The former name of the city of Sofia, and the name of the previous diocese was
Serdica, the city of the
Serdi, a
Celtic people defeated by
Crassus in 29 BC and subjected to the
Kingdom of Thrace, then a
vassal state of
republican Rome. When this kingdom was suppressed in 49 BC, the Serdi were included in the
Roman Province of
Thracia.
Roman Emperor Trajan transformed the borough of the Serdi into a city which he called
Ulpia Serdica. In 275
Aurelian caused Dacia beyond the
Danube to be evacuated, and transplanted to
Moesia and
Roman Thracia the soldiers and colonists who were faithful to the Roman cause. The country occupied by these immigrants formed the new Province of
Dacia, Sardica being included in this province (Homo, "Essai sur le règne de l'empereur Aurélien", pp. 313–21). Later,
Diocletian divided Dacia into Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediterranea. Sardica was the civil and ecclesiastical
metropolis of the latter.
Gallienus established a mint at Sardica, and
Constantine the Great, who was born in the region, contemplated making it his capital. The
Edict of Serdica ending the Diocletian persecution was signed into law here. Ecclesiastically, Sardica belonged to the
Patriarchate of Rome until 733, when it was annexed to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople until 809. Upon the conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity in 865, Sardica was one of the first cities which had an episcopal see. Until 1204 it was included in the Graeco-Bulgarian
Patriarchate of Achrida, until 1393 in the Bulgarian
Patriarchate of Tirnovo and until 1872 again in the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Since then Sardica, which is now called Sophia, belongs to the Orthodox national Church of Bulgaria. The earliest known bishop is Protagenes, who assisted at the
First Council of Nicaea in 325; the best known is
Bonosus, who shortly afterwards attacked the virginity of the Blessed Virgin. Julian of Sardica who was metropolitan of
Dacia Meditteranea attended the
Council of Ephesus, in 431. When it was captured by the Bulgars, they changed its name to
Sredetz, later transformed by the Greeks into
Sraditza and
Triaditza. Again occupied by the 'Greek' Byzantines from 1018 to 1186, it enjoyed great prosperity; a section of the population was
Paulician or
Manichaean, heresies from both Catholic and (later) Orthodox points of view. After some years of troubles it again fell into the power of the Bulgars. Its present name of Sophia dates from the Middle Ages, though the precise date of its first use cannot be assigned; in the sixteenth century Sredetz and Sophia were used simultaneously. In 1382 the city was captured by the
Ottoman Turks, and for more than four centuries it was the residence of the
beglerbeg (governor general) of all Rumelia. In 1878 Sophia was chosen as the capital of the tributary
Principality of Bulgaria, and since 1908 became the capital of the
Kingdom of Bulgaria, later of the present republic. ==Ancient Bishopric==