Sofia

Sofia, Bulgaria Factbook

Sofiahas been the capital of Bulgaria for over 100 years. Its motto reads 'Ever growing, never aging' and it's a dynamically developing city. The area of Sofia has been inhabited since ancient times. Archeological finds discover it to be over 3 000 years old.

The town has a rich history. It was part of the Roman empire and there are several remains of that period. Later the Bulgarian country was established in 681. It was an independent country neighboring Byzantium to South-East, the Adriatic Sea to the West, the Black Sea to the East and Dacia (present-day Romania) to the North.

The Northern border followed the Danube. Christianity was declared official religion in 865. The greatest development of the country was between 9th-12th century. The Turks came and occupied the country in 1396. During the Turkish domination the church existed unofficially and was strongly persecuted for several centuries. The church was also strongly influenced by the Greek Orthodox church.

Bulgarians were not allowed to conduct their services in Bulgarian but in Greek language. In 1870 the Bulgarian Patriarchy regained its autonomy.

Historically, the country played a key role because of its strategic geographical position. Several of the Crusades passed through Bulgaria. The Bulgarian or the Slav language was one of the first languages (after Hebrew, Greek and Latin) that started to be used in the church liturgy and worship. The two brothers Cyril and Methodius created the Slav alphabet.

There was no Reformation in Eastern Orthodox countries and that's why the first Evangelicals came to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 1842. They were sent by the American Mission Board in Boston, Massachusetts The four Gospels were translated and published in Bulgarian language for the first time in 1844.

In 1852 Baptist, Congregational and Methodist missionaries came to Bulgaria. The churches were not very strong but had a high reputation. They were working very hard for spreading the Gospel among intellectuals after the liberation from the Turkish domination in 1878. A good evidence was the establishment of the American College. About 47% of all prime-ministers in the period 1878-1944 were graduates of the American College. They had a good American high school and Bible Seminary, which existed in Samokov until the communist party came in power.

Churches started being persecuted, many were confiscated or destroyed between 1948 and 1956. Many pastors were arrested and sent to prison. After the fall of the communist regime there was a revival and since 1989 most of the churches tripled their size. At present Bulgaria is a democratic republic with very bad inheritance from the communism. The economy was destroyed, all retirement funds and factories were closed, and there is a high rate of unemployment. However, this economic and social crisis opened the door for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One good evidence was that even before communists came in power there was a very good partnership between people from different denominations. The Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance was founded in 1863 and closed by the communists who put in prison most of the leaders of the Evangelical churches in 1948-1949.

At first the Evangelical Alliance was formed by Baptists, Methodists and Congregationalists and then when Pentecostals came in the country and formed their denomination in 1928, they joined the EA in 1935 and this is how they functioned until the beginning of the communist regime. After the fall of the communist regime the Bulgarian EA was restored again, and another denomination, which had been functioning secretly by the time - Bulgarian Churchof God joined the other four. Later the 'Good News' Church emerged and joined the Alliance.

Our latest statistics shows that there are 1 530 churches with over 130,000 believers in Bulgaria. Governmental statistics give higher numbers - almost 200,000 believers but it is hard to believe it is so. In Sofia there are 75 Evangelical churches from different denominations, 3 Catholic churches, 3 Catholic monasteries, 1 mosque and 30 Orthodox monasteries in the area.

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