hurch as a matter of national policy.

The controversy to-day between "Patriarchate" adherents of the Orthodox
Church--_i.e._ Greeks, and the Exarchate adherents--_i.e._ Bulgarians,
is perhaps the most bitter of all Balkan controversies. I have found it
in places transcending far the religious gap between Turk and Christian,
and in that particularly stormy North Macedonian corner of the Balkans a
Patriarchate man gives first place in his hatred to an Exarchate man and
second place to a Turk; and the Exarchate man reciprocates in like
manner. Yet, as the Bulgarians insist, "the autonomous orthodox
Bulgarian Church forms an inseparable part of the Holy Orthodox Church."

The Bulgarian Exarchate used to comprise all the Bulgarian dioceses in
the provinces of the Turkish Empire, as they were enumerated explicitly
or in general terms by the Firman of 1870 as well as the dioceses of the
Bulgarian Principality. Most of the orthodox Bulgarian population in
Turkey recognise the authority of the Exarchate, but some still owe
allegiance to the Greek Patriarchate. What the religious position will
be now that the wars of 1912-1913 have changed boundaries so considerably
it is hard to say. The Exarchate dioceses which used to be in Turkish
territory but are now in Bulgarian territory, will, of course, pass into
the main current of Bulgarian church life. But those Exarchate dioceses
which have passed to Servia and to Greece will probably not find
toleration.

King Boris of Bulgaria having raised his country to a great fame, and
having endowed it with a national church, retired to a monastery in 888
to make his peace with the next world. His son Vladimir succeeded to the
throne, but ruled so unwisely that King Boris came back from the
cloister to depose Vladimir and to set in his stead upon the throne
Simeon, who created the first Bulgarian Empire.

CHAPTER IV

BULGARIA--A POWER AND A TURKISH PROVINCE

King Simeon reigned in Bulgaria thirty-four years, and raised his
country during that time to the highest point of power it ever reached.
Simeon had been educated at Constantinople and had learned all that the
civilisation of the Grecian Empire could teach except a love and respect
for the Grecian rule. He designed the overthrow of the tottering Grecian
Empire, and dreamed of Bulgaria as the heir to the power of the Caesars.

When Simeon came to the throne, for many years the Grecian Empire and
Bulgaria had been at peace.