The Bulgarian Exarchate was established on 28 February 1870 with a Firman from the sultan as a result of the long struggle of the Bulgarian people for church independence from the Greek Patriarchate. This struggle began in 1824 in the towns of Vratsa, Skopje and Samokov, but most active in it was the Bulgarian community in Constantinople, a great part of which were Macedonian Bulgarians.
Delegates of the Bulgarian People Congress in Constantinople discussing the organisation of the Bulgarian Exarchy (January-July 1871).
The Firman granted the Exarchate the following eparchies: Ruschuk, Silistra, Tirnovo, Lovech, Vratsa, Vidin, Sofia, Samokov, Kjustendil, Nish, Pirot and Veles. It also decided that other eparchies could acknowledge the Exarchate if 2/3 of their Christian inhabitants demanded this. A plebiscite was conducted in Ohrid, Bitola and Skopje eparchies where the overwhelming majority of the population chose to join the Exarchate. There was also a demand for a plebiscite from the Salonica Bulgarians but it was not carried out. The Exarchate was pressing for a plebiscite in the Debar, Strumitsa and Kukush (Poljanino) eparchies when the Bulgarian insurections of 1875 and 1876 broke out. They and the Russo - Turkish war of 1877-78 exposed the Bulgarians in the eyes of the Turks. Therefore the vote could not be completed in Southern Macedonia and, where it had been completed, bishops were not appointed to all of those eparchies (only Skopje and Ohrid). In the course of the war the Bulgarian Exarch Antim I was exiled in Asia Minor and replaced with Josif (1877). The bishops of the eparchies that remained in Turkish hands after the war (Skopje, Veles, Ohrid) were driven away by the authorities.
Seals from Macedonia
The attemp to restore them in 1884-85 failed on account of the resistance of the Patriarchate, of Greece and of Serbia. Only in 1890 bishops could be appointed in Skopje and Ohrid. Then followed Veles and Nevrokop (1894) and Bitola, Debar and Strumitsa (1897). The other nine Bulgarian eparchies in the Ottoman empire (Adrianople, Salonica, Drama, Serres, Melnik, Kukush, Vodena, Maglen and Kostur) never saw Bulgarian bishops but only Exarchate deputies who looked after the schools and represented the Bulgarian population of the region before the authorities.
More prominent Bulgarian bishops who came from Macedonia were Partenij Zografski of Poljanino (born in Galichnik near Debar), Panaret of Plovdiv (born in the village of Patele near Lerin), Natanail of Ohrid and Plovdiv (born in Kuchevishta, Skopje), Meletij of Sofia (born in Strumitsa) and Metodij of Stara Zagora (born in Prilep).
We have not discussed the struggles of the Bulgarians in Macedonia against the Greek clergy here, but the fact that they equally participated in them together with the Moesians and the Thracians and that they willingly joined the Exarchate testifies to their national self-identification.