Diocese of Varna and Great Preslav

The preaching of the Apostle Andrew the First Called in these lands is known. He also installed his disciple Amplia as a bishop in Odis (now Varna ). The references to the local department are preserved from the III - early IV century. At the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th centuries, it had the status of autocephalous archdiocese , then became part of the Constantinople Patriarchate . In the VII century, Odiss was burned and devastated by the Avars . In its place a consequence arose a Bulgarian settlement called Varna.

The church organization was revived in the 9th — 10th centuries with the conversion of Bulgarians to Orthodoxy. The region was part of the Bulgarian Church and the Ohrid Archdiocese that inherited it. At the beginning of the XIII century, after the conquests of Tsar Kaloyan , these lands became part of the Preslavskoy eparchy of the Tarnovo Patriarchate . After the restoration of the power of the Eastern Roman Empire here, Varna returned to the subordination of the Church of Constantinople. The names of the Varna metropolitans are known from the beginning of the XIV century. By 1871, the diocese consisted of the Varna, Balchik, Mangali, Dobrich and Provadia districts, as well as 3 monasteries on the coast (Dimitrievsky, Konstantinovsky and Tuzlata near Balchik ).

After the proclamation of the independent Bulgarian Exarchate , the First Bulgarian Church and National Council in 1871 decided to annex the Varna diocese to the Preslav. Initially, the department of this united diocese was located in Shumen, but at the end of 1878, Metropolitan Simeon moved the department to Varna and began to be titled by Varna. In parallel with the Diocese of Varna as part of the newly proclaimed Bulgarian Church, until the 1920s, there was a department of the same name of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, whose clergy fed mainly the Greek diaspora.

In connection with the delimitation of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia at the Berlin Congress in 1878 , a number of territories were transferred to Romania and entered the Romanian Church .

During the long bishopric of Bishop Simeon in the Varna diocese of the Bulgarian Church, on the initiative of the metropolitan, several schools, theological schools and public gymnasiums were established. Temple building was actively conducted - about half of the churches that existed in the diocese at the beginning of the XXI century were built at that time. With the next Metropolitan Joseph, initiatives were continued in providing social assistance to the population through the Orthodox brotherhoods, and by the works of the ruler, their number increased from 10 to 27. Many free dining rooms for children were opened at the churches. Under Vladyka Cyril , an active work was launched to return the Church to the church property previously confiscated by the state and to restore the diocese after the communist period.

• Apostle Amplius (I century)

as part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople

• Methodius (mention 1325)
• Markell (mention 1327)
• Methodius (mentioned approx. 1347)
• Alexy (1373-1380)
• Gabriel (mention 1469)
• Callist (mention 1483 - mention 1484)
• Gabriel (mention 1565)
• The Party (mention 1568)
• Akaki (1572-1594)
• Theoclitus (June 1601-1605)
• Matthew (January 12, 1605-1606)
• Meletius (March 15, 1606 -?)
• Mitrofan (Mentioned. 1622)
• Porphyry (mention. 1624)
• Parfeny (Mentioned June 1624-1635)
• Melety (April 7, 1635-1637)
• Agafangel (April 1637 -?)
• Meletios (? - 1639) again
• Parfeny (December 1639 -?)
• Meletius (d. 1649)
• Anfim (August 11, 1649-1655)
• Daniel I (May 1655-1657)
• Daniel II (July 1657-1658)
• Nicodemus (June 20, 1658–1662)
• Mitrofan (June 11, 1662–1674)
• Macarius (August 15, 1674 -?)
• Gregory (mentioned approx. 1698)
• Kiril (mention 1712)
• Kallinik (Mention. 1713 - Mention. 1723)
• Athanasius (mention 1726-1727)
• Joachim (Mentioned July 1742-1754)
• Callinicus (September 1754–1761)
• Neophyte (October 8, 1761-1783)
• Philotheos (September 1783–1797)
• Gregory I (February - April 1797)
• Gregory II (April 1797–1800)
• Paisius (September 1800-1806)
• Gregory (October 1806-1817)
• Zechariah (June 1817 - the end. 1820)
• Philotheos (January 1821–1830)
• Kallinik (August 1830–1835) of the military unit until September 2, 1834, Met. Messemvrian
• Joseph (February 1835–1846)
• Averky (October 1846–1847)
• Porphyry (March 5, 1847-1864)
• Joachim (December 10, 1864-1874)
• Callinicus (January 12, 1874-1875)
• Cyril (March 22, 1875–1882)
• Callinicus (Paleocrasas) (November 27, 1882-1887)
• Gabriel (October 15, 1887–1889)
• Gregory (October 10, 1889-1891)
• Alexander (February 5, 1891-1891)
• Polycarp (August 1, 1891-1906)
• Neophyte (April 27, 1906–1911)
• John (February 15, 1911-1913)
• Nicodemus (June 18, 1913 - May 24, 1924)

in the composition of the Bulgarian Church

• Simeon (Popov) (1878 - October 23, 1937)
• Joseph (Lazarov) (December 26, 1937 - November 8, 1988)
• Kirill (Kovachev) (February 19, 1989 - July 9, 2013)
• Kalinik (Aleksandrov) (July 10 - 18, 2013) military unit, Met. Vrachansky
• Ambrose (Parashkevov) (July 18 - December 22, 2013), military college, Met. Dorostolsky
• John (Ivanov) (from December 22, 2013)

• Monastery of St. Athanasius (village Obrochishte , community of Balchik )
• Aladzhai monastery of the Holy Trinity (non-prophecy; Varna )
• Patleinsky Monastery of St. Panteleimon (Patleyn area, the city of Veliki Preslav )
• Monastery of Apostles Peter and Paul (village Zlatar , Shumen region)
• Monastery of Saints Constantine and Helena ( Varna )
• Monastery of Saints Cyril and Methodius ( Veliki Preslav )
• Monastery of St. John of Rila ( Cherni Vrah village, Shumen region)
• Monastery of Saint Marina ( Botevo village, Varna region)
• Monastery of the Holy Prophet Elijah ( Alexandria village, Dobrich region)
• Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary ( Sotira , Varna )
• Monastery of St. Catherine the Great Martyr ( Bolgarevo village, Kavarna community)

• http://www.mitropolia-varna.org/