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53-764: The Exarchate (a de facto autocephaly ) was unilaterally (without the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch ) decreed by the Ottoman Empire 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 Abdulaziz . The foundation of the Exarchate was the direct result of

106-694: A liturgy, whereafter he declared autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church. The Patriarchal Synod reacted by defrocking Antim I and excommunicating others, including Ilarion Stoyanov. The decision on the unilateral declaration of autocephaly by the Bulgarian Church was not accepted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople . The subsequent Council in Constantinople, chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimus VI , in September 1872, wherein

159-543: A local church was promulgated by canons of the ecumenical councils . There developed the pentarchy , i.e., a model of ecclesiastical organization where the universal Church was governed by the primates ( patriarchs ) of the five major episcopal sees of the Roman Empire : Rome , Constantinople , Alexandria , Antioch , and Jerusalem . The independent (autocephalous) position of the Church of Cyprus by ancient custom

212-554: A metropolitan, still having no autocephaly since his province was under supreme jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Firman (decree) A firman ( Persian : فرمان , romanized :  farmān ; Turkish : ferman ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state . During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word firman comes from

265-705: A monk from the south-western Bulgarian town of Bansko , wrote Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya ("History of the Slav-Bulgarians"), a short historical work which was also the first ardent call for a national awakening. In History of Slav-Bulgarians, Paisius urged his compatriots to throw off subjugation to the Greek language and culture. The example of Paisius was followed by others, including Saint Sophroniy of Vratsa (1739–1813), Abbot Spiridon Gabrovski (died 1824), Abbot Yoakim Karchovski (died 1820), and Abbot Kiril Peychinovich (died 1845). Source: The result of

318-975: A new Statute which paved the way for the restoration of the Patriarchate and in 1953, it elected the Metropolitan of Plovdiv, Cyril, Bulgarian Patriarch. Until the Balkan Wars 1912/1913, the Bulgarian Exarchate disposed of a total of 23 bishoprics in Bulgaria, most of the Torlak -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

371-589: Is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches. The status has been compared with that of the churches ( provinces ) within the Anglican Communion . In the first centuries of the history of the Christian church , the autocephalous status of

424-841: The Adrianople Vilayet . In 1879, the Tarnovo Constitution formally established the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the national religion of the nation. On the eve of the Balkan Wars in 1912, in the Ottoman Macedonian vilayets and the Adrianople Vilayet alone, the Bulgarian Exarchate had seven dioceses with prelates and eight more with acting chairmen in charge and 38 vicariates, 1,218 parishes and 1,310 parish priests, 1331 churches, 73 monasteries and 234 chapels, as well as 1,373 schools with 2,266 teachers and 78,854 pupils. Almost all of

477-741: The Russian Orthodox Church (the Moscow Patriarchate), which insists that one autocephalous jurisdiction has the right to grant independence to one of its components. Thus, the Orthodox Church in America was granted autocephaly in 1970 by the Moscow Patriarchate, but this new status was not recognized by most patriarchates. In the modern era , the issue of autocephaly has been closely linked to

530-723: The Saint Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. This monastery is Greek Orthodox and constitutes the autonomous Sinai Orthodox Church. The firman bears the hand print of Muhammad , and requests the Muslims do not destroy the monastery for God-fearing men live there. To this day there is a protected zone around the monastery administered by the Egyptian government, and there are very good relations between

583-909: The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (later Kingdom of Romania ) in 1878. In late March 1917, following the abdication of the Russian tsar Nicholas II earlier that month and the establishment of the Special Transcaucasian Committee , the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in Georgia, then within the Russian Empire , unilaterally proclaimed independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church . This

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636-716: The Young Turks ' army. In 1913, Exarch Joseph I transferred his offices from Istanbul to Sofia ; he died in 1915, a few months before Bulgaria fatefully opted to participate in World War I alongside the Central Powers . As a consequence of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1919, the Bulgarian Exarchate was deprived of its dioceses in Macedonia and Aegean Thrace . During the three decades after Joseph's death,

689-552: The proclamation of independence of Ukraine and the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The Moscow Patriarchate has condemned it as schismatic, as it claims jurisdiction over Ukraine . Some Orthodox churches have not yet recognized Ukraine as autocephalous. In 2018, the problem of autocephaly in Ukraine became a fiercely contested issue and a part of the overall geopolitical confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, as well as between

742-683: The 20 or so monks, mainly from Greece, and the local community there. Firmans were issued in some Islamic empires and kingdoms in India such as the Mughal Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad . Notable were Emperor Aurangzeb 's various firmans. The term "firman" was used by the archeologist / novelist Elizabeth Peters for official permission from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to carry on an excavation. A similar authority

