Bulgarian Church
| Bulgarian Orthodox Church Българска православна църква Patriarchate of Bulgaria |
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| Founder |
Saint Andrew, Boris I of Bulgaria |
| Independence | 870–1018 1185–1393 1018–1767 1870–present |
| Recognition | 870 (Autocephaly) 927 (Patriarchate) 1945 (Patriarchate) |
| Primate | Neophyte, Patriarch of All Bulgaria |
| Headquarters | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Territory | Bulgaria |
| Possessions | United States, Canada, Australia, European Union, Argentina, Russia, Greece, Turkey |
| Language | Bulgarian and Church Slavonic |
| Members | 8 to 10 million |
| Bishops | 15 |
| Priests | 1,500 |
| Parishes | 2,600 |
| Monasteries | 120 |
| Website | Bulgarian Orthodox Church |
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Bulgarian: Българска православна църква, Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva) is the oldest Slavic Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia. It was recognized as an independent Church by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 927 AD.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church considers itself an inseparable member of the one, holy, synodal and apostolic church and is organized as a self-governing body under the name of Patriarchate. It is divided into thirteen dioceses within the boundaries of the Republic of Bulgaria and has jurisdiction over additional two dioceses for Bulgarians in Western and Central Europe, the Americas, Canada and Australia. The dioceses of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church are divided into 58 church counties, which, in turn, are subdivided into some 2,600 parishes.
The supreme clerical, judicial and administrative power for the whole domain of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is exercised by the Holy Synod, which includes the Patriarch and the diocesan prelates, who are called metropolitans. Church life in the parishes is guided by the parish priests, numbering some 1,500. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church also has some 120 monasteries in Bulgaria, with about 2,000 monks and nearly as many nuns.
Eparchies in Bulgaria: (with Bulgarian names in brackets)
Eparchies abroad:
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has its origin in the flourishing Christian communities and churches, set up in the Balkans as early as the first centuries of the Christian era. Christianity was brought to the Bulgarian lands and the rest of the Balkans by the apostles Paul and Andrew in the 1st century AD, when the first organised Christian communities were formed. By the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in the region. Towns such as Serdica (Sofia), Philipopolis (Plovdiv), Odessus (Varna) and Adrianople (Edirne) were significant centres of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
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Wikipedia