List of Patriarchs of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Listed below are the Patriarchs of All Bulgaria, leaders of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Title	Name	Birth name	Reign	Seat
Archbishops of Drastar (870–919)
Archbishop	Georgi		870 – c. 886	Drastar
Archbishop	Joseph I		c. 886 – beg. of 10-th c.	Drastar
Archbishop	Leontiy		917–919	Preslav
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (919–1018)
Patriarch uncanonical title – not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Leontiy		919 -927	Preslav
Patriarch title was canonical recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Dimitriy I		c. 927 – c. 930	Preslav
Patriarch	Sergiy		c. 931 – c. 940	Preslav
Patriarch	Grigoriy I		c. 940 – c. 944	Preslav
Patriarch	Damyan		c. 944 – c. 972	Preslav, Dosorostol, Sredets (?)
Patriarch	German		c. 972 – c. 990	Sredets(?), Voden, Maglen (?), Prespa
Patriarch	Nikolay		c. 991 – c. 1000	Prespa (?)
Patriarch	Philip		c. 1000 – c. 1015	Ohrid
Patriarch	David		c. 1015 – 1018	Ohrid
After the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantium domination in 1018, the church was deprived of its Patriarchal title and reduced to the rank of an autocephalous Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid under the tutelage of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople between 1018 and 1767. See the List of archbishops of the Archbishopric of Ohrid.
Archbishops of Tarnovo (1186–1235)
Primate title was canonical recognized by pope Innocent III in 1204	Vasiliy I		1186–1232	Tarnovo
Primate	Yoakim I		1232–1246	Tarnovo
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (1235–1393)
Patriarch title was canonical recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs in 1235	Yoakim I		1235–1246	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Visarion		c. 1246	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Vasiliy II		1246 – c. 1254	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Vasiliy III		c. 1254 – 1263	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Yoakim II		1263–1272	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Ignatiy		1272–1277	Tarnovo
Patriarch	St. Makariy		1277–1284	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Yoakim III		1284–1300	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Dorotey		1300 – c. 1315	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Roman		c. 1315 – c. 1325	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Teodosiy I		c. 1325 – 1337	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Yoanikiy I		1337 – c. 1340	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Simeon		c. 1341 – 1348	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Teodosiy II		1348–1363	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Yoanikiy II		1363–1375	Tarnovo
Patriarch	Evtimiy		1375–1394	Tarnovo
Exarchs of Bulgarians (1872–1915)
Exarch title was granted by a decree (firman) of the Sultan, promulgated on 28 February 1870. Unrecognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Ilarion	Ivan Ivanov	12 February 1872 – 16 February 1872	Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Exarch	Antim I	Atanas Mihaylov Chalakov	16 February 1872 – 14 April 1877	Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Exarch	Joseph I	Lazar Yovchev	24 April 1877 – 20 June 1915	Istanbul, Ottoman Empire; Sofia, Bulgaria
Vicars – Chairmans of the Holy Synod (1915–1945)
Metropolitan	Parteniy	Petar Popstefanov Ivanov Popov	1915–1918	Sofia
Metropolitan	Vasiliy	Vasil Mihaiylov	1918–1921	Sofia
Metropolitan	Maxim	Marin Penchov Pelov	1921 – 28 March 1928	Sofia
Metropolitan	Kliment	Grigoriy Ivanov Shivachev	28 March 1928 – 3 May 1930	Sofia
Metropolitan	Neofit	Nikola Dimitrov Karaabov	4 May 1930 – 15 October 1944	Sofia
Metropolitan	Stefan	Stoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov	16 October 1944 – 21 January 1945	Sofia
Exarchs of Bulgarians (1945–1948)
Exarch	Stefan	Stoyan Popgeorgiev Shokov	21 January 1945 – 6 September 1948	Sofia
Vicars – Chairmans of the Holy Synod (1948–1953)
Metropolitan	Mihail	Dimitar Todorov Chavdarov	8 November 1948 – 4 January 1949	Sofia
Metropolitan	Paisiy	Alexandar Raykov Ankov	4 January 1949 – 3 January 1951	Sofia
Metropolitan	Cyril	Konstantin Markov Konstantinov	3 January 1951 – 10 May 1953	Sofia
Patriarchs of Bulgaria (since 1953)
Patriarch title was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople	Cyril I	Konstantin Markov Konstantinov	10 May 1953 – 7 March 1971	Sofia
Patriarch	Maxim	Marin Naydenov Minkov	since 4 July 1971	Sofia

See also

• Patriarch of All Bulgaria
• Bulgarian Orthodox Church