List of Patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
List

List of Patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Section Title: List
Table Section Text: None

Title	Primate	Portrait	Birth name	Reign	Seat

Archbishops of Bulgaria (870–918)

Archbishop	Joseph	-	870–c. 877	Drastar/Pliska

Archbishop	George	-	c. 877–c. 893	Drastar/Pliska

Archbishop	Gregory Presbyter John the Exarch (?)	-	c. 893–s. 917	Drastar/Preslav

Archbishop	Leontius	-	c. 917–c. 918/919	Preslav

Patriarchs of Bulgaria (918/919–1018)

Patriarch uncanonical; not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Leontius	-	c. 918/919–927	Preslav

Patriarch canonical; recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Demetrius	-	c. 927–c. 930	Drastar/Preslav

Patriarch	Sergius	-	c. 931–c. 940	Drastar/Preslav

Patriarch	Gregory	-	c. 940–c. 944	Drastar/Preslav

Patriarch	Damian	-	c. 944–c. 972	Preslav/Drastar, Sredets

Patriarch	Germanus	-	c. 972–c. 990	Sredets, Voden, Moglena, Prespa

Patriarch	Nicolaus	-	c. 991–c. 1000	Prespa (?)

Patriarch	Philip	-	c. 1000–c. 1015	Ohrid

Patriarch	David	-	c. 1015–1018	Ohrid

After the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire under Byzantine domination in 1018 the Church was deprived of its patriarchal title and reduced to the rank of an autocephalous Archbishopric of Ohrid under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople until 1767.

Archbishops of Bulgaria (1186–1235)

Primate title was canonically recognized by Pope Innocent III in 1204	Basil I	-	1186–1232	Tarnovo

Primate	Saint Joachim I	-	1232–1246	Tarnovo

Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1235–1394)

Patriarch title was canonically recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs in 1235	Saint Joachim I	-	1235–1246	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Vissarion	-	c. 1246	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Basil II	-	1246–c. 1254	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Basil III	-	c. 1254–1263	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Joachim II	-	1263–1272	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Ignatius	-	1272–1277	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Saint Macarius	-	1277–1284	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Joachim III	-	1284–1300	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Dorotheus	-	1300–c. 1315	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Romanus	-	c. 1315–c. 1325	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Theodosius I	-	c. 1325–1337	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Joannicius I	-	1337–c. 1340	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Symeon	-	c. 1341–1348	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Theodosius II	-	1348–1363	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Joannicius II	-	1363–1375	Tarnovo

Patriarch	Saint Euthymius	-	1375–1394	Tarnovo

Exarchs of the Bulgarians (1872–1915)

Exarch title was granted by a decree (firman) of Sultan Abdülaziz, promulgated on 28 February 1870. Unrecognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Ilarion	-	Ivan Ivanov	12 February 1872 – 16 February 1872	Constantinople, Ottoman Empire

Exarch	Anthim I	-	Atanas Mihaylov Chalakov	16 February 1872 – 14 April 1877	Constantinople, Ottoman Empire

Exarch	Joseph I	-	Lazar Yovchev	24 April 1877 – 20 June 1915	Constantinople, Ottoman Empire Sofia, Bulgaria

Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1915–1945)

Metropolitan	Parthenius	-	Petar Popstefanov Ivanov Popov	1915 – 20 June 1918	Sofia

Metropolitan	Vasilius	-	Vasil Mihaiylov	June 1918 – 22 October 1921	Sofia

Metropolitan	Maxim	-	Marin Penchov Pelov	22 October 1921 – 28 March 1928	Sofia

Metropolitan	Clement	-	Grigoriy Ivanov Shivachev	28 March 1928 – 3 May 1930	Sofia

Metropolitan	Neophyte	-	Nikola Dimitrov Karaabov	4 May 1930 – 15 October 1944	Sofia

Metropolitan	Stefan I	-	Stoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov	16 October 1944 – 21 January 1945	Sofia

Exarch of the Bulgarians (1945–1948)

Exarch canonical; recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Stefan I	-	Stoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov	21 January 1945 – 6 September 1948	Sofia

Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1948–1953)

Metropolitan	Michael	-	Dimitar Todorov Chavdarov	8 November 1948 – 4 January 1949	Sofia

Metropolitan	Paisius	-	Alexandar Raykov Ankov	4 January 1949 – 3 January 1951	Sofia

Metropolitan	Cyril	-	Konstantin Markov Konstantinov	3 January 1951 – 10 May 1953	Sofia

Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1953–present)

Patriarch title was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Cyril	-	Konstantin Markov Konstantinov	10 May 1953 – 7 March 1971	Sofia

Patriarch	Maxim	-	Marin Naydenov Minkov	4 July 1971 – 6 November 2012	Sofia

Patriarch	Neophyte	-	Simeon Nikolov Dimitrov	24 February 2013 – present	Sofia

Sentence(s)

On May 10, 1953 Cyril was elected Patriarch of Bulgaria.

final_sentence: On May 10, 1953 Cyril was elected Patriarch of Bulgaria.