Department for External Church Relations
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His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria passed away in the Lord
On 6 November 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, the oldest Primate of a Local Orthodox Church, passed away in the Lord.
The future Primate of the Bulgarian Church (Marin Naydenov Minkov) was born on 29 October 1914, in the village of Oreshak of the Troyan Municipality, Lovech Province, Bulgaria, into a family of a pious craftsman.
In 1935 he graduated cum laude from the Sofia Theological Seminary and in 1942 – from the Theological faculty of the St Clement of Ohrid University in Sofia.
At his last course, on 13 December 1941, he took monastic vows with the name of Maxim and was ordained hierodeacon on December, 19. He started serving as a metropolitan’s deacon in Lovech, but soon was appointed teacher and tutor of the Sofia Theological Seminary. He held this post from 1942 to 1947.
On 14 May 1944, he was ordained hieromonk and on 12 October 1947, elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was appointed protosingel of the Dorostol-Cherven metropolia.
In 1950 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church resolved to nominate him rector of the Bulgarian Representation in Moscow. He had served in Moscow for almost six years, until the end of 1955.
Upon his return to homeland he was appointed secretary of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church (he held this post from 1955 to 1960) and chairman of the editorial board of the Synodal periodicals (1957 – 1960).
On 30 December 1956, he was consecrated bishop of Branitsa.
On 20 October 1960, he was nominated Metropolitan of Lovech.
The Church–National Council of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which was held on 4 – 8 July 1971, elected Metropolitan Maxim of Lovech to the Patriarchal Throne.
The enthronement of the twenty-first Patriarch of Bulgaria took place on 4 July 1971, at the Cathedral of St Alexander Nevsky in Sofia. Patriarch Maxim’s ministry as Primate of the Bulgarian Church lasted for forty-one years.
May the Lord give rest to the soul of His recently deceased servant, His Holiness Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, in the dwelling of the righteous!
Patriarch
Department Chairman
Sermons
05.01.2026
24.12.2025
24.01.2021
06.11.2020