Bulgarian Orthodox Church

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Bulgarian Patriarchate
)
Patriarchate of Bulgaria
Българска патриаршия
better source needed]
1235 (Patriarchate)
1945 (Autocephaly)
1953 (Patriarchate)
SeparationsOld Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church (early 20th century)
Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod (1996)
Members7–8 million
Official websiteBulgarian Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (

the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. It was recognized as autocephalous in 1945 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[2]

History

Early Christianity

St. George Rotunda Church (4th century AD), Sofia
Saint Sofia Basilica Church (4th–6th century), Sofia
Saint Sophia Basilica Church (5th–6th century), Nesebar

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has its origin in the flourishing Christian communities and churches set up in the

Andrew in the 1st century AD, when the first organised Christian communities were formed. By the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the region. Towns such as Serdica (Sofia), Philipopolis (Plovdiv), Odessus (Varna), Dorostorum (Silistra) and Adrianople (Edirne) were significant centres of Christianity in the Roman Empire
.

The

The raids and incursions into the Roman provinces in the 4th and the 5th centuries brought considerable damage to the ecclesiastical organisation of the Christian Church in the Bulgarian lands, yet did not destroy it.

Bulgarian Slavs, especially those living in Thrace and Macedonia under Eastern Roman rule, were Christianized. The process of conversion also enjoyed some success among the Bulgar nobility. However, it was not until the official adoption of Christianity in state level by Boris I
in 865 that an independent Bulgarian ecclesiastical entity was established.

Establishment

Patriarch of Constantinople
and the Orthodox Church, from whom it obtained its first primate, its clergy, and theological books.

Ceramic icon of St. Theodor, Preslav, ca. 900 AD, National Archaeological Museum, Sofia

Although the archbishopric enjoyed full internal autonomy, the goals of

Cyril. The liturgy was based on the vernacular of the Bulgarian Slavs from the region of Thessaloniki
. In 893, Boris I expelled the Greek clergy from the country and ordered the Greek language to be replaced with the Slav-Bulgarian vernacular.

Autocephaly and Patriarchate

Following Bulgaria's two decisive victories over the Byzantines at

Acheloos (near the present-day city of Pomorie) and Katasyrtai (near Constantinople), the government declared the autonomous Bulgarian Archbishopric as autocephalous and elevated it to the rank of Patriarchate at an ecclesiastical and national council held in 919. After Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire signed a peace treaty in 927 that concluded the 20-year-long war between them, the Patriarchate of Constantinople recognised the autocephalous status of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and acknowledged its patriarchal dignity.[4][5]

The Bulgarian Patriarchate was the first autocephalous Slavic Orthodox Church, preceding the autocephaly of the

Preslav. The Patriarch was likely to have resided in the town of Drastar (Silistra
), an old Christian centre noted for its martyrs and Christian traditions.

Ohrid Archbishopric

On April 5, 972, Byzantine Emperor

Comitopuli, and the Byzantine Empire. Patriarch German resided consecutively in the medieval Bulgarian cities of Maglen (Almopia) and Voden (Edessa) (both in present-day north-western Greece), and Prespa (in present-day southern North Macedonia). Around 990, the next patriarch, Philip, moved to Ohrid (in present-day south-western North Macedonia
), which became the permanent seat of the Patriarchate.

After Bulgaria fell under Byzantine domination in 1018, Emperor

Ohrid Archbishopric remained respected during the periods of Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Ottoman rule. The church continued to exist until it was unlawfully[citation needed
] abolished in 1767.

Tarnovo Patriarchate

As a result of the successful uprising of the brothers

Peter IV
and
Roman Catholic Church
continued for well over two decades.

Tsar Ivan Alexander (1331-1371), an illustration from the Four Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander (the London Gospel), ca. 1356, the British Library

Under the reign of

Patriarch Germanus II of Constantinople and with the consent of all Eastern Patriarchs, the council confirmed the Patriarchal dignity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and consecrated the Bulgarian archbishop German as Patriarch
.

Despite the shrinking of the diocese of the

Konstantin of Kostenets. A considerable flowering was noted in the fields of literature, architecture
, and painting; the religious and theological literature also flourished.

Ottoman rule

Ohrid Archbishopric – survived until 1767.[7]

St. George, the Newmartyr of Sofia, icon from the 19th century

After many of the leadership of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church were executed, it was fully subordinated to the Patriarch of Constantinople. The millet system in the Ottoman Empire granted a number of important civil and judicial functions to the Patriarch of Constantinople and the diocesan metropolitans. As the higher Bulgarian church clerics were replaced by Greek ones at the beginning of the Ottoman domination, the Bulgarian population was subjected to double oppression – political by the Ottomans and cultural by the Greek clergy. With the rise of Greek nationalism in the second half of the 18th century, the clergy imposed the Greek language and a Greek consciousness on the emerging Bulgarian bourgeoisie. They used the Patriarchate of Constantinople to assimilate other peoples. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the clergy opened numerous schools with total Greek language curriculum; they nearly banned the Bulgarian-language liturgy. These actions threatened the survival of the Bulgarians as a separate nation and people with its own, distinct national culture.[citation needed]

Throughout the centuries of Ottoman domination, the Orthodox monasteries were instrumental in the preservation of the Bulgarian language and the Bulgarian national consciousness. Especially important were the

Hilandar monasteries on Mount Athos, as well as the Rila, Troyan, Etropole, Dryanovo, Cherepish and Dragalevtsi monasteries in Bulgaria. The monks managed to preserve their national character in the monasteries, continuing traditions of the Slavonic liturgy and Bulgarian literature. They continued to operate monastery schools and carried out other educational activities, which managed to keep the flame of the Bulgarian culture burning.[citation needed
]

Bulgarian Exarchate

Arbanasi
.

In 1762, St.

Sofroni Vrachanski) (1739–1813), hieromonk Spiridon of Gabrovo, hieromonk Yoakim Karchovski (d. 1820), hieromonk Kiril Peychinovich
(d. 1845).

Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek clergy started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses as early as the 1820s. It was not until 1850 that the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against the Greek clerics in a number of bishoprics, demanding their replacement with Bulgarian ones. By that time, most Bulgarian clergy had realised that further struggle for the rights of the

Patriarchate of Constantinople
. As the Ottomans identified nationality with religion, and the Bulgarians were Eastern Orthodox, the Ottomans considered them part of the Roum-Milet, i.e., the Greeks. To gain Bulgarian schools and liturgy, the Bulgarians needed to achieve an independent ecclesiastical organisation.

The struggle between the Bulgarians, led by

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

Map of the Bulgarian Exarchate (1870–1913).

The

heretics. Although the status and the guiding principles of the Exarchate reflected the canons, the Patriarchate argued that “surrender of Orthodoxy to ethnic nationalism” was essentially a manifestation of heresy.[citation needed
]

The first Bulgarian Exarch was

had seven dioceses with prelates and eight more with acting chairmen in charge and 38 vicariates; 1,218 parishes and 1,212 parish priests; 64 monasteries and 202 chapels; as well as of 1,373 schools with 2,266 teachers and 78,854 pupils.

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 Istanbul 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.

Second restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate

St. Alexander Nevsky

Conditions for the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate and the election of a head of the Bulgarian Church were created after World War II.[8] 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.[9] After the death of Patriarch Cyril in 1971, in his place was elected the Metropolitan of Lovech, Maxim, leading the church until his death in 2012. On 10 November 2012 Metropolitan Cyril of Varna and Veliki Preslav was chosen as interim leader to organize the election of the new Patriarch within four months.[10] At the church council convened to elect a new Patriarch 24 February 2013, the Metropolitan of Ruse, Neophyt was elected Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with 90 votes against 47 for Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech.[11]

Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan
of Sofia.

Under Communism (1944–89), Bulgaria's rulers worked to control rather than destroy the church. Still, the early postwar years were unsettling to church hierarchs. During 1944-47 the church was deprived of jurisdiction in marriage, divorce, issuance of birth and death certificates, and other passages that had been sacraments as well as state events. Communists removed study of the catechism and church history from school curricula. They generated anti-religious propaganda and persecuted some priests. From 1947-49 was the height of the campaign to intimidate the church. Bishop Boris was assassinated; Egumenius Kalistrat, administrator of the Rila Monastery, was imprisoned; and various other clergy were murdered or charged with crimes against the state. The communists soon replaced all clergy who refused to endorse the regime's policies. They banished Exarch Stefan, who had co-authored a book in 1948 that was considered anti-Communist.[12]

Bulgarian Orthodox priest

From that time until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of Communist rule in 1989, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the

Ecumenical Patriarchate and Serbian Orthodox Church restored communion with the Macedonian Church in May 2022, the Bulgarian Church followed suit on 22 June 2022.[15]

Canonical status and organization

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church considers itself an inseparable member of the one, holy, synodal and apostolic church and is organized as a self-governing body under the name of Patriarchate. It is divided into thirteen dioceses within the boundaries of the Republic of Bulgaria and has jurisdiction over additional two dioceses for Bulgarians in Western and Central Europe, and the Americas, Canada and Australia. The dioceses of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church are divided into 58 church counties, which, in turn, are subdivided into some 2,600 parishes.

Synodal Palace, Sofia

The supreme clerical, judicial and administrative power for the whole domain of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is exercised by the Holy Synod, which includes the Patriarch and the diocesan prelates, who are called metropolitans. Church life in the parishes is guided by the parish priests, numbering some 1,500.

Eparchies of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgaria

Eparchies in Bulgaria: (with Bulgarian names in brackets)

  • Eparchy of Vidin (Видинска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Vratsa (Врачанска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Lovech (Ловешка епархия)
  • Eparchy of Veliko Tarnovo (Търновска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Dorostol (Доростолска епархия) (seat in Silistra)
  • Eparchy of Varna and Veliki Preslav (Варненскa и Bеликопреславска епархия) (seat in Varna)
  • Eparchy of Sliven (Сливенска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Stara Zagora (Старозагорска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Plovdiv (Пловдивска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Sofia (Софийска епархия)
  • Eparchy of
    Nevrokop
    (Неврокопска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Pleven (Плевенска епархия)
  • Eparchy of Ruse (Русенска епархия)

Eparchies abroad:

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church also has some 120 monasteries in Bulgaria, with about 2,000 monks and nearly as many nuns.

See also

  • List of Orthodox Churches
  • Bulgarian Alternative Synod

References

  1. .)
  2. ^ Ecumenical Patriarchate, ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE-Patriarchate of Bulgaria (in Greek), accessed 30 April 2020
  3. ^ "The Saint Athanasius Monastery of Chirpan, the oldest cloister in Europe" (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian National Radio. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  4. . Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via Google Books.
  5. . Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via Google Books.
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ Kalkandjieva, Daniela (2002). "The Restoration of the Patriarchal Dignity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church". Bulgarian Historical Review. 3–4: 188–206.
  9. ^ Daniela Kalkandjieva, 26. Balgarskata pravoslavna tsarkva i darzhavata, 1944-1953 [The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the State], (Sofia: Albatros, 1997).
  10. ^ "Varna Bishop Kiril Chosen Interim Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch". Novinite.com. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Неофит е новият патриарх на Българската православна църква". Dnevnik.bg. 24 February 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  12. .
  13. ^ "Kapital Quarterly". Sofiaecho.com. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  14. ^ Ramet, p. 21
  15. ^ "Bulgarian Orthodox Church restores canonical communion with Church of Northern Macedonia". OrthoChristian. 22 June 2022.

External links