The
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...
in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
has deep roots, extending back to the 5th and 7th centuries when the
Slavs and the
Bulgars, respectively, adopted
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in the period of the
First Bulgarian Empire (681-1018). Prior to this official conversion, Christianity had spread to the region during
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
and early Byzantine times. After the 1054
Great Schism, the Church of Bulgaria remained in communion with the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and other Eastern Orthodox Churches. It bears the distinction of being the oldest Slavic Christian Church in the Orthodox communion.
According to the most recent census (2001) most of Bulgaria's inhabitants (82.6%) are Eastern Orthodox Christians, almost all of whom are members of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church, officially the country's traditional religion.
The Bulgarian Patriarchate has within its jurisdiction 13 dioceses in Bulgaria and another two in Europe and North America.
See also
*
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
*
Protestantism in Bulgaria
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
*
Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria
References
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
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