On May 11, Bulgarian history keeps two milestones — one in education, one in church independence — both bound up with the veneration of Saints Cyril and Methodius.
May 11, 1851 — St Cyril and St Methodius Day Is First Celebrated in Plovdiv
On May 11, 1851, St Cyril and St Methodius Day was first celebrated in a Plovdiv school named after the saintly brothers. The celebration became an early expression of the Bulgarian Revival’s belief that education, language, and historical memory were inseparable.
This Plovdiv tradition later grew into one of Bulgaria’s most beloved holidays — the Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture on May 24. From a modest school festivity, it became a symbol of the whole Revival programme of enlightenment and self-assertion.
May 11, 1872 — Exarch Antim I Proclaims Bulgarian Church Independence
On May 11, 1872, Exarch Antim I read the proclamation of the independence of the Bulgarian Church. The act followed decades of struggle by Bulgarians for ecclesiastical self-government and the right to worship and study in their own language.
The Bulgarian Exarchate had already been established by Ottoman firman in 1870, but the proclamation gave powerful public form to the claim of independent church authority. It helped consolidate the spiritual foundation of the modern Bulgarian nation, shortly before its political liberation.
