Egypt partners with Google to promote 'unmatched diversity' tourism campaign    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Taiwan GDP surges on tech demand    World Bank: Global commodity prices to fall 17% by '26    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    UNFPA Egypt, Bayer sign agreement to promote reproductive health    Egypt to boost marine protection with new tech partnership    France's harmonised inflation eases slightly in April    Eygpt's El-Sherbiny directs new cities to brace for adverse weather    CBE governor meets Beijing delegation to discuss economic, financial cooperation    Egypt's investment authority GAFI hosts forum with China to link business, innovation leaders    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's Gypto Pharma, US Dawa Pharmaceuticals sign strategic alliance    Egypt's Foreign Minister calls new Somali counterpart, reaffirms support    "5,000 Years of Civilizational Dialogue" theme for Korea-Egypt 30th anniversary event    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Angola's Lourenço discuss ties, African security in Cairo talks    Egypt's Al-Mashat urges lower borrowing costs, more debt swaps at UN forum    Two new recycling projects launched in Egypt with EGP 1.7bn investment    Egypt's ambassador to Palestine congratulates Al-Sheikh on new senior state role    Egypt pleads before ICJ over Israel's obligations in occupied Palestine    Sudan conflict, bilateral ties dominate talks between Al-Sisi, Al-Burhan in Cairo    Cairo's Madinaty and Katameya Dunes Golf Courses set to host 2025 Pan Arab Golf Championship from May 7-10    Egypt's Ministry of Health launches trachoma elimination campaign in 7 governorates    EHA explores strategic partnership with Türkiye's Modest Group    Between Women Filmmakers' Caravan opens 5th round of Film Consultancy Programme for Arab filmmakers    Fourth Cairo Photo Week set for May, expanding across 14 Downtown locations    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Ancient military commander's tomb unearthed in Ismailia    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM praises ties with Tanzania    Egypt to host global celebration for Grand Egyptian Museum opening on July 3    Ancient Egyptian royal tomb unearthed in Sohag    Egypt hosts World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Somabay for 3rd consecutive year    Egyptian Minister praises Nile Basin consultations, voices GERD concerns    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria dies at age 98
Published in Amwal Al Ghad on 06 - 11 - 2012

Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, the spiritual leader of the Balkan country's Orthodox Christians who weathered a revolt over his communist-era ties to head the church for more than 40 years, has died. He was 98.
The patriarch died of heart failure early Tuesday at a Sofia hospital where he had been for a month, the Holy Synod said in a statement.
The Holy Synod of 13 senior clergy will meet to make funeral arrangements and choose an interim patriarch until a larger Church Council is held within the next four months to pick Maxim's successor, church officials said.
Orthodox Christianity is the Bulgaria's dominant religion, followed by more than 80 percent of the country's 7.4 million people. Maxim was the church's leader for more than four decades, bridging the country's transition from communism and withstanding efforts to oust him by the new democratic government and rebel priests who saw him as a communist stooge.
Born on Oct. 29, 1914 as Marin Naidenov Minkov, he graduated from the Sofia Seminary in 1935 and entered Sofia University's theology department in 1938, before rising through the church ranks to be named Patriarch on July 4, 1971.
After the collapse of communism in 1989, the new democratic government sought to replace communist-appointed figureheads, including the patriarch, but because of the division between church and state such a decision could only be made by the church. It split between supporters of Patriarch Maxim and breakaway clergymen, who attempted to oust him and then formed their own synod.
The division plunged the church into turmoil, with occupations of key church buildings; priests breaking into fistfights on church steps; and water cannons and tear gas being turned on rebel bishops to clear the main Alexander Nevski cathedral.
For more than a decade, the two synods existed side by side, with the dissidents claiming to have rallied 30 percent of the country's 1,000 priests to their cause. The majority of believers stayed loyal to Maxim, who was recognized as legitimate by the church's other patriarchates.
The schism ended in 2010, when the head of the alternative synod, Metropolitan Inokentii, called for a healing of division between the groups and the rival synod was dissolved.
A panel reviewing investigating communist-era collaborators with the former security services found no links to Maxim, though it said that 11 out of the country's 15 bishops had been collaborating with the communist regime.
The church leader largely kept away from political life, though he remained an influential figure throughout his career.
He was hailed for meeting with Pope John Paul II during the pontiff's visit to Sofia in 2002, a trip seen as warming the frosty relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican.
He also rallied support among his Orthodox colleagues in other countries for the release of six Bulgarian medics sentenced to death by the Gadhafi regime in Libya for allegedly deliberately infecting children with HIV.
vcstar


Clic here to read the story from its source.