Exarch Joseph I (also known as Iosif I,

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth an ...

Lazar Yovchev, ; May 5, 1840,

Kalofer Kalofer ( ) is a town in central Bulgaria, located on the banks of the Tundzha between the Balkan Mountains to the north and the Sredna Gora to the south. Kalofer is part of Plovdiv Province and the Karlovo municipality. It is best known as th ...

, Ottoman Empire – June 20, 1915,

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Exarch from 1877 to 1915. He has great merits for preserving the unity of the

Bulgarian Orthodox Church The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

and for the Bulgarian educational and ecclesiastical work in Macedonia and

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

, which remained in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

after 1878. His grave is marked with a white cross and a bed with flowers, it is located on the south side of the church " St. Nedelya" in Sofia, near the side altar door.The ''Sveta Nedelya'' Church of Sofia
(in Bulgarian)
pravoslavieto.com
/ref>

Note

Bishops of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Burials at St Nedelya Church People from Kalofer Exarchs of Bulgaria 19th-century Bulgarian people 1840 births 1915 deaths {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub