ves an annual subvention of about L6000 from the kingdom, and
exercises jurisdiction over the Bulgarian hierarchy in all parts of the
Ottoman empire. The exarch is elected by the Bulgarian episcopate, the Holy
Synod, and a general assembly (_obshti sbor_), in which the laity is
represented; their choice, before the declaration of Bulgarian
independence, was subject to the sultan's approval. The occupant of the
dignity is titular metropolitan of a Bulgarian diocese. The organization of
the church within the principality was regulated [v.04 p.0779] by statute
in 1883. There are eleven eparchies or dioceses in the country, each
administered by a metropolitan with a diocesan council; one diocese has
also a suffragan bishop. Church government is vested in the Holy Synod,
consisting of four metropolitans, which assembles once a year. The laity
take part in the election of metropolitans and parish priests, only the
"black clergy," or monks, being eligible for the episcopate. All
ecclesiastical appointments are subject to the approval of the government.
There are 2106 parishes (_eporii_) in the kingdom with 9 archimandrites,
1936 parish priests and 21 deacons, 78 monasteries with 184 monks, and 12
convents with 346 nuns. The celebrated monastery of Rila possesses a vast
estate in the Rilska Planina; its abbot or _hegumen_ owns no spiritual
superior but the exarch. Ecclesiastical affairs are under the control of
the minister of public worship; the clergy of all denominations are paid by
the state, being free, however, to accept fees for baptisms, marriages,
burials, the administering of oaths, &c. The census of January 1901 gives
3,019,999 persons of the Orthodox faith (including 66,635 Patriarchist
Greeks), 643,300 Mahommedans, 33,663 Jews, 28,569 Catholics, 13,809
Gregorian Armenians, 4524 Protestants and 419 whose religion is not stated.
The Greek Orthodox community has four metropolitans dependent on the
patriarchate. The Mahommedan community is rapidly diminishing; it is
organized under 16 muftis who with their assistants receive a subvention
from the government. The Catholics, who have two bishops, are for the most
part the descendants of the medieval Paulicians; they are especially
numerous in the neighbourhood of Philippopolis and Sistova. The Armenians
have one bishop. The Protestants are mostly Methodists; since 1857 Bulgaria
has been a special field of activity for American Methodist missionaries,
who have established an