Bulgarian Orthodox Church

This article analyzes the speeches prepared by John Paul II for the annual visits of Bulgarian delegations on the occasion of celebrations of the Saints Cyril and Methodius (around May 24 th). The fourteen texts prepared for these visits together with his speeches during the Pope's Apostolic Journey to Bulgaria in 2002 and during the presentations of letters of credence for Bulgarian Ambassadors to the Holy See present a very interesting and understudied material for a better analysis of the Pope's Slavic, ecumenical and European ideas. The Pope sees this tradition as a continuation of politics of John XXIII and Paul VI.

Първото цялостно историко-канонично изследване на най-големия старостилен разкол у нас - т. нар. Българска старостилна православна църква. Това е най-новата версия на текста, актуализирана според последните развития около БПСЦ (февруари 2015 г.).

Bulgarian National Church Mouvement 1856-1870. Sofia: "Za bukvite" Rublishing house, 2010.
Настоящата монография стои в основата на текста, който защитих като дисертация за придобиванена научната степен "доктор на историческите науки" през 2009 г. Предоставям я за четене, допълване и критикуване от колегията, тъй като тиражът на издателството е изчерпан, а интересът към нея продължава.

The Holy and Great Council of Crete, that, at long last, took place on the  Island of Crete in 2016, but not without difficulties, considered ethnophyletism as  heresy, despite the fact that the Council of Constantinople from 1872, that condemned  this ideology, regarded ethnophyletism and ethnophyletical groups as schism. In this paper I will try to emphasize the need of a re-evaluation of phyletism, ethno-phyletism, nationalism and nationalistic ideologies and their relation to Church organisation from a historical and canonical perspective. The main goal of this paper is to see if the Orthodox Church is still confronting with this problem and which are the new faces of ethnophyletism today. My research comprises three parts. In the first one I will analyse the historical development of the Bulgarian problem ”τὸ βουλγαρικὸν ζήτημα” by showing the attitude of the Bulgarian representatives and Bulgarian Church and its intellectual elite, who were in need of national affirmation, and the answers of the representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The second part of the paper will be dedicated to the Council of Constantinople from 1872 and on its canonical decisions according the the Proceedings of the Council. The third part of the paper will deal with modern forms of ethnophyletism. At the end of the paper I have added a Romanian translation of the Decision of the Council of Constantinople from 1872. This paper will emphasize the fact that the Bulgarian issue was a problem with multiple socio-political and ecclesial implications and, in order to understand this complex problem of ethnophylism, it is necessary to determine the context and the proper canonical solutions.

This book is a kind of continuation of the collection of papers published in 2011 under the title “Valeristica Polyhistorica”. The first volume, “Cumanica”, is devoted entirely to Cumanian issues. Here the central place is occupied by the historiographical work about the study of the Codex Cumanicus, which information is now enriched and updated until the first two decades of the new millennium.
The materials of the second volume are grouped around several main thematic topics, like  some aspects of the Ottoman-Turkish palaeography and diplomatics, issues of the Balkan Islam, problems of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and Varia. Hence its designation as “Miscellanea”.

Sauver l’héritage d’Euthyme de Tărnovo. Le patriarche Joseph II, la Moldavie et Zographou, in : M. Scarpa, S. Batalova, M.-H. Blanchet (ed.), RELIGIOUS BLOOM BULGARIA 13th–15th c. Proceedings of the International Scholars Conference Sofia, 12 – 13 July 2019, Sofia, 2021, p. 94-154.

