Bulgarian Patriarchate

Bulgaria was baptized under Prince Boris in 864, and the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, St. Clement among them, gave it the Slavonic Liturgy. It became the first Slavic patriarchate in 927. Abolished under Ottoman rule, it was restored step by step, and it became a patriarchate again in 1953. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia was built to honour the Russian soldiers who died freeing Bulgaria in 1878.

• Date: 870, patriarchate 927