Tag: Bulgarian


The “Bulgarian Schism” Began 150 Years Ago


On February 28, 2020, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the creation of an independent Bulgarian Church (known as the "Bulgarian Exarchate") by decree of the Ottoman sultan. For centuries up to that point, the Bulgarian Orthodox living in the Ottoman Empire had been under the...

The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 6


This is the final Methodist Quarterly Review article dealing with the aftermath of the 1872 Council of Constantinople. From the Methodist Quarterly Review, April 1874.   The Bulgarian Church question has, on the whole, attracted less attention during the year 1873 than in the previous years. The Bulgarians, undoubtedly, have...

The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 2


Yesterday, I ran the first of six articles on the so-called "Bulgarian Question," a controversy that rocked the Orthodox world in the early 1870s and ultimately led to the 1872 Council of Constantinople, which condemned the heresy of "phyletism." Search the Internet -- both Google and the various subscriber-only databases...

The “Bulgarian Question” and the 1872 Council of Constantinople, Part 1


Recently, I had occasion to research the 1872 Council of Constantinople, which somewhat famously condemned "ethno-phyletism." The issue arose because, as I understand it, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church -- which was under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate -- declared itself autocephalous. Anyway, before I began this research, I could...

This week in American Orthodox history (June 4-10)


June 10, 1870: The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church created the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Previously, Alaska -- or, before its 1867 sale to the United States, "Russian America" -- was part of the Diocese of Kamchatka. Making Alaska its own diocese was part of...

Neutral Principles of Law in a Bulgarian parish dispute


Today I'll be discussing Aglikin v. Kovacheff, a 1987 Illinois appellate court case involving a dispute over control of St. Sophia Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Chicago. The key question, in this case, concerns the extent of the diocesan bishop's authority over the local parish. The bishop had dismissed certain members of the parish board of...

The census record of Fr. Misael Karydis


Fr. Misael Karydis is one of many odd, mysterious figures from early American Orthodox history. We've discussed him at length in past articles. He was the longtime pastor of Holy Trinity Church in New Orleans, from 1881 until his suicide in 1901, and besides his pastoral work, he was apparently...