In the present study, we aim to shed light on some aspects of the question of Bulgarian influence on the early Romanian culture, in a broader south-eastern European context. The promotion by emperor Manuel II of an ecumenical patriarch of Bulgarian origin, Joseph II (1416–1439), specifically to resolve the crisis of the appointment of a new metropolitan of Moldovalachia, seems to be decisive in this respect. The presence of Gregory Tzamblak in Moldavia during the translation of the relics of St. John the New explains this connection, before the crisis opened by his appointment in 1414 as metropolitan in Kiev by Grand Duke Vytold of Lithuania. In this context, a recently rediscovered document attests to the presence of a high­level Moldavian delegation at the monastery of Zographou in 1416, which obtained the transfer of the rights of ktitorate, formerly held by the imperial dynasty of the Assenids, to the benefit of the Moldavian prince Ioan Alexander (1400–1432). Moreover, the particular interest of this delegation in the tower of Selina, linked to the presence in Athos of Euthymius of Tărnovo, opens a new perspective on the Orthodox diffusion of the cult of this patriarch of Bulgarian letters, shortly after his death. This seems to explain the rapid production of manuscripts in Moldavia, the earliest of which date from 1418­1420, by the scribe Gabriel Uric, attesting the integral reproduction of the Great Menologion made by Euthymius of Tărnovo in eight volumes, presumably made on an Athonite archetype. This cultural transfer accomplished under the aegis of the new metropolitan Macarius of Moldovalachia appointed by Joseph II coincides with the reconciliation of the patriarchate with metropolitan Gregory Tzamblak before his mission to the Council of Constance (1418), confirmed by the Panegyric which attests to the official canonization of Euthymius of Tărnovo with the endorsement of the ecumenical patriarch. The role of Prince Ioan Alexander of Moldavia as middleman in this reconfiguration was rewarded by the title of tsar, of Bulgarian tradition, which began to be applied to him by Moldavian scholars.

Keywords: Manuel II Palaeologus, patriarch Joseph II, patriarch Euthymius of Tărnovo, metropolitan Gregory Tzamblak, prince Ioan Alexandre of Moldavia.

This lecture aims simply an introduction into “Byzantine music” following a kind of archaeological approach. The first unit starts with the living tradition defined by the Neo-Byzantine reform of 1814 and the establishment of Chrysanthos’ New Method, when monodic church music and its oktoechos system was redefined by the distinction of four chant genres (troparic, heirmologic, sticheraric, and papadic), their tempo, and their mele. This lecture introduces to the common print editions of chant books (anthologies for Orthros and of the Divine Liturgies, the doxastaria, the two parts of the heirmologion, and the anastasimatarion or voskresnik). The notation reform will be less regarded as a simplification of the Middle Byzantine notation than as a creation of universal notation which was based on an oral tradition of the different performance styles (oktoechos, makamlar, traditional music of 2 different regions of the Mediterranean). It will also treat the printed anthologies of makam music (mismagia, a Greek corruption of the Ottoman divan called “mecmua”) and the New Method to transcribe makamlar as aspects of the oktoechos. The oral tradition of oktoechos performance will be presented by historical field recordings, including own fieldwork.

Bildiride Kırklareli, İnece beldesine bağlı Koyunbaba Köyü’ndeki Bulgar Kilisesi
tanıtılacaktır.
Köyün yaşamında, Türklerle birlikte etkin olan Rum ve Bulgar nüfusundan söz edilerek
bu sonuncunun hatırası olan ve kabaca 19.yy ın ikinci yarısına tarihlenebilen Kilisenin bilinen
ya da farkında olunmayan özellikleri üzerinde durulacaktır.
Özenli bir taş malzemenin kullanılmasıyla inşa edilmiş olan kilise ve çevresindeki
oluşumlar, önce Bulgar sonra da Rum nüfusun köyü terk etmesiyse Kilisenin işlevsiz kalması,
köy halkının kiliseye verdiği yeni işlev, tamamen terk ediliş ve yokoluş süreçleri ile nihayet
yapıyı koruma ve yaşatma çalışmaları, bildirinin ana başlıklarını oluşturacaktır.

In this paper, the Bulgarian church in Koyunbaba village of Inece town of Kırklareli city
will be introduced.
The Greek and Bulgarian residents, who have an impact on the life of this village
besides Turks, will be mentioned and some known and unknown characteristics of the church,
which is a reminiscence of the Bulgarians and dated approximately back to 19th century, will be
examined.
The main titles within the paper will cover the church and its surroundings, which were
built using the stone material; the fact that the church became dysfunctional after the Bulgarian
and the Greek residents of the village left where they had lived; the new function that the
villagers ascribed to the church; complete abandonment and destruction processes; ultimately
efforts for the preservation and survival of the complex.

