page_title: Joachim III of Bulgaria
section_title: Patriarch
hierarchical_section_title: Joachim III of Bulgaria / Patriarch
caption_attribution_description: Български: Патриаршески комплекс Царевец This is a photo of a monument in Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria identified by the ID 04/e-230
context_page_description: Joachim III was the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church between c. 1282 and 1300, when the Second Bulgarian Empire reached its lowest point of decline during the reign of the emperors George Terter I, Smilets and Chaka. He was executed for treason by emperor Theodore Svetoslav in 1300. The Church did not recognize his guilt and his name was included in the list of Bulgarian Patriarchs in the Book of Boril. His seat was Tarnovo, the capital of Bulgaria.
context_section_description: Joachim III was enthroned in the beginning of the rule of emperor George Terter I (r. 1280–1292). However, soon after that Joachim III refused to acknowledge the emperor's second marriage to Kira Maria because his first wife Maria Terter was still alive. After George Terter divorced Maria in 1279 he sent her and his first born son Theodore Svetoslav as hostages to the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch refused to allow George Terter I to the church sacraments until he conceded to abandon Kira Maria and remarry his first wife, after he secured her return from Byzantine captivity in 1282.
  In 1285 Joachim III was sent to Constantinople to liberate Theodore Svetoslav, who still remained hostage. After difficult negotiations the Patriarch was successful in his mission. In return he agreed that Theodore Svetoslav was to be betrothed to the daughter of the Byzantine megas stratopedarches John Synadenos.
  In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV sent a letter to Joachim III, dated 23 March, reminding the Bulgarian Patriarch of their old friendship and urging him to join the Roman Church. The Pope also sent a letter to George Terter I expressing his hope to see Bulgaria return to the authority of Rome, alluding to the union between Bulgaria and Rome concluded in 1205 during the reign of emperor Kaloyan. Despite some hesitations Joachim III maintained the firm position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on the matter and the papal initiative failed to produce any tangible results.
  Joachim III's tenure coincided with a very difficult period for the Bulgarian state when the Mongol menace was omnipresent in all levels of Bulgarian society. Although George Terter I had to become a vassal to the Mongol Golden Horde and sent to Theodore Svetoslav as a hostage in 1285, the devastating Mongol raids persisted. Unable to confront the Mongols and their leader Nogai Khan, in 1292 he abandoned the throne and fled to the Byzantine Empire. In 1292 Joachim III crowned as Emperor the influential magnate Smilets (r. 1292–1298), whose family held extensive lands between the Balkan Mountains and Sredna Gora. In 1299 he crowned the Mongol Chaka, son of Nogai Khan, who fled to Tarnovo in the company of Theodore Svetoslav as a result of a civil war in the Golden Horde.
caption: The Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Ascension of God rising over the walls of Tsarevets, Tarnovo
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