795-542: The Bulgarian Exarchate became in control of the whole of Macedonia ( Vardar and Pirin Macedonia ). The Exarchate was also represented in the whole of Greek Macedonia and the Vilayet of Adrianople by vicars. Thus, the borders of the Exarchate included all Bulgarian districts in the Ottoman Empire . The process of constituting the Exarchate as legal institution was important part of nation-building process. A meeting of

848-658: The Bulgarian Orthodox Church did not elect a regular head because of opposition from the Bulgarian government. Conditions for the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate and the election of head of the Bulgarian Church were created after World War II . In 1945 the schism was lifted and the Patriarch of Constantinople recognised the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church. In 1950, the Holy Synod adopted

901-659: The Bulgarian interests. Exarch Antim I was discharged by the Ottoman government immediately after the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) on April 24, 1877, and was sent into exile in Ankara . Under the guidance of his successor, Joseph I , the Exarchate managed to develop and considerably extend its church and school network in the Bulgarian Principality, Eastern Rumelia , Macedonia and

954-488: The Bulgarian leaders in Constantinople chaired by Gavril Krastevich is convened on March 13, 1870 to elect ten civil members of the Temporary church council. The council includes also the six Bulgarian bishops which constitute the Exarchate's Synod. The role of newly found council have been to create draft for the Exarchate's Statute, which prescribes the inner administrative order of the Bulgarian autocephalous church. Over

1007-526: The Bulgarians, led by Neofit Bozveli and Ilarion Stoyanov , and the Phanariotes intensified throughout the 1860s. As the Greek clerics were ousted from most Bulgarian bishoprics at the end of the decade, the whole of northern Bulgaria, as well as the northern parts of Thrace and Macedonia had, to all intents and purposes, seceded from the Patriarchate. In seeking to calm down the disturbances,

1060-593: The Church of Cyprus by a resolution which conditionally states: "If, as it is asserted in memorials and orally by the religious men who have come before the Council - it has not been a continuous ancient custom for the bishop of Antioch to hold ordinations in Cyprus, - the prelates of Cyprus shall enjoy, free from molestation and violence, their right to perform by themselves the ordination of bishops [for their island]". After

1113-583: The Council of Ephesus, the Church of Antioch never again claimed that Cyprus was under its jurisdiction. The Church of Cyprus has since been governed by the Archbishop of Cyprus , who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority. In Eastern Orthodoxy , the right to grant autocephaly is nowadays a contested issue, the main opponents in the dispute being the Ecumenical Patriarchate , which claims this right as its prerogative, and

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1166-695: The Exarch figure. Representatives of ″conservative″ camp were P.V. Odjakov and Ilarion Makariopolski. This political discussion continued ideological opposition between ″young″ and ″old″ patriotic groups, which were in the foundation of differentiation between the Conservative and Liberal political fractions in the Constituent Assembly in 1879 in Veliko Tarnovo. The first (after Hilarion of Lovech had to resign before being confirmed by

1219-481: The Moscow Patriarchate and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Historically, within the Patriarchate of Constantinople , adjective autocephalous was sometimes also used as an honorary designation, without connotations to real autocephaly. Such uses occurred in very specific situations. If a diocesan bishop was exempt from jurisdiction of his metropolitan, and also transferred to

1272-539: The Ottoman government of the Sultan Abdülaziz granted the right to establish an autonomous Bulgarian Exarchate for the dioceses of Bulgaria as well as those, wherein at least two-thirds of Orthodox Christians were willing to join it, by issuing the Sultan's firman promulgated on March 12 [ O.S. February 28] 1870. The firman envisaged a broad autonomy of the Exarchate but would leave it under

1325-503: The Patriarch and under the influence of Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev , then an influential Russian Ambassador in Constantinople, the Ottoman government sent into exile in İzmir , Anatolia three Bulgarian clerks Hilarion of Makariopolis , Panaret of Plovdiv and Hilarion of Lovech . The energetic protests of the Bulgarian community in Istanbul, reverts the decision short after. The Russian Most Holy Synod claimed neutrality, but

1378-528: The Patriarchs of Alexandria , Antioch and Jerusalem (the latter declined to sign the Council's decisions) also participated, declared on September 18 (September 30) the Bulgarian Exarchate schismatic and declared its adherents excommunicated . The latter were accused of having "surrendered Orthodoxy to ethnic nationalism", which had been qualified as a heresy - " ethnophyletism " ( Greek : εθνοφυλετισμός ). Furthermore on January 21, 1872, on request of