The Bulgarian citizenry’s behavioral expectations that associate with post-Communist Bulgarian nationalism show comparatively weak consensus beyond joining Europe, represented by the EU. Bulgarian social movements against corruption are more likely to be effective with the emergence of an EU-oriented relative consensual agreement within Bulgarian society upon the social contractual meaning of Bulgarian citizenship. The EU as an external norm entrepreneur lacks a strong Bulgarian national cultural institutional interlocutor with which to negotiate to assist in translating EU ideals into the Bulgarian domestic context. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) is comparatively politically weak as a domestic norm entrepreneur. Bulgaria lacks an organized national religious institution that effectively claims to articulate prescriptions for national wellbeing. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is comparatively weak because of its historically dependent relationship in relation to modern Bulgarian nationalism. Relevant comparisons with Roman Catholic Poland as well as other Orthodox Slavic communities illustrate these differences.

Table of Contents of my doctoral dissertation on the history of the Bulgarian Orthodox in the USA, Canada and Australia that includes:

1. The main history of the Bulgarian Diocese in North America and Australia from its foundation in 1907 to its reunification in 1990 in reference to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
2. The Conflict between the Bulgarian Diocese under the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the rival Bulgarian Diocese under Archbishop Kyril Yonchev in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).
3. The Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian relations of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and its Diocese in North America and Australia, and the decisions and proposed solutions to the problem of the Diaspora in the aftermath of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church (2016).
4. The individual parish histories of the parishes of the Bulgarian Diocese in North America and Australia from 1907 to 1990

The Orthodox Church in America is one of many Orthodox jurisdictions that currently exists among the Orthodox faithful in the American diaspora. The fact that there are currently multiple “ethnic” Orthodox jurisdictions within the same geographical area is legally unacceptable within the legal framework of the Orthodox Church as its canon law specifically dictates that every individual ecclesiastical jurisdiction must exist in one specific geographical location. This problem was further exacerbated after the Moscow Patriarchate, along with a small number of independent Churches in Soviet satellite states, granted the OCA a disputed and controversial autocephaly in 1970.

In order to better grasp the events that led up to this autocephaly, as well as the conflict that would occur in the aftermath, the subject will be broken down into four sections for greater clarity. The first section will begin with a brief historical account of the Metropolia (the former OCA) and the events leading up to its autocephaly; the second will focus on the historical documents of the autocephaly and give a summary of their content; the third section will comprise of two rival theological viewpoints from Fr. Alexander Schmemann and Professor Panagiotes Trempelas; and the final section will give an account of the actions of the OCA, the controversial jurisdictions under it, and its current standing today.

Статья посвящена резкой активизации акафистного творчества в пределах Болгарской Православной Церкви и болгарского святогорского монастыря Зограф в начале XXI века. Обзорно рассмотрена история болгарской акафистографии в предшествующие годы. Выявлены некоторые тенденции в современной акафистографии и указаны параллели с аналогичными процессами, протекающими в гимнотворчестве Русской и грекоязычных Поместных Церквей.

A number of common motifs occur in accounts of construction and renovation of churches within the Bulgarian lands in the National Revival period. One of them is about building a church within 40 days. The sacral meaning of this figure suggests a deliberate mythologisation of the real act of construction. The article analyses several such occurrences, arriving at the conclusion that these have never been eyewitness accounts and the churches under consideration could not have been built within the time specified.
A number of other topoi relating to the legends of renovation of churches are also outlined: building secretly in the nighttime; successful attempts to deceive the authorities; sinking the church in the earth and enclosing it with high walls. Similar records are referred to that have been composed even before the Liberation.

