About Neophyte of Bulgaria
Patriarch Neophyte (Bulgarian: Патриарх Неофит, romanized: Patriarch Neofit; secular name: Simeon Nikolov Dimitrov; Bulgarian: Симеон Николов Димитров; 15 October 1945 – 13 March 2024) was the Patriarch of All Bulgaria, head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church from 24 February 2013 until his death on 13 March 2024. Prior to his election, he was the Metropolitan Bishop of Ruse (2001–2013) and Bishop of Dorostol and Cherven (1994–2001). == Biography == After completing his primary education in the fall of 1959, Dimitrov was accepted as a student at the Sofia Theological Seminary in Cherepish Monastery, and completed his studies in 1965. In 1971 he graduated from the Sofia Theological Academy of St. Clement of Ohrid, and later trained in church singing at the Moscow Theological Academy. On 3 August 1975, at the Troyan Monastery, he took monastic vows with the name Neophyte in a ceremony overseen by Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria. The following year, he was ordained hierodeacon the same month and as hieromonk at the St. Nedelya Church in Sofia. From 1975 onwards he was conductor of the ecclesiastical choir in Sofia and in 1977 became a lecturer in Orthodox Singing at the Sofia Theological Academy. Neophyte was ordained archimandrite by Patriarch Maxim on 21 November 1977 at St Nedelya Church.
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