1431-476: The Persian farmān meaning "decree" or "order". Farmān is the modern Persian form of the word and descends from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) framān , ultimately from Old Persian framānā ( fra = "fore"). The difference between the modern Persian and Old Persian forms stems from "dropping the ending ā and insertion of a vowel owing to the initial double consonant". This feature (i.e. fra- )

1484-668: The Russian government, represented by Count Nikolai Ignatiev , actively mediated in the Greek-Bulgarian dispute. The unity of the Orthodox Church was instrumental for Russian's political interests in the Orthodox world. The attempts though to satisfy the Greek Patriarchate by reducing the territories of the Bulgarian Exarchate (noticeably Vardar , Pirin and Greek Macedonia ), proved fruitless and against

1537-409: The actions of the most extreme Bulgarian nationalists under leadership of Dragan Tsankov , himself a Catholic, against the authority of the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1872, the Patriarchate was forced to declare that the Exarchate introduced ethno-national characteristics in the religious organization of the Orthodox Church, and the secession from the Patriarchate

1590-524: The area. From Şebinkarahisar he sent a series of letters announcing his victory, including an unusual missive in the Uyghur language addressed to the Turkomans of Anatolia . The decree ( yarlık ) had 201 lines and was written by Şeyhzade Abdurrezak Bahşı on 30 August 1473: Completed when Karahisar was reached on the date of eight hundred and seventy eight, 5th day of the month Rebiülahir,

1643-808: The course of the 1848 revolution , following the proclamation of the Serbian Vojvodina ( Serbian Duchy ) within the Austrian Empire in May 1848, the autocephalous Patriarchate of Karlovci was instituted by the Austrian government. It was abolished in 1920, shortly after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 following the Great War . Vojvodina was then incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . The Patriarchate of Karlovci

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1696-571: The devastated Aegean Macedonia, where the Greeks burned Kukush , the center of Bulgarian politics and culture. Bulgarian language (including the Macedonian dialects) was prohibited, and its surreptitious use, whenever detected, was ridiculed or punished. The Ottomans managed to keep the Adrianople region, where the whole Thracian Bulgarian population was put to total ethnic cleansing by

1749-403: The direct jurisdiction of the patriarchal throne, such bishop would be styled as an "autocephalous archbishop" (self-headed, just in terms of not having a metropolitan ). Such honorary uses of the adjective autocephalous were recorded in various Notitiae Episcopatuum and other sources, mainly from the early medieval period. For example, until the end of the 8th century, bishop of Amorium

1802-480: The dress of aristocracy and subjects, the Sultan created firmans. Firmans were gathered in codes called " kanun ". The kanun were "a form of secular and administrative law considered to be a valid extension of religious law as a result of the ruler's right to exercise legal judgement on behalf of the community." When issued by the sultan in the Ottoman Empire, firmans' importance was often displayed by

1855-659: The end of World War II and after decades of schism. By that time, Bulgaria was ruled by the Communist party and was behind the " Iron Curtain " of the Soviet Union . Following the Congress of Berlin (1878), which established Serbia 's political independence, full ecclesiastical independence for the Metropolitanate of Belgrade was negotiated and recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1879. Additionally, in

1908-435: The government) Bulgarian Exarch was Antim I who was elected by the Holy Synod of the Exarchate on February 28 [ O.S. February 16] 1872. On May 23 [ O.S. May 11] 1872, in the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Constantinople, which had been closed by the Ecumenical Patriarch's order, Antim I, along with other Bulgarian hierarchs who were then restricted from all priestly ministries, celebrated

1961-455: The issue of self-determination and political independence of a nation; self-proclamation of autocephaly was normally followed by a long period of non-recognition and schism with the mother church . Following the establishment of an independent Greece in 1832, the Greek government in 1833 unilaterally proclaimed the Orthodox church in the kingdom (until then within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate) to be autocephalous; but it

2014-463: The layout of the document; the more blank space at the top of the document, the more important the firman was. In this firman, Sultan Murad I recognises a decree created by his father Sultan Orhan (c. 1324–1360). He gives the monks all they owned during his father's reign, ordering that no one can oppress them or claim their land. Following the defeat of Uzun Hasan , Mehmed the Conqueror took over Şebinkarahisar and consolidated his rule over

2067-417: The majority of ethnic Bulgarians were Orthodox Christians, they were automatically included in the Rūm millet , a community ruled immediately by the Ecumenical Patriarch in his capacity of millet-bashi and dominated by Phanar Greeks ( Phanariots ). Thus, if the Bulgarians wanted to have Bulgarian schools and liturgy in Bulgarian , they needed an autonomous ecclesiastical organisation. The struggle between

2120-676: The next ten months, the council have discussed ideas about Exarchate's Statue. During the discussions two political camps emerged. The ″liberal-democratic″ camp included Petko Slaveykov, Todor Ikonomov and Stoyan Chomakov which argued about priority of democratic and representative functions of the Exarchate. From their point of view, civil members of the Exarchate's institutions should lead conduction of administrative functions, outside of strictly religious practices. The ″conservative″ camp argued about keeping strict church hierarchy in Exarchate's activities, pleaded for strict following of Orthodox traditions and insisted on more institutional powers based on

2173-479: The schoolmasters had been born in Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace. The immediate effect of the partition of the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars was the anti-Bulgarian campaign in areas under Serbian and Greek rule. The Serbians expelled Exarchist churchmen and teachers and closed Bulgarian schools and churches (affecting the standing of as many as 641 schools and 761 churches). Thousands of Bulgarian refugees left for Bulgaria, joining an even larger stream from

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2226-405: The supreme canonical authority of the Ecumenical See, i.e. not full autocephaly. The Exarchate's borders went on to extend over present-day northern Bulgaria ( Moesia ), most of Thrace , as well as over north-eastern Macedonia . After the Christian population of the bishoprics of Skopje and Ohrid voted in 1874 overwhelmingly in favour of joining the Exarchate (Skopje by 91%, Ohrid by 97%)

2279-405: The use of Bulgarian in liturgy and fixed salaries for bishops. By that time, most Bulgarian religious leaders had realised that any further struggle for the rights of the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire could not succeed unless they managed to obtain at least some degree of autonomy from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. As the Ottomans identified nationality (ethnicity) with confession and

2332-416: The work of Paisius and his followers began before long to give fruit. Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek clergy started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses as early as the 1820s. It was not, however, until the 1850 that the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against the Greek clerics in a number of bishoprics demanding their replacement with Bulgarian ones as well as other changes such as

2385-409: The year of the Snake. In this firman, the monks of Mount Athos report that the administrative officials charged with the collection of taxes come at a later date than they are supposed to and demand more money than the value assessed. They also make illegal demands for additional food supplies. One of the most important firmans governing relations between Muslims and Christians is a document kept at

2438-410: Was merged into the newly united Serbian Orthodox Church under Patriarch Dimitrije residing in Belgrade , the capital of the new country that comprised all the Serb-populated lands. The autocephalous status of the Romanian Church , legally mandated by the local authorities in 1865, was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1885, following the international recognition of the independence of

2491-409: Was not recognized by the Moscow Patriarchate until 1943, nor by the Ecumenical Patriarchate until 1990. In September 1922, Albanian Orthodox clergy and laymen proclaimed autocephaly of the Church of Albania at the Great Congress in Berat . The church was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1937. The independent Kyiv Patriarchate was proclaimed in 1992, shortly after

2544-453: Was not until June 1850 that the mother church (i.e. the Ecumenical Patriarchate), under the Patriarch Anthimus IV , recognized this status . In May 1872, the Bulgarian Exarchate , set up by the Ottoman government two years prior, broke away from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, following the start of the people's struggle for national self-determination. The Bulgarian Church was recognized in 1945 as an autocephalous patriarchate, following

2597-464: 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 Bulgarian Millet . In 1762, Saint Paisius of Hilendar (1722–1773),

2650-408: Was recognized against the claims of the Patriarch of Antioch , at the Council of Ephesus (431); it is unclear whether the Church of Cyprus had always been independent, or was once part of the Church of Antioch . When the Patriarch of Antioch claimed the Church of Cyprus was under its jurisdiction, the Cypriot clergy denounced this before the Council of Ephesus. The Council ratified the autocephaly of

2703-610: 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 ). Autocephaly Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Autocephaly ( / ɔː t ə ˈ s ɛ f əl i / ; from Greek : αὐτοκεφαλία , meaning "property of being self-headed")

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2756-406: Was still used in the Middle Persian form. The Turkish form of the word farmān is fermān , whereas the Arabized plural form of the word is farāmīn . In the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan derived his authority from his role as upholder of the Shar'ia, but the Shar'ia did not cover all aspects of Ottoman social and political life. Therefore, in order to regulate relations and status, duties, and

2809-422: Was under the jurisdiction of metropolitan of Pessinus , but was later exempt and placed under direct patriarchal jurisdiction. On that occasion, he was given an honorary title of an autocephalous archbishop , but with no jurisdiction over other bishops, and thus no real autocephaly. Sometime later ( c.  814 ), metropolitan province of Amorium was created, and local archbishop gained regional jurisdiction as

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