Author ORCID Identifier
ORCID ID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3009-9411
Abstract
After the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was downgraded in rank by the decrees (sigils) of Emperor Basil II from 1019–1025. It was declared a Bulgarian autocephalous archdiocese with its seat in Ohrid, the last Bulgarian capital and the former seat Bulgarian patriarch. The diocese, its Bulgarian nationality, and the rights of its First Hierarch were defined by three sigils of Emperor Basil II, which outlined the rights of the Ohrid Archbishopric. In sources from the 11th-12th centuries, it is referred to as the Bulgarian Archbishopric. Its independence from the Patriarchate of Constantinople was regulated by these three sigils until 1020. Initially, the archdiocese covered 31 bishoprics across the entire territory of Bulgaria, excluding part of Thrace. The first archbishop was John of Debar, a Bulgarian monk from the Bigor Monastery “Saint John the Theologian”. However, after his tenure, this rule was violated, and Greeks occupied the chair, with the number of bishoprics being reduced. Gradually, the Ohrid archdiocese acquired the status of a multi-ethnic church under the influence of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The last Archbishop of Ohrid was Arsenius II, who served until 1767 when the Archbishopricof Ohrid was dissolved, and the diocese was annexted to the Metropolinate of Drach. From 1776, the diocese was joined to the Prespa Metropolitanate, and until 1878, there were only Greek bishops in Ohrid.
Recommended Citation
Yovchev, Ivan
(2024)
"The Archbishopric of Ohrid in the Mnemohistory of the Church: A Bulgarian Historiographical Perspective,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 44
:
Iss.
7
, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2530
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol44/iss7/3
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