In Bulgaria , 13% of the population are Muslims, 0.8%-Jews, 0.5%-Roman Catholics,
but the greatest part of the people are adherents of the Orthodox Church -85%.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has a long and interesting history throughout the centuries.
In the middle of the 9th century the astute Bulgarian king Boris I (852-889) realized the sacred
moral value of Christianity and baptised Bulgarian people in 865.Church proclaimed Boris I a saint
and gave him the name “baptiser”. Boris I realized the importance of Bulgarian Orthodox Church in
uniting the people and did his best to turn that institution into an independent union.
Another remarkable deed connected with Bulgarian Church and culture is the Patriarch Evtimii`s one.
A highly educated and learned clergyman, he laid the foundations of the Tarnovo learning academy,
whose base of operations was situated in the “St. Troica” monastery near Tarnovo.
In 1375 Evtimii was chosen for Patriarch and developed active spiritual, social and cultural activities.
Patriarch Evtimii undertook an important language and alphabet reform; revised old translations by
comparing them to Greek originals and made new ones from different theological books.
Nowadays preaching in Bulgarian Orthodox Church is done in church-Slavic ( or Slavonic)
as well as in contemporary Bulgarian. Bible texts are read in “new” –Bulgarian , only.
Orthodox architecture and icon painting in Bulgaria are unique, too.
There are numbers of masterpieces on wood or walls and ceilings saved in monasteries and
churches in the whole country.
To sum up, the history humankind`s cultures and civilisations is the history of their religions.
Nothing has such an integrating effect as the bond of common faith.
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