Bulgarian Exarchate

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An early-20th-century postcard depicting the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Balat, Constantinople.

The Bulgarian Exarchate (Bulgarian: Българска екзархия, romanizedBalgarska ekzarhiya; Turkish: Bulgar Eksarhlığı) was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953.

The Exarchate (a de facto

Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire
.

The foundation of the Exarchate was the direct result of the actions of the most extreme Bulgarian nationalists under leadership of Dragan Tsankov, himself a Catholic, against the authority of the Greek

schismatic. Nevertheless, Bulgarian religious leaders continued to extend the borders of the Exarchate in the Ottoman Empire by conducting plebiscites in areas contested by both Churches.[1]

In this way, in the struggle for recognition of a separate Church, the modern Bulgarian nation was created under the name

National awakening

In 1762, Saint

Sophroniy of Vratsa (1739–1813), Abbot Spiridon Gabrovski (died 1824), Abbot Yoakim Karchovski (died 1820), and Abbot Kiril Peychinovich
(died 1845).

Struggle for church autonomy[3]

The result of the work of Paisius and his followers began before long to give fruit. Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek clergy started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses as early as the 1820s.

It was not, however, until the 1850 that the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against the Greek clerics in a number of bishoprics demanding their replacement with Bulgarian ones as well as other changes such as the use of Bulgarian in liturgy and fixed salaries for bishops. By that time, most Bulgarian religious leaders had realised that any further struggle for the rights of the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire could not succeed unless they managed to obtain at least some degree of autonomy from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

As the Ottomans identified nationality (ethnicity) with

Phanar Greeks (Phanariots). Thus, if the Bulgarians wanted to have Bulgarian schools and liturgy in Bulgarian
, they needed an autonomous ecclesiastical organisation.

The struggle between the Bulgarians, led by

Phanariotes intensified throughout the 1860s. As the Greek clerics were ousted from most Bulgarian bishoprics at the end of the decade, the whole of northern Bulgaria, as well as the northern parts of Thrace and Macedonia
had, to all intents and purposes, seceded from the Patriarchate.

Establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate

Firman of Sultan Abdülaziz for the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate, February 27, 1870.
Map of the Bulgarian Exarchate (1870–1913).

In seeking to calm down the disturbances, the Ottoman government of the

firman promulgated on March 12 [O.S.
February 28] 1870. The firman envisaged a broad autonomy of the Exarchate but would leave it under the supreme canonical authority of the Ecumenical See, i.e. not full autocephaly.

The Exarchate's borders went on to extend over present-day

Vilayet of Adrianople by vicars. Thus, the borders of the Exarchate included all Bulgarian districts in the Ottoman Empire
.

The process of constituting the Exarchate as legal institution was important part of nation-building process. A meeting of the Bulgarian leaders in Constantinople chaired by Gavril Krastevich is convened on March 13, 1870 to elect ten civil members of the Temporary church council. The council includes also the six Bulgarian bishops which constitute the Exarchate's Synod. The role of newly found council have been to create draft for the Exarchate's Statute, which prescribes the inner administrative order of the Bulgarian autocephalous church.[5] Over the next ten months, the council have discussed ideas about Exarchate's Statue. During the discussions two political camps emerged. The ″liberal-democratic″ camp included Petko Slaveykov, Todor Ikonomov and Stoyan Chomakov which argued about priority of democratic and representative functions of the Exarchate. From their point of view, civil members of the Exarchate's institutions should lead conduction of administrative functions, outside of strictly religious practices. The ″conservative″ camp argued about keeping strict church hierarchy in Exarchate's activities, pleaded for strict following of Orthodox traditions and insisted on more institutional powers based on the Exarch figure. Representatives of ″conservative″ camp were P.V. Odjakov and Ilarion Makariopolski. This political discussion continued ideological opposition between ″young″ and ″old″ patriotic groups, which were in the foundation of differentiation between the Conservative and Liberal political fractions in the Constituent Assembly in 1879 in Veliko Tarnovo.[6]

Bulgarian schism

Ethnic composition of the central Balkans in 1870.

The first (after

Antim I who was elected by the Holy Synod of the Exarchate on February 28 [O.S.
February 16] 1872.

On May 23 [O.S. May 11] 1872, in the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Constantinople, which had been closed by the Ecumenical Patriarch's order, Antim I, along with other Bulgarian hierarchs who were then restricted from all priestly ministries, celebrated a liturgy, whereafter he declared autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church.

