Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church elected Daniil of Vidin, a 52-year-aged metropolitan assumed to be pro-Russian, as its new head in a vote that mirrored the divisions in the church and wider society since Russia overran Ukraine more than two years ago.
Growing legions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior church began after some of them endeavoured to warm relations with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was identified by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2019. Russian and most other Orthodox patriarchs declined to accept the designation that standardised a split with the Russian church.
Unlike his late predecessor, who in his last devotions condemned Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Daniil has taken the flank of the Moscow Patriarchy in its confrontation with the Ecumenical Patriarch over the sovereignty of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church.
Daniil attracted attention for his support of the Kremlin in a lengthy video message unleashed in 2023. He strongly criticised the eviction in September 2023 of the Russian Church’s head in Sofia and two Belarusian priests. Born as Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov, Daniil started his academic journey studying English philology at Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in 1996, later changing to theology during his second year.
In 1999, Daniil joined holy orders and completed his theology studies in 2002. From 2011 to 2018, he held the function of vicar under Metropolitan Joseph, leading the Orthodox communities in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 2018, he was selected as the metropolitan of Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria. In November 2022, following the battle in Ukraine, Daniil allocated directives to his clergy, blaming a trend of “spreading animosity towards one of the warring groups singled out as the sole aggressor without provocation.”
Russian Ambassador Eleonora Mitrofanova also followed the enthronement of the newly elected Patriarch and advised the Bulgarian Orthodox Church not to identify the independent Church of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) are two separate entities within Ukrainian Orthodoxy.
The UOC, also understood as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), stayed under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church until it proclaimed independence in 2022. It promoted the “Russian World” (“Russkiy Mir”) ideology, near aligning with the Kremlin’s interests, helping Russian military actions in Ukraine, and denouncing Ukrainian sovereignty.
The OCU, on the other hand, was founded in 2018 and granted autocephaly (autonomy) by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In April, The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) criticised the Russian Orthodox Church, directed by Patriarch Kirill, as an “ideological extension” of Putin’s administration.
