Precisely because the rapid development of Bulgarian education was an expression of the intensified patriotism of the Bulgarian people and a valuable means for its con-solidation, it was met with rabid resistance on the part of the Greek Patriarchy in Constantinople, which was the exponent of the chauvinistic idea about 'Great Greece'. Almost all bishops and the majority of priests in the bishoprics were of Greek origin. Most of them collaborated with the Turkish authorities, pouring calumnies upon the prominent Bulgarians, insinuating that they were Russia's agents, increased the church taxes and robbed and humiliated their congregations in every possible way. This behaviour of the Greek clergy gave rise to a spontaneous resistance on the part of the Bulgarian population which gradually expanded and grew into an organized attitude.

Brothers Miladinov and many others

The Bulgarians were fully justified to speak about a double yoke – Ottoman and Phanariot (from the Phanar city district in Constantinople, where the seat of the Greek Patriarch was) and to put forward demands for a Bulgarian church, independent from the Greek Patriarchy. The struggle was fierce and took its toll.

The leaders of the movement for an independent church, Neophyte Bozveli, Ilarion Makariopolski, the brothers Miladinov and many others, were thrown into prison, but no repressions were capable of halting the spiritual progress of a people defending their right to exist as a nation. The Bulgarian popula-tion everywhere began to chase away the Greek clergymen from their churches, and on April 3,1860, during a church service in Constantinople, Ilarion Makariopolski solemnly proclaimed the separation of the Bulgarian Church from the Greek Patriarchate. Ten years later the government of the Sultan was compelled officially to recognize the existence of a separate Bulgarian Church with an Exarch at its head.

The spiritual upsurge of the Bulgarian nation was ac-companied by an upsurge in the armed resistance move-ment. The successful wars waged by Russia against Turkey during the last three decades of the 18th century had fanned the hopes of the Bulgarian people for a prompt liberation, all the more so that the Russian emperors, who had made the Straits their cherished goal, were increasingly regarding the Balkans as their sphere of influence.

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