page_title: Bulgarian Exarchate
section_title: Territory of the Bulgarian Exarchate
hierarchical_section_title: Bulgarian Exarchate / Territory of the Bulgarian Exarchate
caption_attribution_description: Български: Българското училище в гр. Крушево през 1910 година Ελληνικά: Βουλγαρικό σχολείο στο Κρούσοβο, 1910 English: Bulgarian school in the town of Krushevo in 1910 ქართული: ბულგარული სასწავლებელი ქალაქ კრუშევოში, 1910 Српски / srpski: Бугарска школа у граду Крушеву из 1910. године Հայերեն: Բուլղարական դպրոց Կրուշևո քաղաքում, 1910
context_page_description: The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church before its autocephaly was recognized by the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in 1953.
  The Exarchate was unilaterally promulgated on May 23 [O.S. May 11] 1872, in the Bulgarian church in Constantinople in pursuance of the March 12 [O.S. February 28] 1870 firman of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.
  The foundation of the Exarchate was the direct result of the struggle of the Bulgarian Orthodox against the domination of the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1872, the Patriarchate accused the Exarchate that it introduced ethno-national characteristics in the religious organization of the Orthodox Church, and the secession from the Patriarchate was officially condemned by the Council in Constantinople in September 1872 as schismatic. Nevertheless, Bulgarian religious leaders continued to extend the borders of the Exarchate in the Ottoman Empire by conducting plebiscites in areas contested by both Churches.
  In this way, in the struggle for recognition of a separate Church, the modern Bulgarian nation was created under the name Bulgar Millet.
context_section_description: Until the Balkan Wars 1912/1913, the Bulgarian Exarchate disposed of a total of 23 bishoprics in Bulgaria, most of the Torlaks-populated  area (in 1878 partly ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Serbia) and the region of Macedonia: Vidin, Vratsa, Nish (till 1878), Lovech, Veliko Tarnovo, Rousse, Silistra, Varna, Preslav, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Pirot (till 1878), Plovdiv, Sofia, Samokov, Kyustendil, Skopje, Debar, Bitola, Ohrid, Veles, Strumitsa and Nevrokop; also it was represented by acting chairmen in charge in eight other bishoprics in the region of Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet (Lerin, Edessa, Kostur, Solun, Kukush, Syar, Odrin and Carevo).
caption: Bulgarian School in Kruševo (1910)
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