Ferman for the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate
The Ferman for the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate of February 28, 1870 is a Ferman (decree) of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz , through which the Bulgarian Orthodox Church regained its independence in the form of an exarchate . It was written in Bulgarian , Turkish (Ottoman) and Greek . The independence of the Bulgarian Church is seen as the victory of the Bulgarian National Revival movement in its struggle for an independent Bulgarian state.
Importance and Impact
Through this document, for the first time in the history of Christianity, an Islamic ruler constituted a Christian church. In § 10 he also laid down the limits of the exarchate. A plebiscite was permitted for all places that were not mentioned by name in the Ferman (§ 10 of the Ferman ). When two-thirds of the Orthodox residents declared themselves to be part of the Bulgarian Exarchate, the place was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Church. Under pressure from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , this mainly affected eparchies in Macedonia and Thrace. After a referendum, some of the Macedonian dioceses joined.
With the Sultan's Ferman, the Bulgarian exarchate was the first to allow a millet in the Ottoman Empire on an ethnic basis . This resulted in a Bulgarian-Greek church battle in Macedonia and Thrace , which was later also fought armed.
The Ferman of February 27, 1870 is clearly in line with the proposals made in previous years to resolve the Bulgarian church question. It contains essential elements from the project of the Patriarch of Constantinople Gregorios VI. , responds to the demands of the Bulgarians, which were contained in the proposal of Paisij of Plovdiv , and basically agrees with the two projects submitted by the Ottoman government in 1868.
The fact that the High Porte did not grant the Bulgarian Church full independence was not only due to the fact that both sides should be satisfied. Rather, even after the publication of the Fermans, the government retained an important trump card in its hands: it was able to continue to meet every attempt by the Bulgarian side to come closer to the desired autocephaly with benevolence or rejection. Also those Bulgarian forces that were loyal to the politics of the Sublime Porte should be strengthened. In addition, the Ottoman government reserved a further possibility for influencing the policy of the Exarchate, which was not yet provided for in the two projects of 1868. According to § 4, a list of candidates had to be approved by the Sublime Porte before the exarch was elected.
The Ferman thereby anchored the exarchate's dependence on the benevolence of the Ottoman government, which became clear in the following years. Examples are influencing the election of the Bulgarian exarch, delaying the issuance of the Berâts (documents of appointment) of the Bulgarian bishops, e. B. Dorotej von Skopje and Nathanail von Ohrid and the delay of the referendums provided for in § 10 in the mixed eparchies of Macedonia and Thakia.
Ferman's text
- § 1. A special ecclesiastical area is formed under the name "Bulgarian Exarchate", which includes the metropolises, eparchies and other places listed below, and the administration of ecclesiastical and spiritual affairs of this area is entrusted entirely to the Exarchate.
- § 2. The highest-ranking metropolitan of this area will bear the title of Exarch and be the canonical chairman of the Bulgarian Synod, which will be a permanent body.
- § 3. The internal spiritual administration of this exarchate is regulated by another constitution, which in all points conforms to the canonical rules and regulations of the Orthodox Church and must be submitted to my High Imperial Government for confirmation. This constitution must ensure that the patriarch cannot exert any direct or indirect influence on the administration and above all on the election of the bishops and the exarch. After his election, the exarch immediately receives the certificate of confirmation required by the faith from the patriarch.
- § 4. The Exarch, appointed by my high adviser, has to mention the name of the Ecumenical Patriarch, according to the rules of the Church. Before, according to the faith, the spiritual election of the person found worthy of this office is carried out, the opinion and approval of my High Government must be obtained.
- § 5. The Exarch has the right to apply to the local authorities and the Sublime Porte, in particular to request advice for the Bulgarian bishops.
- § 6. In questions concerning the Orthodox faith, the Synod of the Exarchate can turn to the Ecumenical Patriarch, who, if possible, will give the help and the necessary answers as soon as possible.
- § 7. St. Myron receives the Bulgarian Synod from the Patriarchate .
- § 8. The hierarchs of the patriarchate may - z. B. in administrative matters - touring the area of the Exarchate and vice versa. But they must not convene a synod outside their spiritual territory, nor interfere in the affairs of Christians who are not under their control, nor can they hold services without the permission of the local bishop in whose diocese they are.
- § 9. The Bulgarian monastery church in Constantinople is subordinate to the exarch, just as the Jerusalem church in the capital is subordinate to the patriarch of Jerusalem. If the Exarch is in Constantinople, the same provisions apply to him as to the corresponding case for the Patriarch of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem.
- § 10. determines the jurisdiction of the exarchate: all eparchies on the territory of today's Bulgaria with the exception of a few places on the Black Sea coast and in the Rhodope region, plus the dioceses of Nis, Pirot and Veles, which are now on Yugoslav territory. In addition, all areas in which at least two thirds of the Orthodox population want this can also join the exarchate.
- § 11. The monasteries that are directly subordinate to the patriarchate retain their status.
literature
- Gerhard Müller (Ed.): Theologische Realenzyklopädie , Volume 10, Issues 1–2, Walter de Gruyter, 1977, p. 436 ff
- Fikret Adanir : The Macedonian question: its origin and Development , 1979, p. 57 ff
- Fikret Adanır: The founding of the Bulgarian exarchate in The Macedonian Question , Volume 20 of Frankfurter Historische Abhandlungen, p. 42 ff
- Lexicon on the history of Southeast Europe , p. 141, p. 225
- Ernst Reinhardt: The Origin of the Bulgarian Exarchate , R. Berger Verlag, 1912
- Church in the East Volume 24/1981, Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, p. 68ff
- Hans-Dieter Döpmann : Church in Bulgaria from its beginnings to the present , Munich, Biblion Verlag, 2006;
- Gunnar Hering : The Conflict of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate with the Porte 1890. (1988)
- Ioannis Zelepos : The Ethnization of Greek Identity, 1870-1912: State and Private Actors Against the Background of the "Megali Idea" , Volume 113 of Südosteuropäischen Arbeit, Verlag Oldenbourg, Wissenschaftsverlag, 2002, p. 271
- Edgar Hösch: History of the Balkan countries: from the early days to the present , CH Beck, 2008, p. 152/53, p. 175ff
- Jansen, Christian / Borggräfe, Henning: Nation- Nationality- Nationalism . Volume 1 of Historical Introductions, Campus Verlag, 2007, p. 167ff
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Church in the East
- ↑ Fikret Adanir
- ↑ Dunja Melcic, p 142
- ↑ See: Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas, p. 427; Sfetas Spyridon: Macedonia and inter-Balkan relations, 1920–1924, Hieronymus Verlag, 1992, p. 5
- ^ German for Church in the East. Volume 24/1981, Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 68ff.