Bulgaria's Varna to Get Interim Metropolitan Bishop

The Holy Synod of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church will name Wednesday an interim metropolitan bishop of Varna and Veliki Preslav.

The move has been prompted by the unexpected death of metropolitan bishop Kiril, whose body was discovered on a beach in the exurban area of Trakata near Varna on Tuesday.

The Orthodox Church has refuted initial reports that authorities may suspect foul play, saying in a statement that “the information in the mass media of a violent death is not confirmed in any way at this stage by the Varna police.”

The Varna District Prosecutor’s Office also said Tuesday that there was no evidence so far pointing to foul play.

Prosecutors have opened a probe and started to question witnesses to determine the cause and circumstances of Kiril's death.

Bishop Kiril was born as Bogomil Petrov Kovachev on June 8, 1954. He has been metropolitan bishop of Varna and Veliki Preslav since 1989. In November 2012, Kiril was chosen as interim Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church following the death of 98-year-old former Patriarch Maxim. Kiril remained interim Patriarch until February 2013, where new Patriarch Neofit was elected.

In 2012, Kiril was exposed as a former agent of State Security (DS) the Bulgarian secret service during the Communist dictatorship (1944-1989). Kiril worked as a secret agent under the aliases "Kovachev" and "Vladislav."

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