Functional role of the church in the course of the liberation of Bulgaria

Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Bulgarians started a national revival movement against the assimilation policies of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. After seceding from the Patriarchate in 1870 as a result of a prolonged struggle, the Bulgarians then concentrated their activities on the struggle for political autonomy against the Ottoman Empire.During their national?religious struggle against the Patriarchate, the Bulgarians improved themselves in terms of social, cultural, economic, and educational aspects and achieved their national revival in a short span of time. Throughout this process of revival, Russia, European countries, missionaries, and particularly ecclesiastics played significant roles. The Bulgarians, after gaining their religious autonomy from the Patriarchate, began a number of rebellion movements in the hope of obtaining their autonomy from the Ottoman Empire. Ecclesiastics played a remarkably effective role in the Bulgarian rebellions, and the Exarchate, which was an Ottoman institution, did not hesitate to support the Bulgarian rebellions.After 1877-1878 Ottoman?Russian war, Bulgaria, then a Principality subject to the Ottoman Empire, continued its ambition to become a fully independent state. The leading supporter of these activities of the Principality was the Exarchate, which was located in the capital city of the Ottoman Empire.Until the Principality declared its independence in 1908, the Exarchate and the Bulgarian ecclesiastics had provided all sorts of assistance and support to the revolution committees and encouraged the Bulgarians towards independence by making extensive propaganda among them. The Exarchate also promoted the socio-cultural development of the Bulgarians, thus further contributing to their success.The Exarchate, which was the fruit of the Bulgarian national?religious revival beginning in the early nineteenth century, therefore, undoubtedly became the religious, social and political representative of the Bulgarian people at the climax of the extended struggle for the national independence.