Paper presented at the Roundtable “The Role of the Bulgarian Church for the Rescue of the Jews in Bulgaria during World War II:  A Model of Religious Tolerance and Religious Solidarity” (Sofia, September 9, 2009), organized within the framework of the celebrations of the 100-anniversary of the Sofia Synagogue

Diese Ausgabe von "Bonum est" ist Otec Stilijan gewidmet, einem Mönch im Kloster Bačkovo, das im Rhodopengebirge in Bulgarien gelegen ist. Letztes Jahr, am 18. März, verstarb Otec Stilijan im Alter von 83 Jahren. 51 Jahre lange hat er fast täglich den Gottesdienst im Kloster gesungen. Mit seinem Tod hat diese Tradition einen ihrer wichtigsten Vertreter verloren, denn als Tipikar war er für die sängerische Gestaltung der Gottesdienste verantwortlich.

Playlist:
1. Große Ektenie, Glas 8 (Plagios tetartos)
2. Antiphon 1 "Mit Fürbitten der Gottesmutter", Glas 2 (Devteros)
3. Antiphon 2 "Rette uns, Sohn Gottes", Glas 2 (Devteros)
4. Antiphon 3 "In deinem Reich", Glas 2 (Devteros)
5. Kleiner Einzug "Laßt uns beten und vor Christus", Glas 2 (Devteros)
6. Tagestropare, Glas 1 (Protos)
7. Trisvjatoe (Trisagion) "Heiliger Gott", folk tune Glas 1 (Protos)
8. Epistel (Petrus II 1:10-19)
9. Evangelium (Matth. 17:1-9)
10. Ektenie
11. Chourmouzios Chartophylakos. Cherubim Hymnus, Glas 4 (Tetartos)
12. Ektenie mit Gebet, Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
13. Otca i syna "Dem Vater, Sohn", Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
14. Glaubenssymbol
15. Anaphora "Ich werde dich lieben", Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
16. Heirmos "Nijne ne uslijshanaja", Glas 8 (Plagios Tetartos)
17. Ekphonesis, Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
18. Otče naš "Vater unser", Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
19 Inklination, Glas 5 (Plagios Protos)
20. Petros Peloponnesios. Koinonikon "Im glorreichen Licht" (Ps. 88:16b–17a), Glas 8 (Plagios Tetartos)
21. Kommunion & Entlassungshymnen "Wir haben das wahre Licht gesehen", Glas 2 (Devteros)

The Rescue of the Bulgarian Citizens of Jewish Origin from the Holocaust and the Policy of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the 40’s of the 20th Century. Aspects of Religious Tolerance and Civil Solidarity

This paper focuses on the social prerequisites and the historical and cultural heritage of Bulgarian society and institutions which are at the basis of the broad public resistance of Bulgarians in the 1940’s against deportation of their Jewish fellow-citizens to the Nazi camps in Poland. Various aspects of religious tolerance and social solidarity of the multi-ethnical society during those difficult historical times are analyzed. The highlight is placed on the role played by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, the activities of Metropolitan Bishops, Stefan and Kiril, in saving the lives of the Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust (up to 54 000 lives, based on different sources), which is unique in European history during WW II. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was one of the few churches in Europe to show religious tolerance and has employed theological arguments in its effort to save Bulgarian citizens of a different creed (Judaism). The church organized various forms of protests made by citizens and congregation. The actions of Metropolitan Bishops Stefan and Kiril, together with Dimitar Peshev, Deputy Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliamentary Assembly, the entire Bulgarian people, and ultimately Tsar Boris III (1918-1943), who never ever signed the decision for the deportation of the Bulgarian Jews, actually saved this ethnic group from Nazi death camps. The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church issued a series of injunctions with which it definitely opposed the deportation of Bulgarian citizens of Jewish origin and obliged the Orthodox Christians to assist their Jewish fellow-citizens. Setting an example of Christian and civil responsibility, Stefan, Metropolitan Bishop of Sofia, provided Daniel Zion, the Rabbi of Sophia, and his family shelter from prosecution. The historical, social and cultural factors are accounted for as forms of vertical and horizontal tolerance (civil and neighbourly). This article examines the arguments and motifs (of Christian, moral, constitutional, axiological and cultural nature) that the civil society and Christian community in Bulgaria used for saving Bulgarian Jews in the context of historical and sociocultural discourse. As early as the 1960’s, Hannah Arendt drew attention to these important events in Bulgarian and European history, remarking that she finds it impossible to explain the reason for the tolerance of Bulgarians during WWII, which is a unique phenomenon on the part of a country with a multi-ethnic social structure. (H. Arendt, Aichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil, Penguin Books, New York 1994)

