Bulgarian Orthodox Church: Bulgaria’s Autocephalous National Church
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History
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in Bulgaria, with its central institutions in Sofia. As the oldest Slavic Orthodox church, it developed from medieval Bulgarian ecclesiastical centres at Pliska, Preslav, Ohrid, and Tarnovo, and from the later Bulgarian Exarchate.
Early Christianity and the Bulgarian archbishopric
Christianity spread through the Thracian and Balkan lands during the first century, traditionally associated with the missions of the apostles Paul and Andrew. By the beginning of the fourth century, it was the dominant religion in the region. Serdica, Philippopolis, Odessus, Dorostorum, and Adrianople had become important Christian centres. The Monastery of Saint Athanasius near modern Chirpan was founded in Thrace in 344 by Saint Athanasius and is identified as the first Christian monastery in Europe.
Invasions during the fourth and fifth centuries, followed by the settlement of Slavs and Bulgars in the sixth and seventh centuries, disrupted Christian organization. Surviving communities continued to transmit the faith, however. By the middle of the ninth century, most Slavs in Thrace and Macedonia had been Christianized, and Christianity had also gained followers among the Bulgar nobility.
A distinct Bulgarian church organization took shape after Boris I, the ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, officially adopted Christianity in 865. In 870, negotiations involving Constantinople and Rome led the Fourth Council of Constantinople to establish an autonomous Bulgarian archbishopric under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its seat was at Pliska, and its diocese covered the Bulgarian state.
Boris I sought an educated clergy and an autonomous church to strengthen Bulgaria’s cultural development, sovereignty, and political standing. In 886, he received disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, ninth-century Byzantine Christian missionaries associated with Slavic literacy and translated worship. He assigned them to educate Bulgarian clergy in the Glagolitic alphabet and in a Slavonic liturgy based on the vernacular of the Slavs around Thessaloniki. In 893, Greek clergy were expelled and Greek was replaced in worship by the Slavonic-Bulgarian vernacular.
The medieval patriarchates
Following Bulgarian victories over Byzantium at Acheloos and Katasyrtai, a church and national council proclaimed the Bulgarian Church autocephalous in 919 and elevated it to patriarchal rank. Autocephaly meant that the church governed itself and chose its senior bishop internally. Constantinople recognized both its self-government and patriarchal dignity in 927, after a peace treaty ended the long war between Bulgaria and Byzantium.
The patriarchate was based in Preslav, while the patriarch probably resided in Drastar, modern Silistra. After the Byzantine conquest of Preslav in 972, the patriarchal residence moved through Sredetz, Maglen, Voden, and Prespa. Around 990, Patriarch Philip transferred it to Ohrid, which became the permanent seat of the patriarchate.
After Bulgaria’s defeat in 1018, the Byzantine emperor Basil II abolished the patriarchal rank and reorganized the church as an autonomous archbishopric centred in Ohrid. John of Debar, the first appointed archbishop, was Bulgarian, while later archbishops and much of the higher clergy were Byzantine. Bulgarian monks and parish clergy remained predominant. The archbishopric retained a Bulgarian character, Slavonic worship, and an important place in Bulgarian literary culture until the Ottoman authorities abolished it in 1767.
The uprising of Peter IV and Ivan Asen I in 1185 and 1186 established the Second Bulgarian Empire, with Tarnovo as its capital. An independent archbishopric was founded there in 1186, but the effort to restore the patriarchate continued for almost fifty years. In 1203, Pope Innocent III recognized Tarnovo Archbishop Vassily as primate and archbishop of all Bulgaria and Wallachia. This union with Rome lasted for more than two decades.
In 1235, the Council of Lampsakos, presided over by Patriarch Germanus II of Constantinople and supported by the Eastern patriarchs, restored Bulgaria’s patriarchal dignity and consecrated Archbishop German as patriarch. The Tarnovo Patriarchate remained influential even as its territory contracted. In the fourteenth century, its patronage supported the Tarnovo Literary School, where figures including Patriarch Evtimiy, Gregory Tsamblak, and Konstantin of Kostenets contributed to the flourishing of literature, theology, architecture, and painting.
Ottoman rule and the Bulgarian revival
Tarnovo fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1393. Patriarch Evtimiy was exiled, the autocephalous church organization was dismantled, and the Bulgarian dioceses were placed under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Ottoman forces destroyed many Bulgarian churches and monasteries, including the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension in Tarnovo. Some surviving churches were converted into mosques, and many members of the clergy were killed.
