page_title: Christianization of Bulgaria
section_title: Choice between Rome and Constantinople
hierarchical_section_title: Christianization of Bulgaria / Choice between Rome and Constantinople
context_page_description: The Christianization of Bulgaria was the process by which 9th-century medieval Bulgaria converted to Christianity. It reflected the need of unity within the religiously divided Bulgarian state as well as the need for equal acceptance on the international stage in Christian Europe. This process was characterized by the shifting political alliances of Boris I of Bulgaria with the kingdom of the East Franks and with the Byzantine Empire, as well as his diplomatic correspondence with the Pope.
  Because of Bulgaria's strategic position, the churches of both Rome and Constantinople each wanted Bulgaria in their sphere of influence. They regarded Christianization as a means of integrating Slavs into their region. After some overtures to each side, the Khan adopted Christianity from Constantinople in 870. As a result, he achieved his goal of gaining an independent Bulgarian national church and having an archbishop appointed to head it.
context_section_description: Knyaz Boris realized that the Christianization of his subjects would result in greater Byzantine influence. The liturgy was performed in the Greek language, and the newly established Bulgarian Church was subordinate to the Church of Constantinople. The revolt against the new religion prompted the Knyaz to ask Constantinople to allow the Bulgarian Church independent status.
  When Constantinople refused to grant the Bulgarian Church independence, Knyaz Boris turned to the Pope. At the end of August 866, a Bulgarian mission led by the kavhan Peter arrived in Rome, carrying a list of 115 questions from Knyaz Boris. These had to do with the Christian way of life of the newly converted Bulgarians and the potential organization of a future Bulgarian Church under Rome's jurisdiction. On 13 November 866, the Bulgarian Knyaz received the Pope's 106 answers. Formosa from Portua and Paul of Populon led the Pope's mission. At the same time, the Pope sent other emissaries to Constantinople.
  When the Roman clerical mission arrived, Boris was sufficiently satisfied with Rome's response that he ordered the Byzantine mission to leave Bulgaria. This was viewed as an official change of Bulgarian orientation from Constantinople to Rome. Seeing Rome's emissaries there, the German mission also left Bulgaria, satisfied that Bulgaria will be in the Roman diocese.
  Emperor Michael III was displeased by Bulgaria's banishment of Byzantium's clergy. In a letter to Knyaz Boris, the Byzantine emperor expressed his disapproval of Bulgaria's religious reorientation by using offensive language against the Roman Church. This sparked the old rivalry between the two branches of Christianity. In less than two years, Bulgaria's name became widely known in Western Europe.
  In Constantinople, people nervously watched the events taking place in Bulgaria. They believed a pro-Roman Bulgaria threatened Constantinople's immediate interests. A religious council was held in the summer of 867 in the Byzantine capital, during which clerics criticized the Roman Church's actions of recruiting Bulgaria. Pope Nicholas I was anathematized.
  Without losing time, Knyaz Boris asked the Pope to appoint Formosus of Portus, who years later became Pope Formosus, as Bulgarian archbishop. The Pope refused, with the official response being that Formosa already had an eparchy.
  The Pope ordered new leaders, Dominic of Trivena and Grimwald of Polimarthia, of a mission to be sent to Bulgaria. Soon after, Nicolas died. His successor, Pope Adrian II (867-872), also failed to respond to Knyaz Boris' request for appointment of a Bulgarian archbishop.
  Knyaz Boris proposed another candidate for Bulgarian archbishop, Marinus. Deacon Marinus at this time was a papal legate in Constantinople and did not have an eparchy, but the Pope refused. Instead, he received a cleric named Silvester, a man so low in the hierarchy that was not authorized to carry out liturgy by himself. After he had a three-day stay in Pliska, the Bulgarians sent him back to Rome accompanied by emissaries carrying a letter of complaint by Knyaz Boris. Boris perceived Rome's refusals of his request and delays as an insult and a sign of the Pope's unwillingness to coordinate selection with him of a Bulgarian archbishop. Marinus became Pope just a few years later with the name Pope Marinus I.
  As a result, Boris began negotiations again with Constantinople, with whom he expected more cooperation than shown in the past. But, on 23 September 867, Emperor Michael III was killed by his close acquaintance Basil, who established the Macedonian dynasty that ruled the Empire until 1057. Patriarch Photius was replaced by his ideological rival Ignatius (847-858; 867-877). The new rulers of the Byzantine Empire quickly lessened tensions between Constantinople and Rome. Pope Adrian II needed the help of Basil I against the Arabs' attacks in Southern Italy. On the other hand, Byzantium anticipated the Pope's support for Patriarch Ignatius.
caption: Ballshi Inscription
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