Daniil of Bulgaria
Bulgarian Orthodox patriarch
Patriarch Daniil (Bulgarian: Патриарх Даниил; secular name: Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov; Bulgarian: Атанас Трендафилов Николов; born 2 March 1972) is a prelate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, currently serving as Patriarch of All Bulgaria since June 2024. Prior to his election, he was the Metropolitan Bishop of Vidin (2018–2024) and bishop of Dragovitia (2008–2018).
Early life and education
Atanas Trendafilov Nikolov was born on 2 March 1972 in Smolyan in the People's Republic of Bulgaria. He completed his primary and secondary education in his hometown and later served in the military. In 1996, he began studying English Philology at Sofia University, but the following year he transferred to the Faculty of Theology of the same university, where he graduated in 2002.
Episcopate
On 21 July 2004, Daniil was sent for obedience to the Rozhen Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On 27 November of the same year he was ordained hieromonk by his diocesan bishop. On 1 June 2006, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On 20 January 2008, he was consecrated Bishop of Dragovitia and vicar of the diocese of Nevrokop diocese.
On 15 June 2010, Daniil was appointed vicar of the diocese in the US, Canada and Australia of the Bulgarian Patriarchate.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Daniil of Bulgaria” is bulgarian Orthodox patriarch. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Daniil, Bulgaria and Bulgarian, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12277648. VIAF identifies the subject as 463167022144552872732. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 2024, 2018 and 2008.
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This entry incorporates text from “Daniil of Bulgaria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.