Under the Ottoman millet system, the Patriarch of Constantinople and diocesan metropolitans acquired important civil and judicial functions. Greek clergy increasingly replaced Bulgarian senior clergy, while Greek was promoted in schools and worship. In some areas, Bulgarian-language liturgy was nearly suppressed. Bulgarian monasteries, including Zograph and Hilandar on Mount Athos and Rila, Troyan, Etropole, Dryanovo, Cherepish, and Dragalevtsi in Bulgaria, preserved Bulgarian language, literary traditions, religious education, and national consciousness.
The Ohrid Archbishopric survived as a separate Bulgarian religious centre until 1767. In 1762, Paisius of Hilendar, an eighteenth-century Bulgarian Orthodox monk and historian, wrote History of Slav-Bulgarians. Written in an early form of the modern Bulgarian vernacular, it became an important appeal for cultural and national revival. Figures including Sophroniy of Vratsa, Spiridon of Gabrovo, Yoakim Karchovski, and Kiril Peychinovich continued this work.
Opposition to Greek ecclesiastical control intensified from the 1820s and became organized after 1850. The movement was led by figures including Neofit Bozveli and Ilarion Makariopolski. In April 1860, the omission of the Constantinopolitan patriarch’s name from a Bulgarian Easter prayer at the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Constantinople signalled a unilateral challenge to patriarchal jurisdiction.
The Exarchate and the modern church
On 28 February 1870, an Ottoman decree established the autonomous Bulgarian Exarchate. An exarchate is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction headed by an exarch. The new organization initially covered northern Bulgaria, most of Thrace outside the Adrianople Vilayet, and northeastern Macedonia. After votes in the dioceses of Skopje and Ohrid in 1874, it also gained control of Vardar and Pirin Macedonia.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople declared the Exarchate schismatic and condemned it for subordinating Orthodox church organization to ethnic nationalism, a position known as phyletism. Antim I was elected the first Bulgarian Exarch in February 1872. The Ottoman government removed him after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 and exiled him to Ankara. His successor, Joseph I, expanded the church and school network in Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia, Macedonia, and the Adrianople Vilayet.
The Tarnovo Constitution of 1895 formally recognized the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as Bulgaria’s national religion. Before the Balkan Wars, the Exarchate had dioceses, vicariates, parishes, monasteries, chapels, and an extensive network of schools in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet. After the First World War, it lost its dioceses in Macedonia and Aegean Thrace. Joseph I moved the Exarchate’s offices from Constantinople to Sofia in 1913.
During the Second World War, the church opposed the deportation of Jews from Bulgaria. Metropolitan Cyril intervened with civil authorities, protested to Tsar Boris III, and offered to obstruct deportation trains. Metropolitan Stefan I appealed to the royal court and government and offered refuge in church properties and monasteries. Their interventions, together with wider public opposition, contributed to the suspension of deportations affecting approximately 48,000 Jews within Bulgaria’s pre-war borders. The church was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for this role.
In 1945, the schism with Constantinople ended, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate recognized the Bulgarian Church’s autocephaly. A new statute adopted in 1950 prepared the restoration of the patriarchate. In 1953, the Holy Synod elected Metropolitan Cyril of Plovdiv as patriarch.
Communist rule and restoration of unity
From 1944 to 1989, the church was subjected to state control. Between 1944 and 1947, it lost jurisdiction over marriage, divorce, civil certificates, and related functions. Religious education was removed from schools, and anti-religious propaganda was promoted. During intensified pressure from 1947 to 1949, Bishop Boris was assassinated, Egumenius Kalistrat of Rila Monastery was imprisoned, other clergy were killed or prosecuted, and Exarch Stefan was banished.
From the late 1940s until 1989, the church, the Bulgarian Communist Party, and State Security maintained a close relationship. Eleven of fifteen members of the Holy Synod were later identified as having cooperated with State Security. The state nevertheless supported the restoration of the patriarchal rank in 1953. Patriarch Cyril died in 1971 and was succeeded by Patriarch Maxim, who led the church until 2012.
