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Religion in Bulgaria |
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Religion in Bulgaria
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Most citizens of Bulgaria have associations — at least nominally — with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Founded in 870 AD under the Patriarchate of Constantinople(from which it obtained its first primate, its clergy and theological texts),the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has had autocephalous status since 927. The Orthodox Church re-established the Bulgarian Patriarchate in Sofia in the 1950s after the promulgation of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1870.The Bulgarian Orthodox Church,as the independent national church of Bulgaria (like the other national branches of Eastern Orthodoxy in their respective countries) plays a role as an inseparable element of Bulgarian national consciousness.
The church became subordinate within the Patriarchate of Constantinople,twice during the periods of Byzantine (1018 – 1185) and Ottoman (1396 – 1878) domination but has been revived every time as a symbol of Bulgarian statehood without breaking away from the Orthodox dogma.In 2001, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had 6,552,000 members in Bulgaria (82.6% of the population).However,many people raised during the 45 years of communist rule are not religious,even though they may formally be members of the church.Despite the dominant position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Bulgarian cultural life,a number of Bulgarian citizens belong to other religious denominations,most notably Islam, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in Europe
Islam came to Bulgaria at the end of the fourteenth century after the conquest of the country by the Ottomans.It gradually gained ground throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries through the introduction of Turkish colonists and the conversion of native Bulgarians.In the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, missionaries from Rome converted Bulgarian Paulicians in the districts of Plovdiv and Svishtov to Roman Catholicism.Today their descendants form the bulk of Bulgarian Catholics,whose number stood at 44,000 in 2001.
Missionaries from the United States of America introduced Protestantism into Bulgarian territory in 1857.Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century.In 2001 Bulgaria had some 42,000 Protestants.According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll,in 2005,40% of Bulgarian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God",whereas 40% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force",13% that "they do not believe there is a God,spirit,nor life force",and 6% did not answer.
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