Vidin

ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE METROPOLIS OF VIDIN
AND THE PATRIARCHATE OF TARNOVO DURING THE SECOND
BULGARIAN EMPIRE
Atanaska Stamboliyska, Nikolay Hrissimov
(Abstract)
The place of the Eparchy of Vidin within the other sees could be seen in the ambitions of the two great centres of Orthodoxy – Constantinople and Tarnovo to place it under their respective jurisdiction. Another important matter, which played certain role in the relationship between the Bishopric of Vidin and the Patriarchate of Tarnovo, was the political one. The Northwest of Medieval Bulgaria has always been a cause for struggles between the claimants of the throne. Depending on their aim, they either broke up with the central administration in Tarnovo, or revived their ties with it.
The ecclesiastical relationship between the Bishopric of Vidin and Tarnovo date back to the 80’s of the 12th c. when the Bulgarian state was re-established. The written sources suggest that the bishop of Vidin was an important figure in the consecration of Basil as a Bulgarian Patriarch. From Assen‘s dynasty point of view he was the one who was chosen to conduct the rite of the new Bulgarian pontiff, because of the fact that he was a representative of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid. This way they once again emphasized the continuity with the institutions of the First Bulgarian Empire, which they specially sought for.
From the complex research of the preserved documents could be deduced that in different periods of time up to 1381 the Bishopric of Vidin was subordinated to Tarnovo.
This contradicts to the popular scientific view that the dependence of the Bishopric of Vidin from the patriarchate of Tarnovo did not outlast year 1371, and that from this year on the See of Vidin was under the authority of Constantinople.
In different periods of time the Bishopric of Vidin was under the jurisdiction of either Constantinople or Tarnovo. Most probably it wasn‘t a sincere wish to be under the influence of the Byzantine spiritual family which forced the ruler of Vidin to accept the divine protection of the Byzantine Church, but it was rather an attempt to proclaim his independence from Tarnovo.