The Patriarchal Synod reacted by defrocking Antim I and excommunicating others, including Ilarion Stoyanov.

Tsarevna Miladinova's Bulgarian boarding-school for girls in Thessaloniki, 1882–1883

The decision on the unilateral declaration of

Patriarchate of Constantinople
.

The subsequent Council in Constantinople, chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch

ethnophyletism" (Greek: εθνοφυλετισμός). Furthermore on January 21, 1872, on request of the Patriarch and under the influence of Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, then an influential Russian Ambassador in Constantinople, the Ottoman government sent into exile in İzmir, Anatolia three Bulgarian clerks Hilarion of Makariopolis, Panaret of Plovdiv and Hilarion of Lovech
. The energetic protests of the Bulgarian community in Istanbul, reverts the decision short after.

The Russian

Vardar, Pirin and Greek Macedonia), proved fruitless and against the Bulgarian interests.[8]

Seal of Bulgarian-Exarchate, 1872

Exarch Antim I was discharged by the Ottoman government immediately after the outbreak of the

Adrianople Vilayet alone, the Bulgarian Exarchate had seven dioceses with prelates and eight more with acting chairmen in charge and 38 vicariates, 1,218 parishes and 1,310 parish priests, 1331 churches, 73 monasteries and 234 chapels, as well as 1,373 schools with 2,266 teachers and 78,854 pupils. Almost all of the schoolmasters had been born in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace.[9]

The immediate effect of the partition of the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars was the anti-Bulgarian campaign in areas under

Adrianople region, where the whole Thracian Bulgarian population was put to total ethnic cleansing by the Young Turks' army.[11]

Bulgarian Men's High School of Thessaloniki in the beginning of the 20th century

After World War I, by virtue of the peace treaties, the Bulgarian Exarchate was deprived of its dioceses in Macedonia and Aegean Thrace. Exarch Joseph I transferred his offices from Constantinople to Sofia as early as 1913. After the death of Joseph I in 1915, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was not in a position to elect its regular head for a total of three decades.

Conditions for the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate and the election of head of the Bulgarian Church were created after World War II. In 1945 the schism was lifted and the Patriarch of Constantinople recognised the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church. In 1950, the Holy Synod adopted a new Statute which paved the way for the restoration of the Patriarchate and in 1953, it elected the Metropolitan of Plovdiv, Cyril, Bulgarian Patriarch.[12]

Territory of the Bulgarian Exarchate

Bulgarian School in Kruševo (1910)

Until the

Odrin and Carevo
).

See also

References

  1. ^ From Rum Millet to Greek and Bulgarian Nations: Religious and National Debates in the Borderlands of the Ottoman Empire, 1870–1913, Theodora Dragostinova , Ohio State University, Columbus.
  2. on 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
  3. ^ Църква и църковен живот в Македония, Петър Петров, Христо Темелски, Македонски Научен Институт, София, 2003 г.
  4. ^ Зина Маркова,Българската Екзархия 1870-1879, София, Българска академия на науките, 1989, стр.31
  5. ^ Зина Маркова, Българската екзархия, стр.45-46
  6. ^ The date according to С.-Петербургскiя вѣдомости, September 20, 1871, № 258, page 3.
  7. ^ Simeon Radev, "The Builders of Modern Bulgaria", volume 1, chapter 3, The Russian Politics and The Bulgarian Church
  8. ^ Prof. Voin Bozhinov, "Bulgarian education in Macedonia and the Adrianople region of Thrace (1878–1913)", Publishing house of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1982, p. 356 (in Bulgarian).
  9. ^ Ivo Banac, "The Macedoine" in "The National Question in Yugoslavia. Origins, History, Politics", pp. 307-328, Cornell University Press, 1984, retrieved on September 8, 2007.
  10. The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913", Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, State printing house, 1918. On-line publication of the phototype reprint of the first edition of the book in Bulgarian here
    , retrieved on September 8, 2007 (in Bulgarian "Разорението на тракийските българи през 1913 година", Българска академия на науките, София, Държавна печатница, 1918 г.; II фототипно издание, Културно-просветен клуб "Тракия" - София, 1989 г., София).
  11. ^ Daniela Kalkandjieva, “The Restoration of the Patriarchal Dignity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,” Bulgarian Historical Review, Sofia, vol. 4, (1994): 101–105.

Further reading

External links