His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania has conveyed a formal message to the newly enthroned Patriarch Daniil of Bulgaria, celebrating his election on June 30, 2024. The Romanian Orthodox Church received the news with joy, expressing confidence that Patriarch Daniil will honor the spiritual traditions of his predecessors with dedication and vigor. Patriarch Daniel highlighted the importance of Patriarch Daniil's leadership amidst contemporary challenges facing the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, urging him to uphold Christian values amidst moral, social, economic, and military crises. The message also included prayers for God’s guidance as Patriarch Daniil navigates his role, emphasizing unity between the Romanian and Bulgarian Orthodox communities.

"Your Beatitude,

Beloved Brothers Hierarchs,

Members of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,

Honourable audience,

It was with great joy in Christ the Lord that the hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the Romanian Orthodox Church received today, 30 June 2024, the news of Your Beatitude’s election as Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. We are fully assured that Your Beatitude will be a worthy successor of Patriarch Neophyte of blessed memory and of the other venerable Patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, whose spiritual legacy you will continue with faithfulness and dynamism and with the same care for the Romanian Orthodox church and community in Sofia.

The dignity of Primate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, to which you have been called by our Saviour Jesus Christ, the “Great High Priest” (Hebrews 4, 14), implies a special pastoral responsibility for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, especially in these difficult times, marked by numerous moral, social and economic crises and even by military conflicts.In the context of the many challenges of today’s world, our Lord Jesus Christ, “the Good Shepherd” (John 10, 11), calls all the servants of His Church to bear witness, by word and deed, to the saving truth of His Gospel.Thus, we are convinced that Your Beatitude, a faithful and diligent servant in the Lord’s Vineyard, will contribute to the defence and affirmation of Christian values in the contemporary world and to the promotion of the social and philanthropic work of the Orthodox Church.

In these solemn moments, we pray that the Almighty God may grant you peace, joy and abundant help to shepherd the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the path of salvation, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and of the entire Orthodoxy.

Through our fraternal message, conveyed to Your Beatitude by His Eminence Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Târgoviște and Patriarchal Exarch, we are pleased to share in this great and blessed celebration of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which strengthens the communion between our Churches, between the Romanian people and the Bulgarian people.

On behalf of the Holy Synod, the clergy and the faithful of the Romanian Orthodox Church, we congratulate Your Beatitude on the occasion of this special event, wishing you many happy and fruitful years in the service of the Holy Orthodox Church of Bulgaria!

With high esteem and fraternal embrace in Christ the Lord,

† DANIEL

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church"