Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod

In March 1992 it ruled that the 1971 election of Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim had been recognized illegal because he had been appointed by the communist government in an uncanonical manner.This triggered a division among the bishops, and several of them under the leadership of Metropolitan Pimen (Enev) of Nevrokop called publicly for Maxim’s deposition, forming the Alternative synod.They were condemned as schismatics by the official Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.The dispute hardened into an even deeper division when, on July 4, 1996, Metropolitan Pimen was installed as rival Patriarch and was anathematized by Maxim’s Holy Synod.[citation needed] In 1998, through mediation of several Eastern Orthodox Churches, an agreement to heal the schism was reached,[3] but soon it turned out that effort for reconciliation were short-lived.
Eastern OrthodoxyGovernanceBulgarianOld Church SlavicBulgariaSeparated fromBulgarian Orthodox ChurchEastern Orthodox ChurchBulgarian governmentBulgarian Patriarch MaximNevrokopNeophyte of BulgariaGordon-Melton, John