Bulgaria's Christian Orthodox Patriarch Maxim Dies Aged 98
Patriarch Maxim, Bulgaria's religious leader for over 40 years and the longest-serving Orthodox Christian leader in Europe, died early Tuesday, the Holy Synod announced. He was 98.
"This morning around 4:00 am (02H00 GMT) at the age of 98, the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Maxim has presented himself to God," the synod said in a short statement.
"God Forgive the Patriarch... Our souls and hearts are filled with grief for the heavy loss," synod member Metropolitan Nikolay told state BNR radio, urging Bulgarians to pray for the patriarch's soul.
Elected to head Bulgaria's Orthodox Church under Communist rule, the silver-haird patriarch withstood years of efforts to oust him once that regime collapsed.
He eventually managed to re-establish unity in the Bulgarian church, to which belong some 80 percent of the country's 7.4 million population.
Born Marin Minkov on October 29, 1914, he was elected patriarch at the age of 56 in 1971 during the Communist regime.
After the fall of Communism in 1989, reformists in the church called on him to resign, saying he lacked legitimacy because he was elected under the Communists who tried to strictly control the church.
But he managed to outlast the rebellion -- which at one point saw the Bulgarian church effectively split in two with rival patriarchs -- and managed to eventually re-establish himself as the church's single legitimate leader in June 2001.
Throughout his career, the elderly patriarch kept away from public and political life, preferring isolation and seclusion.
He remained silent in 2012 when it was revealed that 11 out of the 15 top bishops of the Holy Synod -- the Orthodox Church's highest authority -- were former secret police agents under the Communist dictatorship. Maxim himself was not on the list.
The Patriarch's health has been declining in recent years and he appeared in public only rarely, usually to lead church services on major holidays.
Source: Agence France Presse
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