Bulgarian_Orthodox_Church First_Bulgarian_Empire

a medieval icon of saint clement of ohrid, high-ranking official of bulgarian church, scholar, writer , enlightener of bulgarians , slavs

since 870 bulgarian church autonomous under archbishop. decree of autonomy under nominal ecclesiastical jurisdiction of constantinople far greater possibly had been achieved under papacy. following fourth council of constantinople byzantine clergy once again admitted bulgaria , allowed preach in greek. however, result of council of preslav in 893 old bulgarian declared official language of state , church , greek-speaking byzantine priests had leave country. thus, church entirely staffed bulgarians.

boris i s successor simeon i not content have bulgarian church rank of archbishopric , determined raise patriarchate, in light of own ambition become emperor. acquainted byzantine imperial tradition autocrat must have patriarch , there no empire without patriarchate. in aftermath of remarkable triumph on byzantines in battle of achelous, in 918 convened council , elevated archbishop leontius patriarch. decisions of council not recognized byzantines result of bulgarian victory in war recognized leontius successor demetrius patriarch of bulgaria in 927. first patriarchate officially accepted, apart ancient pentarchy. seat of patriarchate in city of drastar on danube river rather in capital preslav. in late 10th century bulgarian patriarchate included following dioceses: ohrid, kostur, glavinitsa (in modern southern albania), maglen, pelagonia, strumitsa, morovizd (in modern northern greece), velbazhd, serdica, braničevo, niš, belgrade, srem, skopje, prizren, lipljan, servia, drastar, voden, ras, chernik, himara, drinopol, butrint, yanina, petra , stag.

after fall of eastern parts of empire under byzantine occupation in 971 seat of patriarchate relocated ohrid in west. final conquest of bulgaria in 1018 patriarchate demoted archbishopric retained many privileges. kept control of existing episcopal sees, seat remained in ohrid , titular, bulgarian john of debar, kept office. furthermore, bulgarian archbishopric given special position – it placed directly under emperor rather under ecumenical patriarch of constantinople.

monasticism grew steadily , monasteries became major landowners large population of peasants living estates. developed further under reign of emperor peter i, accompanied augmentation of properties. many high-ranking nobles , members of ruling family tonsured , died monks, including boris i, brother doks, peter i, ichirgu-boila mostich, etc. growing opulence of monastic life led increase of asceticism among more pious monks. 1 of them, john of rila, became hermit in rila mountains , virtues attracted number of followers, founded renowned rila monastery after death. preached living in harmony , stressed value of manual labour , need monks never aspire riches , power. john of rila revered saint while still alive , became patron of bulgarian people.

in 10th century bulgarian clerics established connections emerging christian communities in rus . bulgaria seems had been established centre small number of russian christians obtained clergy , liturgical texts. result of sviatoslav s invasion of bulgaria many of soldiers influenced christianity , maintained interest after return. connections between bulgarians , russians must considered important background official conversion christianity of kievan rus in 988.