Silber 925 / 20 gr. / 40 mm / PP / 6.000 Auflage
The Bulgarian Exarchate was the official
name of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
before its autocephaly was recognized by
the Ecumenical See in 1945 and the
Bulgarian Patriarchate was restored in
1953. The Exarchate was unilaterally
(without the blessing of the Ecumenical
Patriarch) promulgated on May 11, 1872, in
the Bulgarian church in Constantinople in
pursuance of the February 28 (the Julian
calendar) 1870 firman of Sultan Abdülaziz
of the Ottoman Empire. The foundation of
the Exarchate was the direct result of the
struggle of the Bulgarian Orthodox against
the domination of the Greek Patriarchate of
Constantinople in the 1850s and 1860s; the
secession from the Patriarchate was
officially condemned by the Council in
Constantinople in September 1872 as
schismatic.