§ 32. The Bulgarian Exarchate

In the year following the establishment of the Bulgarian exarchate, namely on 14 May 1871, the church-national assembly of Bulgarian representatives in Constantinople issued a statute for the administration of the exarchate,[1] and then on 10 September 1875 a provisional regulation for the internal administration of the exarchate was issued.[2] Both these statutes held only provisionally, since state confirmation of them could not be pursued on account of the Russo-Turkish war, which broke out shortly afterward. Only after the proclamation (in consequence of the Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878) of the Bulgarian principality could the final ordering of church affairs be undertaken. On the basis of that first statute of 1871, which had received the approval of the Turkish government and held force for the Bulgarian eparchies within the Turkish empire, a new exarchic statute was drafted in Sofia and approved by the Bulgarian synod, and likewise by the state council and the national assembly—a statute confirmed on 4 February 1883 by Prince Alexander.[3] This statute held force for the Bulgarian principality alone until 1885, when Eastern Rumelia was united with the principality, whereupon the same statute began to hold force for this new province as well. But in the course of time various shortcomings showed themselves in the application of that statute, so that a new Exarchic statute was drafted, which the national assembly adopted, and which the Bulgarian prince confirmed on 13 January 1895.[4] This statute has five parts in 184 §§. In the preamble it is established that the Bulgarian principality, as an indivisible part of the Bulgarian church territory, stands in ecclesiastical relation dependent upon the holy synod, as the highest spiritual authority of the Bulgarian church. The Bulgarian principality preserves unity with the great Eastern church in everything touching the dogmas of the faith; and the self-governing Orthodox Bulgarian church, under the name of the exarchate, is an indivisible part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. The canons and the exarchic statute together form the basis for church administration in the principality. Part I of the statute then contains provisions: on the constitution of the exarchic administration, on the election of the exarch, the members of the holy synod, the metropolitans (i.e. the eparchial bishops), the members of the eparchial consistories, the archiereal vicars (i.e. the district protopresbyters), on the parishes, the parish priests, the military priests, the church wardenships and the monasteries. Part II contains provisions on the administrative and judicial competence of the church authorities: the holy synod, the eparchial bishops, the eparchial consistories, the district protopresbyters, the parish priests, the church wardenships and the monastic superiorships. Part III contains provisions concerning the ecclesiastical court and the penalties to which priests may be subjected for various transgressions. Part IV, which has only a single (173rd) paragraph, prescribes what seals the respective church authorities must have. Part V contains general provisions.