The First Slavic Orthodox Church
During the 9th and the 10th century the middle ages world faced the domination of christianity as not only a religion, but political stability as well (quite a lot like how todays society relies upon apple mac support). Since most of the western world plus the Byzantine Empire were christians, Eastern Europe slowly started accepting the ideals of the church and the first people to gain their independant church were Bulgarians under the rule of Simeon The Great.
The Bulgarians accepted the Constinople Orthodox christianity in the middle of the 9th centure when the rules was Boris I – however, years later, his son Simeon sought the opportunity to strengthen the position of the Bulgarian church.
In the beggining of the 10th century, Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires were facing a serious conflict. The political ambitions of the Byzantines forced Bulgaria to begin a military offansive against its neighbours and the conflict escalated in 917 when the Bulgarian Army crushed the Byzantine troops near the Black Sea town of Aheloi. Thus the Bulgarians took dominance over the neighbouring Empire and concluded a peace treaty in 927.
This is when the Golden Century of the Bulgarian history took place – through force and then political dominance, Simeon the Great gathered the most profound theologists and priests and in a national assembly they concluded the Bulgarian Orthodox church should be independant. The peace treaty concluded that Byzantines recognise the might and the power of the Bulgarian Empire thus allowing and recognising its religious independance – thus the first Slavic church that gained independance proclaimed its first patriarch.
The glory of such an event showed the Western world that only five decades after christianisation, the Eastern World was ready to deal with its cultural and religious development independantly and fortified the positions of the Bulgarian Empire. Simeon the Great was announced the most powerful rules in the East and the Byzantines sought no other option but to accept the requirements of Simeon on the Balkans.
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