Background Shortly after 934, the
Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos recognized the head of the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Damian, to the rank of
patriarch, following the terms of the peace treaty that ended the
Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927. In 971, Emperor
John I Tzimiskes dismissed Damian after annexing the capital city of Great Preslav and parts of northeast
Bulgaria, but the Bulgarian patriarchate was probably restored under Tsar
Samuel of Bulgaria. During his rule, the residence of the Bulgarian patriarchs remained closely connected to the developments in the war between Samuel and the Byzantine emperor
Basil II. Thus, the next Patriarch German resided consecutively in
Moglena (Almopia),
Vodena (Edessa) and
Prespa. Around 990, the last patriarch, Philip, moved to
Ohrid.
History Following his
final subjugation of the Bulgarian state in 1018,
Basil II, to underscore the Byzantine victory, established the Archbishopric of Ohrid by downgrading the Bulgarian patriarchate to the rank of the archbishopric. The now archbishopric remained an
autocephalous church, separate from the
Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, while the archbishopric was completely independent in any other aspect, its
primate was selected by the emperor from a list of three candidates submitted by the local
church synod. In three
sigillia issued in 1020 Basil II gave extensive privileges to the new see. Although the first appointed archbishop (
John of Debar) was a
Bulgarian from
Kutmichevitsa, his successors, as well as the whole higher clergy, were invariably Byzantine, the most famous of them being Saint
Theophylact (1078–1107). The Archbishops were chosen from among the monks in Constantinople. Adrianos Komnenos, under his monastic name of
John (IV) (1143–1160), was the cousin of Emperor
John II Komnenos and was the first Archbishop who held the title of Archbishop of Justiniana Prima. The later archbishop John V
Kamateros (1183–1216) was a former imperial clerk. In the 13th and the first half of the 14th centuries, the territory of the Archbishopric was contested by the Byzantine Empire, the
Latin Empire, the
Despotate of Epirus, the
Second Bulgarian Empire and later
Serbia. After the
fall of Constantinople to the Latins in 1204 and with the foundation of the new states on the territory under the jurisdiction of the Ohrid Archbishopric, autonomous churches were founded in the states which did not accept the jurisdiction either of Constantinople or of Ohrid. After 1204, the
Empire of Nicaea claimed the Byzantine imperial heritage and provided refuge to the exiled patriarchs of Constantinople. In the restored
Second Bulgarian Empire, a new Archbishopric was founded with its see in Tarnovo. Tsar
Kaloyan (1197–1207) did not succeed in putting the Ohrid Archbishopric under the jurisdiction of the Tarnovo Archbishopric but nevertheless managed to expel the Greek bishops and install Bulgarians instead. The next Bulgarian rulers were constantly trying to reunite the Ohrid Archbishopric with the Tarnovo Archbishopric. The Latin conquests, the restoring of the
Bulgarian Empire and the formation of an independent Serbian state reduced the jurisdiction of the Ohrid Archbishopric immensely, but it did not disappear. During the time of Archbishop
Demetrios Chomatenos, the autocephaly of the Archbishopric was confirmed with the act of anointing the despot of Epirus,
Theodore Komnenos Doukas, as Emperor and in correspondence with the Patriarch. The southward expansion of the Serbian state in the second half of the 13th century was also followed by changes in ecclesiastical jurisdiction of some sees. After the successful Serbian campaigns against the Byzantine empire in 1282–1283, cities of
Skopje and
Debar were annexed and local eparchies transferred to the jurisdiction of
Serbian Archbishopric of Peć. Serbian expansion reached its apogee at the time of king and tsar
Stefan Dušan (1331–1355). Dušan had conquered Ohrid around 1334. Under Serbian rule the Archbishopric of Ohrid kept its autonomy. On 16 April 1346 (
Easter), at the Serbian capital city of
Skopje, a joined state and church assembly (
Sabor) was held, attended by Serbian Archbishop
Joanikije II, the Archbishop
Nicholas I of Ohrid, the Patriarch
Simeon of Bulgaria and other hierarchs and dignitaries, including monastic leaders of
Mount Athos. The assembly proclaimed the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the rank of Patriarchate. The Archbishopric of Ohrid was not annexed to the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and kept its autonomy, recognizing only the honorary seniority of the Serbian Patriarch. After the
Battle of Maritsa in 1371, and
Battle of Kosovo in 1389, much of the territory of the Archbishopric of Ohrid was affected by the expansion of
Ottoman Turks, who conquered Skopje in 1392 and annexed all southern regions after the death of
Prince Marko in 1395. The archbishopric managed to survive the transition and was legalized by new Ottoman authorities. Not long after the fall of the
Bulgarian Patriarchate in 1393, some of the bishoprics under its jurisdiction also entered the Ohrid Archbishopric. Thus, at the beginning of the 15th century, the Archbishop of Ohrid, attached the dioceses of
Sofia and
Vidin to the Archbishopric. In 1408, Ohrid came under Ottoman rule. Still, the Ottomans did not reach after the Ohrid Archbishopric, mostly because of their tolerance for monotheistic religions, and left the people to govern themselves regarding religion. When the last medieval
Serbian Patriarch died in 1463, there were no technical options to elect a new one, so the Ohrid Archbishopric had laid its claim over many of the Serbian Patriarchate's eparchies on the basis of its old 1019 territorial rights, predating Serbian autocephaly. By the 1520s, the Archbishopric of Ohrid had managed to put practically the entire Serbian Church under its jurisdiction, however, by the intervention of
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in 1557, the latter was renewed and reorganized. During the 15th century, dioceses from the other side of the
Danube, from the duchies of
Wallachia and
Moldova, fell under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric. Nevertheless, this did not last for more than a hundred years. Towards the beginning of the 16th century, the Ohrid Archbishopric expanded its jurisdiction even over territories in
Southern Italy, as well as in
Dalmatia. The flock of this diocese was made of Greeks and Albanians. Towards the middle of the 16th century, the Ohrid Archbishopric lost the Diocese of
Veroia, however, at the beginning of the 17th century, it gained the Diocese of
Durazzo from the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Since then and until its abolishment in 1767, the Archbishopric neither lost nor gained a diocese under its jurisdiction.
Abolition The autocephaly of the Ohrid Archbishopric remained respected during the periods of Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian and Ottoman rule; the church continued to exist until its abolition in 1767, when it was abolished by the Sultan's decree, at the urging of the Greek Eastern Orthodox leaders of Istanbul, and was placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The division into
phanariotes and
autochthonists which occurred among the diocesan bishops of the Ohrid Archbishopric and, the difficult financial position of the Ohrid Archbishopric over a longer period of time, contributed to its abolishment. Just a year before, the Patriarchate of Constantinople abolished the
Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in the same manner, and its dioceses adjoined to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. ==Language==