The Bulgarian Church in the 9th-10th century

The Christianisation of the Bulgarians in 864 made possible the restoration of church structures in the eastern and central parts of the Balkan Peninsula. However, the policy of the Bulgarian ruler Boris-Michael (852-889, d. 907) was such that the Patriarchate of Constantinople could not simply re-establish its direct control over the church dioceses in the newly converted country. Founded in 870, the Bulgarian archbishopric, which was granted autocephaly in accordance with the acts of the Fourth Council in Constantinople in 879-880, gradually became instrumental in promoting the religious and cultural policies of Boris-Michael and his son, Prince (Emperor from 913 onwards) Symeon (893-927), aimed at introducing the Slavonic liturgy and literature. In 927 Byzantium recognised the patriarchal dignity of the archbishop of Bulgaria. After the Byzantines’ capture of the capital, Preslav, and of the eastern Bulgarian lands in 971, it was the vagaries of the Byzantine-Bulgarian military conflict that determined the fortunes of the Bulgarian Church. It all came to an end with the destruction of the Bulgarian empire in 1018 and the establishment of the Bulgarian archbishopric of Ohrid, nominally independent from the patriarch of Constantinople.