Emotional responses to the Bulgarian Question: the case of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

The paper examines emotional responses towards the schism of the Bulgarian Church (1872) as reflected in the unpublished Correspondence of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and published articles in the Greek Press. Contrary to the policy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Cyril II (1845-1872) finally supported the Bulgarian Exarchate, mainly under the pressure of the Russian government. The letters Cyril exchanged with his collaborators and the Patriarch of Constantinople and other hierarchs show how different persons and groups within the ecclesiastical circles in the Orthodox East reacted to the events that led to the declaration of the autocephalous Bulgarian Church and the subsequent condemnation of the Exarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. At the same time eponymous and anonymous articles concerning the Bulgarian Question and Cyril’s stance were published in the Greek Press in Constantinople and Athens. The content and tone of these articles reflects the psychological reactions of various political, social and economic groups within the Greek Kingdom in the face of the rising Bulgarian national aspirations.