After the erasure of the Ohrid Archbishopric, in the hands of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was not only the church life, but also the cultural and educational life of the Bulgarian population in Macedonia. Greek influence spread most in the big cities, which were metropolitan centers, while in the villages and monasteries it failed to take root. Due to its proximity to Greek territory, southern Macedonia is easier to Greekize. In order to preserve the Bulgarian people’s cultural and religious identity, the idea of the Bulgarians from Macedonia to establish an independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as a counterpoint to the experience of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for the Greekization of the Bulgarian population, was growing. Thus, after a long struggle against the Phanariot policy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in 1870 the Bulgarian church-national movement achieved its goal, establishing a Bulgarian church in the form of an Exarchate.

Wrote for "Orthodoxy in Dialogue" about the importance and immediate implications of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's decision to bring the Macedonian Orthodox Church (Ohrid Archbishopric) into communion and why it matters after being in schism for 55 years.

На базата на новооткрити материали от храмовете в Котленския край в книгата е направен опит за обзорен анализ на приписките в богослужебната литература и на църковните текстове (ктиторски надписи, надписи върху каменни плочи, върху надгробни паметници в дворовете на храмовете и т.н.) като извори за изучаването на българската възрожденска история. Първата част на труда е изградена на поселищен принцип и там подробно е представен целият емпиричен материал, събиран в района от автора в продължение на няколко години. Втората основна част има обобщаващ и теоретичен характер. В нея е направен опит да се разкрие връзката между локалното и общонационалното, между конкретното и общотеоретичното. Приложеният справочен апарат улеснява ползването на изданието.
Книгата е насочена към широка читателска аудитория- както към специалистите- историци, литератори, краеведи, така и към всички, които се интересуват от тази твърде интересна, но все още слабо популяризирана проблематика. Освен като научно изследване, трудът е предназначен да бъде използван и като учебно пособие в семинарните занятия на студентите-историци по българска история и историография.

The author discusses the issue of Orthodoxy and Human Rights from
the perspective of the contemporary Bulgarian experience. She analyses
the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on the case of the
Alternative Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, issued on January 22,
2009. The article reveals the specificity of this case and the reasons for
its filing at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It compares
the Court’s approach to the problem with the reactions of the
Bulgarian State and the established governing body of the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church, represented by Patriarch Maksim. Special attention is
given to the reactions in the media.

Приета е тезата, че след окончателното покоряване на Първото българско царство от Източната римска империя (Ромейската империя, Византия), още на следващата 1019г. Българската патриаршия била деградирана със светска грамота на ромейския император до архиепископия. Дали обаче е било възможно и допустимо патриаршия да бъде заличена като такава посредством разпореждане на светски владетел – при това на светски владетел на чужда държава – е въпрос, който не е изследван в науката. ...
Централният въпрос, който статията проследява, е: Могла ли е Българската патриаршия от 927 г. реално и правно да бъде ликвидирана през 1018 г.?
А от отговора на този централен въпрос следва и подчиненият му въпрос: За какво патриаршеско достойнство на православната Българска църква иде реч през 1235 г. всъщност – за ново, второ по ред въздигане в този ранг, или за препотвърждение на никога не отнеманото патриаршеско достойнство на Българската Църква от 927 г.?

Homily given at Holy Trinity Seminary on the Sunday Before the Elevation of the True Cross, September 24, 2017

To hear the homily, go here:

https://orthodoxethos.com/post/homily-god-forbid-that-we-should-boast-in-anything-but-the-cross-of-christ-by-archpriest-peter-alban-heers