Levski, Pleven Province, Bulgaria, January 22, 2024
Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
A second hierarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has reposed in the Lord in as many weeks.
On January 9, His Eminence Metropolitan Joanikii of Sliven reposed following a long illness, and on Friday, January 19, His Grace Bishop Pavel of Levski, 66, reposed following a short illness, reports the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
He served as a hierarch of the Orthodox Church for 25 years.
May Bp. Pavel’s memory be eternal!
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Photo: bg-patriarshia.bg
His Grace was born on July 12, 1957 in Levski. He attended high school at the St. John of Rila Seminay in Sofia, and in 1984, he was accepted as a student of the St. Clement of Ohrid Theological Academy in Sofia. He graduated in 1989.
He was tonsured as a monk with the name Pavel on Febuary 22, 1986. He was ordained a hierodeacon on March 11, that same year, and a hieromonk on May 21. He served in the church at the Sofia Seminary until December 1987, then served as the protosingel of the Vrata Metropolis until September 1989. He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on March 11, 1989.
From September 1989 until 1991, he studied theology at the Moscow Theological Academy. Upon returning home, he again served at the Sofia Seminary until December 1992.
He was consecrated Bishop of Tiveriopol for the schismatic Bulgarian Orthodox Church-Alternative Synod on December 20, 1992. By decision of the Pan-Orthodox Council of September-October 1998, he was received into canonical communion with the title Bishop of Levski.
From December 1998 to March 1, 2000, he served as vicar of the Metropolis of Varna and Veliko Preslav, and from March 1, 2000 to July 1, 2002, he was head of the parish council at the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky.
Since July 1, 2002, he served at the disposal of the Holy Synod.
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