On September 10, 2024, the Holy Synod of the Church of Bulgaria, under the leadership of Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria, made the decision to ordain Archimandrite Meletios (Spasov), who serves as the Dean of the Sofia Theological Seminary “St. John of Rila”, to the esteemed position of Bishop.
The ordination ceremony is scheduled to take place on September 15 (Sunday) at 9:00 a.m. in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky. Following his ordination, Bishop Meletios will continue his dedicated work as the Dean of the Sofia Theological Seminary “St. John of Rila”.
Biography of Bishop Meletios (Spasov)
Bishop Meletios (Spasov) was born in Sofia in the year 1985. He completed his secondary education at the 31st General Gymnasium “Ivan Vazov” with a specialization in the German language in 2005.
In the same year, he was admitted to the Theological School of Sofia University “St. Clement of Ohrid”, where he earned his degree in theology and pedagogical qualification in 2009.
During the academic year 2007-2008, he pursued further studies in theology at the University of Jena, Germany.
In 2013, he successfully completed his postgraduate studies at the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Sofia.
He began his journey as a novice at the Divotino Monastery in 2012, where he took his monastic vows on June 23, 2014, under the guidance of Bishop Grigory of Branick and the Abbot Archimandrite Pachomius.
He was ordained as a deacon and priest-monk by Bishop Grigory in 2015.
In 2016-2017, he underwent theological specialization at the Higher Church School “Sts. Cyril and Methodius” in Moscow.
Since 2017, he has served as the Vice Dean of the Sofia Theological Seminary and as a Professor of the New Testament. He has also been leading the seminary choir during this time.
From 2018 onwards, he has been pursuing his doctoral studies in philosophy as an external candidate at Sofia University “St. Clement of Ohrid”. On June 29, 2022, he was honored with the title of Archimandrite by Metropolitan Cyprian of Stara Zagora.