropolitan of Sliven to precede that of the new patriarch. The Holy Synod is leaning towards this decision, it became clear from the comments of its spokesman – Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora, today.
A day earlier, when the Synod met for its first mourning session after the death of His Holiness, the scant first comments were in the direction that it was right that the widowed Sliven Diocese – the richest in the country – should find its new leader under the leadership of the new patriarch .
However, the idea that this election precedes the broadcasting of a new head of the BOC is “to have completeness of the patriarchal election, all the chairs must be occupied”, said Metropolitan Kyprian of Staro Zagora today.
This means that the election of a new patriarch is postponed until the last possible term. The statute of the BOC says that the procedure can begin 40 days after the death of the previous one and must be completed within 4 months at the latest. According to Kyprian, the Metropolitan of Sliven will be elected in June and not until a month later, i.e. in July, the patriarchal council will also be scheduled.
The final decision will become clear next week. On Wednesday, the Synod meets in a new session, for
to elect a deputy chairman
in place of the late Patriarch Neophytus. It is he who will organize the election. Until then, church affairs were managed by Metropolitan John of Varna and Veliky Preslav, who, as a senior member of the reduced composition of the Synod, was dispatched to organize the sending of His Holiness. Ioan is also the temporary ruler of the Sliven Metropolis.
A day earlier, Metropolitan Nikolay of Plovdiv advocated the thesis that the election in Sliven should precede the patriarchal one. It became clear that the metropolitans had a dispute at their meeting.
Many clergy give the example of the Archdiocese of Hellas, which leads the Orthodox Church
in Greece – there, upon the death of both a patriarch and a metropolitan, a patriarch is elected first
“There was also a contradiction between the apostles Peter and Paul, and no one called anyone a schismatic.
It is normal in the earthly, militant church to have
disagreement, contradictions and disagreements”, commented Metropolitan Nikolay on Thursday.
“Such a case is not provided for in the BOC statute, and it is not known which of the two choices has priority,” theologian Ivan Zhelev, former head of the Directorate for Religious Denominations at the Council of Ministers, explained to “24 Chasa”.
“In any case, the death of the Metropolitan of Sliven precedes the death of Patriarch Neofit by two months. So, in my opinion, this procedure should be completed first”, says Prof. Zhelev.
According to him, the time of holding the two elections may be earlier than June-July, when Kyprian sent the procedures: “As far as I understand, the metropolitans have a tacit agreement and understanding to hold the Sliven election first, which, looking at the calendar, will be after Easter – probably in the second half of May, as the election will not take place in the first week after Easter. That is, it will be from the second week of May onwards”.
Prof. Zhelev reminded that during this time Metropolitan John has the task to do
financial audit of all divisions in the Sliven Metropolis
“It is impossible. If audits are commissioned, 2 years will pass. When the new metropolitan comes, let him do his inspections. Naturally, in the election of the Metropolitan of Sliven, there will be a lobby in order to choose the Metropolitan who pleases some, who always has his own candidate for each position”, reflects Zhelev.
The decision on the financial inspection was made at the last regular meeting of the Synod on March 12, when the election of the bishop was also approved. According to the statute, the term to broadcast a new one is 3 months, which were counted from January 9, when Ioanniki died. “These three months will expire at the beginning of April. But since such a choice was already made and it was cashed, we are now moving beyond those deadlines. Therefore, 3 months can be considered from the decision on March 12”, explained Zhelev.
“After the Sliven election, the election of the Bulgarian patriarch will begin, which is most reasonable to be done in June. Because the four months provided for the election of a patriarch expire in the middle of July”, adds the theologian.
The order of the procedures depends on how many people the Holy Synod will consist of when it starts to elect a patriarch – 13, as they are at the moment, or 14.
According to the church statute, a week before the date of the patriarchal council, for participation in which each diocese broadcasts three clerics and two laymen (only the Sofia diocese has a total of 10 representatives), the Synod broadcasts by secret vote and a majority of 2/3 three metropolitans from its composition, who will be candidates for the patriarchal throne. They must have reached the age of 50 and have managed a diocese for at least 5 years, “to be distinguished by correct thoughts on the Orthodox faith and by exact observance of church order”. Nine meet these conditions at the moment: Nicholas, Gabriel, Gregory (Velikotarnovski), Joseph, Ignatius, John, Naum, Danail and Gregory (Vrachanski).
Among the bishops who insist that the election of the Metropolitan of Sliven precede that of the Patriarch are those who were in favor of canceling the Synod’s decree that excluded lay voters from the process. The day before Neophyte’s death, the Synod decided to withdraw her after protests under his windows.