Znopolsky Vicariate is the titular Vicariate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church . The name received from the historical and geographical region of Znepole in the west of Bulgaria , on the border with Serbia .
As soon as he stepped into the pulpit of the capital, Metropolitan of Sofia Stefan (Shokov) wished to ordain himself a vicar bishop. The choice fell on the young and educated archimandrite Paisius (Ankov) ; he received the title "Znepolsky" contrary to the tradition of giving the vicars the titles of ancient departments - in Znopol, first mentioned by Konstantin Kostenechsky in the first half of the 15th century , there was never a bishopric department.
Most often, the bishops of Znepolsky were vicars of the Metropolitan of Sofia, and then the Patriarch of Bulgaria.
Bishops
- Paisiy (Ankov) (April 1, 1923 - September 21, 1930)
- Sofroniy (Chavdarov) (November 1, 1931 - October 6, 1935)
- Joseph (Lazarov) (July 5, 1936 - December 26, 1937)
- Filaret (Panayotov) (November 27, 1938 - May 21, 1939)
- Flavian (Popov) (June 23, 1940 - April 1, 1956)
- Joseph (Dikov) (April 7, 1957 - December 17, 1972)
- Dometian (Topuzliev) (December 15, 1974 - July 26, 1987)
- Ignatius (Dimov) (June 29, 1988 - May 29, 1994)
- Abner (Arnaudov) (October 1, 1998 - June 11, 2001)
- Nikolai (Sevastiyanov) (July 7, 2001 - February 4, 2007)
- John (Ivanov) (March 18, 2007 - December 22, 2013)
- Arseny (Lazarov) (from July 6, 2014), vicar of the Plovdiv Metropolitanate
Links
- ZNEPIL DIOCESE // Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "Tree"
- For the title at the bishop without a diocese in the Bulgarian church