Maxim of Bulgaria

Patriarch Maxim (Maximus) (Bulgarian: Патриарх Максим) (born Marin Naydenov Minkov, October 29, 1914[2][full citation needed] – November 6, 2012) was the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church from 1971 until his death.[1][3] He was born in Oreshak, the second of the two children of Nayden Minkov Rachev and Pena Bordzhukova, but very little is known about his parents' background.He was educated only in his native mountain village of Oreshak but from his late childhood, he became a novice monk in the Troyan Monastery and then studied Orthodox Theology at Sofia University, from which he graduated in 1935 with honours.In the early 1990s, a split in the Bulgarian Church was stimulated by the government of the Union of Democratic Forces, based on the alleged cooperation and affiliation of Maxim with the former regime.The faction against Maxim formed the Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod.