Bulgarian Orthodox Church
This article contains close paraphrasing of non-free copyrighted sources. (July 2020) |
Patriarchate of Bulgaria | |
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Българска патриаршия | |
better source needed] 1235 (Patriarchate) 1945 (Autocephaly) 1953 (Patriarchate) | |
Separations | Old Calendar Bulgarian Orthodox Church (early 20th century) Bulgarian Orthodox Church – Alternative synod (1996) |
Members | 7–8 million |
Official website | Bulgarian Orthodox Church |
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The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (
History
Early Christianity
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has its origin in the flourishing Christian communities and churches set up in the
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.
Establishment
Although the archbishopric enjoyed full internal autonomy, the goals of
Autocephaly and Patriarchate
Following Bulgaria's two decisive victories over the Byzantines at
The Bulgarian Patriarchate was the first autocephalous Slavic Orthodox Church, preceding the autocephaly of the
Ohrid Archbishopric
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Bulgarians Българи |
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On April 5, 972, Byzantine Emperor
After Bulgaria fell under Byzantine domination in 1018, Emperor
Tarnovo Patriarchate
As a result of the successful uprising of the brothers
Under the reign of
Despite the shrinking of the diocese of the
Ottoman rule
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
Bulgarian Exarchate
In 1762, St.
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
The struggle between the Bulgarians, led by
The
The first Bulgarian Exarch was
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
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]
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]
From that time until the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of Communist rule in 1989, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the
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.
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 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:
- Eparchy of Central and Western Europe (with seat in Berlin);
- Eparchy of USA, Canada and Australia (with seat in New York City)
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
- ISBN 978-1-4344-5876-6.)
- ^ Ecumenical Patriarchate, ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE-Patriarchate of Bulgaria (in Greek), accessed 30 April 2020
- ^ "The Saint Athanasius Monastery of Chirpan, the oldest cloister in Europe" (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian National Radio. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
- ISBN 9781434458766. Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 9788884924643. Retrieved 18 October 2017 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9.
- ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9.
- ^ Kalkandjieva, Daniela (2002). "The Restoration of the Patriarchal Dignity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church". Bulgarian Historical Review. 3–4: 188–206.
- ^ Daniela Kalkandjieva, 26. Balgarskata pravoslavna tsarkva i darzhavata, 1944-1953 [The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the State], (Sofia: Albatros, 1997).
- ^ "Varna Bishop Kiril Chosen Interim Bulgarian Orthodox Patriarch". Novinite.com. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ "Неофит е новият патриарх на Българската православна църква". Dnevnik.bg. 24 February 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ISBN 0-8223-0891-6.
- ^ "Kapital Quarterly". Sofiaecho.com. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ Ramet, p. 21
- ^ "Bulgarian Orthodox Church restores canonical communion with Church of Northern Macedonia". OrthoChristian. 22 June 2022.
External links
- The official website of the Bulgarian Patriarchate
- Unofficial web portal of Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity: in Bulgarian language
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. History of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913). .
- A short history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church by CNEWA, the papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support
- The Bulgarian Orthodox Church according to Overview of World Religions
- Article about the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Religion in Bulgaria
- Orthodox Life Info Portal: a Bulgarian Orthodox site (in English)
- Article on the medieval history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the repository of the Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (in German)