A schism began in 1992 when some hierarchs rejected Patriarch Maxim and formed an alternative synod. An inter-Orthodox council in Sofia addressed the dispute in 1998. The penitence of the schismatics was accepted, Pimen’s anathema was lifted, and irregular ordinations were recognized. The church hierarchy received state registration in 2003, schismatic churches were returned in 2004, and Metropolitan Innokenty of Sofia, the remaining major schismatic leader, repented in 2012.
After Patriarch Maxim’s death, Metropolitan Neophyt of Ruse was elected patriarch on 24 February 2013, receiving 90 votes against 47 for Metropolitan Gabriel of Lovech. The Bulgarian Church did not initially recognize the autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. After Constantinople and the Serbian Orthodox Church restored communion with it in May 2022, the Bulgarian Church followed on 22 June 2022. Patriarch Neophyt died on 13 March 2024. On 30 June 2024, Metropolitan Daniil was elected Patriarch of Bulgaria and Metropolitan of Sofia.
Organization and religious life
The church is governed by the Patriarch, the Holy Synod, and the Church-People’s Council. The Holy Synod, based in Sofia, consists of the patriarch and diocesan metropolitans. It exercises the church’s supreme clerical, judicial, and administrative authority.
Its direct jurisdiction covers Bulgaria and two overseas dioceses serving Bulgarian communities in Western and Central Europe and in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The church has fifteen dioceses, approximately 2,600 parishes, more than 1,500 priests, about 120 active monasteries, and roughly 7 to 8 million members. Its liturgy follows the Byzantine rite, the liturgical tradition used by Eastern Orthodox churches, and uses Bulgarian and Church Slavonic. The New Julian calendar, which currently coincides with the Gregorian calendar for fixed-date feasts, was adopted in 1968.
The church maintains seminaries in Plovdiv and Sofia and theological faculties at Sofia University and the University of Veliko Tarnovo. Its stated diaspora jurisdictions include communities in Europe, North America, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Greece, and Turkey. Bulgarian Orthodox clergy are divided into married white clergy and monastic black clergy. Bishops are selected from monks; diocesan bishops bear the title metropolitan, while other bishops generally serve as vicars, monastery superiors, or church administrators. Priests and deacons of the white clergy may marry, whereas monks and nuns take vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience.
Remains
Cathedral and central buildings
Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky
The Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Sofia is the cathedral and residence of the Bulgarian patriarch. It has stavropegic status, meaning that it is placed directly under the authority of the patriarch or the Holy Synod rather than under a local diocesan bishop.
Synodal Palace
The Synodal Palace in Sofia is the headquarters of the Holy Synod, the governing council of bishops. It forms the principal administrative building associated with the church’s central authority.
Medieval ecclesiastical centres
Pliska
The earliest Bulgarian archbishopric had its seat at Pliska after the church received autonomous status in 870. Pliska therefore represents the first principal institutional centre of the organized Bulgarian church.
Preslav and Drastar
After the church received patriarchal rank, the patriarchate was based at Preslav, while the patriarch probably resided in Drastar, modern Silistra. These locations belong to the church’s early medieval patriarchal phase.
Ohrid
Following the Byzantine conquest of Preslav, the patriarchal residence moved through several centres before Patriarch Philip transferred it to Ohrid around 990. Ohrid remained the permanent seat of the patriarchate until the Byzantine reorganization of the Bulgarian church in 1018.
Tarnovo
The independent archbishopric founded at Tarnovo in 1186 became the centre of the restored Bulgarian patriarchate from 1235. Its principal cathedral, the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension, was destroyed during the Ottoman conquest of Tarnovo in 1393.
Monastic institutions
Monastery of Saint Athanasius
The Monastery of Saint Athanasius near Chirpan was founded in 344 by Saint Athanasius. It is identified as an early Christian monastic complex in Thrace and is associated with the beginnings of organized Christian monastic life in the region.
Mount Athos monasteries
Zograph and Hilandar on Mount Athos are Bulgarian monastic institutions associated with the church. They housed Bulgarian monastic communities and helped maintain Slavonic liturgical and literary traditions, religious education, and Bulgarian cultural identity during Ottoman rule. Zograph remains a Bulgarian monastery on Mount Athos.
Monasteries in Bulgaria
Rila, Troyan, Etropole, Dryanovo, Cherepish, and Dragalevtsi are among the Bulgarian monasteries associated with the church. Their communities preserved Bulgarian language and literary traditions and supported religious education and other forms of learning.
