The Bulgarian Exarchate was an independent Bulgarian ecclesiastical organisation established on February 28, 1870 by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire. The foundation of the Exarchate was the direct result of the Bulgarian Church Struggle against the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the 1850s and 1860s.

Until the Balkan Wars 1912/1913, the Bulgarian Exarchate disposed of a total of 23 bishoprics in Bulgaria and Macedonia (Vidin, Vratsa, Lovech, Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse, Silistra, Varna, Preslav, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Sofia, Samokov, Kyustendil, Skopje, Debar, Bitola, Ohrid, Veles, Strumitsa and Nevrokop) and was represented by acting chairmen in charge in eight other bishoprics in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet (Lerin {Florina}, Voden {Edessa}, Thessaloniki, Kukush {Kilkis}, Serres, Adrianople, Dimotika and Xanthi).

After the Balkan Wars and World War I, the Bulgarian Exarchate was deprived of its bishoprics in Macedonia and Thrace and its diocese shrunk to the territory of modern Bulgaria. After the death of Joseph I in 1915, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was not in a position to elect its regular head until 1953 when the patriarchal dignity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was restored and the Holy Synod elected the Metropolitan of Plovdiv, Cyril, Bulgarian Patriarch. For more information about the Bulgarian Exarchate and other periods in the history of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, see Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

See also

• List of Bulgarian Exarchs