Simeon (Kostadinov)

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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 then tonsured 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 new see. 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

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