Christianity was brought to Thrace by the Apostles Paul and Andrew in the first century AD when the first organized Christian communities were formed.
Boris I (Saint Boris I (Mihail) the Baptizer) was the disciple of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who had recently died in 886. As ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, he brought about the autocephaly of the Bulgarian Church.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was recognized as an autocephalous archbishopric in 870. In 918 or 919 the Bulgarian monarch Simeon I (r. 893–927) summoned a church council to raise the Bulgarian Archbishopric to a completely independent patriarchate.
Archbishop Joseph 870–c.877
Archbishop George c.877–c.893
Archbishop Gregory Presbyter John the Exarch (?) c.893–s.917
Archbishop Leontius c.917–c.918/919
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (918/919–1018)
Patriarch Leontius c.918/919–927
uncanonical; not recognized
by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch Demetrius c.927–c.930
canonical; recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch Sergius c.931–c.940
Patriarch Gregory c.940–c.944
Patriarch Damian c.944–c.972
Patriarch Germanus c.972–c.990
Patriarch Nicolaus c.991–c.1000
Patriarch Philip c.1000–c.1015
Patriarch David John of Debar c.1015–1018
After the fall of the First Bulgarian Empire under Byzantine domination in 1018 the Church was deprived of its patriarchal title and reduced to the rank of an autocephalous Archbishopric of Ohrid; in 1767 it was put under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. A separate Bulgarian Church was created with the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1186.
Archbishops of Bulgaria (1186–1235)
Primate Basil I 1186–1232 title was canonically recognized by Pope Innocent III in 1204
Primate Saint Joachim I 1232–1246
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1235–1394)
Patriarch Saint Joachim I 1235–1246 title was canonically recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs in 1235
Patriarch Vissarion c.1246
Patriarch Basil II 1246–c.1254
Patriarch Basil III c.1254–1263
Patriarch Joachim II 1263–1272
Patriarch Ignatius 1272–1277
Patriarch Saint Macarius 1277–1284
Patriarch Joachim III 1284–1300
Patriarch Dorotheus 1300–c. 1315
Patriarch Romanus c. 1315–c. 1325
Patriarch Theodosius I c. 1325–1337
Patriarch Joannicius I 1337–c. 1340
Patriarch Symeon c. 1341–1348
Patriarch Theodosius II 1348–1363
Patriarch Joannicius II 1363–1375
Patriarch Saint Euthymius 1375–1394
Exarchs of the Bulgarians (1872–1915)
Exarch Ilarion 12 February 1872 – 16 February 1872 Title was granted by a decree (firman) of Sultan Abdulaziz, promulgated on 28 February 1870. Unrecognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Exarch Anthim I 16 February 1872 – 14 April 1877
Exarch Joseph I 24 April 1877 – 20 June 1915
Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1915–1945)
Metropolitan Parthenius 1915 – 20 June 1918
Metropolitan Vasilius 1918 – 22 October 1921
Metropolitan Maxim 22 October 1921 – 28 March 1928
Metropolitan Clement 28 March 1928 – 3 May 1930
Metropolitan Neophyte 4 May 1930 – 15 October 1944
Metropolitan Stefan I 16 October 1944 – 21 January 1945
Exarch of the Bulgarians (1945–1948)
Exarch Stefan I 21 January 1945 – 6 September 1948 Canonical; recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
Vicars – Chairmen of the Holy Synod (1948–1953)
Metropolitan Michael 8 November 1948 – 4 January 1949
Metropolitan Paisius 4 January 1949 – 3 January 1951
Metropolitan Cyril 3 January 1951 – 10 May 1953
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1953–present)
Patriarch Cyril 10 May 1953 – 7 March 1971 Title was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Patriarch Maxim 4 July 1971 – 6 November 2012
Patriarch Neophyte 24 February 2013 – present