List of Patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The following is a list of Patriarchs of All Bulgaria, heads of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Title Name Birth name Office Seat
Archbishops of Drastar (870–919)
ArchbishopGeorgius 870 – c. 886Drastar
ArchbishopJoseph I the Confessor c. 886 – early 10th centuryDrastar
ArchbishopLeontius I 917–919Preslav
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (919–1018)
Patriarch
uncanonical title – not recognized
by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople		Leontius I 919–927Preslav
Patriarch
title was canonical recognized
by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople		Dimitrius I c. 927 – c. 930Preslav
PatriarchSergius c. 931 – c. 940Preslav
PatriarchGregorius I c. 940 – c. 944Preslav
PatriarchDamian c. 944 – c. 972Preslav, Dosorostol, Sredets
PatriarchGermanus I c. 972 – c. 990Sredets, Voden, Maglen, Prespa
PatriarchNicolaus c. 991 – c. 1000Prespa (?)
PatriarchPhilip c. 1000 – c. 1015Ohrid
PatriarchDavid c. 1015 – 1018Ohrid
After the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire under Byzantium domination in 1018 the church was deprived of its Patriarchal title and reduced to the rank of an autocephalous Archbishopric of Ohrid under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople until 1767.


See the Archbishop of Ohrid.

Archbishops of Tarnovo (1186–1235)
Primate
title was canonical recognized
by pope Innocent III in 1204		Vasilius I 1186–1232Tarnovo
PrimateJoachim I 1232–1246Tarnovo
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1235–1393)
Patriarch
title was canonically recognized
by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs in 1235		St. Joachim I 1235–1246Tarnovo
PatriarchVisarion c. 1246Tarnovo
PatriarchVasilius II 1246 – c. 1254Tarnovo
PatriarchVasilius III c. 1254 – 1263Tarnovo
PatriarchJoachim II 1263–1272Tarnovo
PatriarchIgnatius 1272–1277Tarnovo
PatriarchSt. Macarius 1277–1284Tarnovo
PatriarchJoachim III 1284–1300Tarnovo
PatriarchDorotheus 1300 – c. 1315Tarnovo
PatriarchRomanus c. 1315 – c. 1325Tarnovo
PatriarchTheodosius I c. 1325 – 1337Tarnovo
PatriarchJoannicius I 1337 – c. 1340Tarnovo
PatriarchSimeon c. 1341 – 1348Tarnovo
PatriarchTheodosius II 1348–1363Tarnovo
PatriarchJoannicius I 1363–1375Tarnovo
PatriarchEuthymius of Tarnovo 1375–1394Tarnovo
Exarchs of Bulgarians (1872–1915)
Exarch
title was granted by a decree (firman) of the Sultan, promulgated on 28 February 1870.
Unrecognized by
the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople 		IlarionIvan Ivanov12 February 1872 – 16 February 1872Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
ExarchAnthim IAtanas Mihaylov Chalakov16 February 1872 – 14 April 1877Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
ExarchJoseph ILazar Yovchev 24 April 1877 – 20 June 1915Constantinople, Ottoman Empire; Sofia, Bulgaria
Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1915–1945)
MetropolitanPartheniusPetar Popstefanov Ivanov Popov1915–1918Sofia
MetropolitanVasilius of Dorostol-ChervenVasil Mihaiylov1918–1921Sofia
MetropolitanMaxim of PlovdivMarin Penchov Pelov1921 – 28 March 1928Sofia
MetropolitanClement of VratsaGrigoriy Ivanov Shivachev28 March 1928 – 3 May 1930Sofia
MetropolitanNeophyte of VidinNikola Dimitrov Karaabov4 May 1930 – 15 October 1944Sofia
MetropolitanStefan of SofiaStoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov16 October 1944 – 21 January 1945Sofia
Exarchs of Bulgarians (1945–1948)
ExarchStefan I of BulgariaStoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov21 January 1945 – 6 September 1948Sofia
Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1948–1953)
MetropolitanMihail of DorostolDimitar Todorov Chavdarov8 November 1948 – 4 January 1949 Sofia
MetropolitanPaisius of VratsaAlexandar Raykov Ankov4 January 1949 – 3 January 1951 Sofia
MetropolitanCyril of PlovdivKonstantin Markov Konstantinov3 January 1951 – 10 May 1953 Sofia
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1953–Present)
Patriarch
title was recognized
by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople		Cyril of BulgariaKonstantin Markov Konstantinov10 May 1953 – 7 March 1971Sofia
PatriarchMaxim of BulgariaMarin Naydenov Minkov4 July 1971 – 6 November 2012Sofia
PatriarchNeophyte of BulgariaSimeon Nikolov Dimitrov24 February 2013 – presentSofia

See also