FILE - Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte, reads prayers during an open-air service in front of the golden-domed Alexander Newski cathedral during Easter mass in Sofia, Sunday, April 12, 2015. Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, who was the first elected head of the Orthodox Church in the post-communist Balkan country, died at a hospital in Sofia, at age 78. The Orthodox Holy Synod said Wednesday, March 13, 2024, in a statement that the patriarch had been hospitalized for four months for lung ailments. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova, File) FILE PHOTO
