Simeon (Kostadinov)

Metropolitan Simeon (Kostadinov) (September 17, 1926 - April 16, 2016) was the former Metropolitan of Western and Central Europe of the Church of Bulgaria.

Life

Metropolitan Simeon was born Hristo Dimitrov Kostadinov in the coastal Bulgarian town of Varna. He was a teacher and a monk at the Rila Monastery. He has held various religious offices in Bulgaria, the US, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. He was tonsured a monk on December 6, 1954. He was ordained a hieromonk in 1958 by Patriarch Alexei I of Russia. He was ordained a bishop in 1973 as bishop of Glavnitsa, vicar bishop of the diocese of New York, and administrator of the diocese of Akron. In 1979 he was made Vicar Bishop of Western Europe. In 1986, he became bishop of this diocese, and in 1994, he was elevated to Metropolitan for Western and Central Europe, the first bishop of this . In June, 2013, he stepped down from this position due to illness and age. Afterwards, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he reposed. His body is to be transported back to Bulgaria to be buried at the Rila Monastery there, per his wishes.

Sources

• Bulgarian News Agency
• Metropolit Symeon entschlafen Orthodoxie-in-Deutschland, April 17, 2016 news item (in German)
• UNSER METROPOLIT SIMEON - OUR METROPOLITAN BISHOP SIMEON (in German)
• Ex-Bulgarian Metropolitan of W, C Europe passes away FOCUS News Agency - April 16, 2016
• Article with pictures of funeral from the site of the Bulgarian Patriarchiate (in Bulgarian)

Succession box: Simeon (Kostadinov)
Preceded by: none	Metropolitan of Western and Central Europe 1994-2013	Succeeded by: Antoniy (Michalev)

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