Nil Izvorov

Nil Izvorov
Nil Izvorov
Born	Niklola Izvorov; August 23, 1823; Ruse, Ottoman Empire
Died	March 13, 1905 (aged 81); Sofia, Bulgaria
Nationality	Bulgarian
Occupation	Apostolic Vicar

Nil Izvorov (

Bulgarian Uniate and Apostolic Administrator of the Bulgarian Uniates in the Ottoman Empire.^[1]

At the end of his life returned to the Orthodoxy.

Biography

Nil Izvorov was born in

Thessalonica to help the building of the structures of Bulgarian Exarchate

.

Nil went to Macedonia without the necessary documents, causing protests of the

Count Nicholas Ignatiev

, who was restrained on the issue of extension of the Bulgarian Exarchate's influence in Macedonia.

Consent of the Exarchate to recall Nil was taken as a sign of Bulgarian-Greek agreement. This action causes a negative reaction in six Bulgarian municipalities in Macedonia. They began negotiations with to keep their spiritual head Nil. As a result, three of them (Thessalonika, Voden and Kukush) required from the Exarchate a new independent diocese to be set up and Nil to become its bishop. After the Exarchate's refusal, the municipalities decided to act. They first approached the British Consul to be adopted in the Anglican Church led by its bishop Nil. After the refusal of the British, they turned to Bulgarian Uniate Bishop Raphael Popov, which responded positively.

In the late winter of 1874 Bishop Nil travel from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, where he officially adopted

Uniatism. He did not get a permission to return to his diocese, and lived in the capital of the Ottoman Empire. After the death of Bishop Rafael Popov in September, 1876 the Holy See Nil was appointed as a spiritual head of the Uniate Bulgarians. In the same year on September 21, he was officially introduced to the rank of bishop. In November, the Ottoman government issued the necessary pick, and the Nile returned to his episcopal seat in Edirne. After a short stay he left for Kilkis

in March 1877. During the Russo-Turkish war (1877-1878), the Nil went back to Constantinople. In 1882 he was appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the Uniate Bulgarians in Istanbul. In the spring of 1895, after long hesitation, Archbishop Nil appealed to the Bulgarian Holy Synod to be re-admitted to the Orthodox Church. After his retirement in 1895, Izvorov settled in Sofia where he died on March 13, 1905.

References

^ Дневник на епископ Нил Изворов за пътуването му в Македония (1877-1878 г.) Светозар Елдъров.

External links

[1] Дневник на епископ Нил Изворов за пътуването му в Македония (1877-1878 г.) Светозар Елдъров.

[1]