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Khan Boris {or Bars} ascended the throne in 852, he was Presian's son. Boris I was not an outstanding military commander. He often suffered defeat but the state's borders remained unchanged. Boris I was a skillful diplomat. But his greatest act of diplomacy was a domestic one. Boris was surrounded by Christians, Christians everywhere! To the west of him, the Pope, to the east - the Byzantine Patriarch. Bulgaria was a pagan island in an ocean of Christianity. When Boris inherited the throne from his father, Bulgaria's territorial, military, and political potential had made it one of the largest states in Europe. Bulgaria's approximate frontiers were the Dnieper River in the northeast, the Carpathian Mountains in the north, the Tisa {Tisza} River in the northwest, the Adriatic Sea in the west, and the Tomorr {Tomor}, Belasica, Pirin, Rhodope, and Strandzha mountains in the south. Many Slavic tribes lived within the boundaries of the state, together with the Thracians {Vlachs}, and the Bulgars. All of them had different religions, etnicities, and languages. Because of this - the Christians, all the Bulgarian peoples and Boris' goal to merge them all into one undistinguishable mass of Bulgarians; Boris decided to make a truly radical change in Bulgaria's attitude towards Christianity. The Khans preceding him, had persecuted Christians, but Boris I was going to make Christianity a compulsory religion for all Bulgarians. This would not go over well with a lot of people in Bulgaria. In fact Boris' eldest son and heir Vladimir {Yet another firstborn Bulgar with a Slavic name.} with the help of like minded Boyars attempted to revive pagan worshipping. Boris, who had abdicated in 889, then returned to active politics. With the aid of Boyars loyal to him and the army, Boris drove his son from the throne. Vladimir was blinded, unfitting him for rule, and was replaced by Boris' third son, Simeon. To make a point, Boris ordered the execution of fifty-two Boyars, together with their families, who had remained faithful to Vladimir and pagandom. After his death in 907 Boris I was proclaimed the first Bulgarian saint, and traces of his cult during this period can be found as far away as Ireland.
Khan Boris had a detailed plan for the conversion of Bulgaria. His ultimate goal was not just the forging of one singular Bulgarian ethnicity {What all Khans since Asparuh had wanted.} but also the creation of an autocephalous Bulgarian church. The Khans before him had persecuted Christians precisely because Byzantine used the church as a political tool. But if he could create an autonomous Bulgarian church, he could in fact immunize Bulgaria against the religious-political influence of the Roman empire. Khan Boris took the throne in 852, and in a late autumn night of 864 Boris and his closest associates, his family, and the Boyars who supported his policy were baptized in the palace in Pliska.
And he was Boris no more, he took the Biblical name Mihail {English Michael} and the Roman title Tsar {or Tzar, or Czar} i.e. Caesar. There was serious opposition by both the nobility and the common people to Boris' attempt to enforce mass baptism. A pagan rebellion broke out, but Mihail managed to surpress it. That is one important difference to keep in mind about Christianity and Bulgaria. While other nations like Germany and Ireland for example were converted from the "bottom up", the Bulgarian's faith came in the form of a government order. Devoted preachers, like St. Patrick and the guy who cut down Odin's oak in Germany, worked hard to convert everyday people to Christianity. But Bulgarians were converted by force and Bulgaria's church was born independent and that is why if nobody told you, today you would be hard pressed to tell that Bulgarians are Christians. The names of all the Gods were changed to the names of Christian saints, pagan religious altars were destroyed and/or buried, a lot of churches were built, but that was pretty much it. All the rituals and customs remained virtually unchanged. Mihail was quite active in inculcating the Christian faith among the Bulgarian people, in organizing the Bulgarian church as an independent institution, and in building churches throughout the country. He would also take the old Bulgar ruling elite motto: "We are the ruling elite and that is why we will push the language and culture of the Slavs." to it's ultimate end. Bent on introducing Slavonic liturgy and determined to foster the development of Slavonic language {Like all Bulgar Khans before him.} Mihail sought out the help of the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Byzantine Monks, natives of Thessalonica, with Slavic-Bulgarian roots, they were commissioned to create an alphabet, based on the Slavic language, to replace the Greek alphabet, which had been used in Bulgaria. And so the brothers invented an alphabet in which to write the Slavic language which became known as Old Bulgarian. The Bible was translated into Old Bulgarian. This new language was readily adopted in other Slavic regions, where, with local modifications, it remained the religious and literary language of Orthodox Slavs throughout the European Middle Ages. After it's adaptation in other Slavic regions Old Bulgarian became known as the Old Church Slavonic language. Old Church Slavonic was the first Slavic literary language. This language has continued as a liturgical language into modern times and it has had significant influence on the modern Slavic languages, especially on the Russian literary language that grew out of a compromise style incorporating many Church Slavonic elements into the native Russian vernacular. The Cyrillic Soon, in the years to come, the peoples of Bulgaria would merge into one ethnicity, with one language, one culture, and one religion. But not before Vladimir's rebellion. After Vladimir was deposed and blinded, Boris convened a council that confirmed Christianity as the religion of the state and moved the administrative capital from paganist Pliska to the Slavic town of Preslav.
The council conferred the throne on Boris' third son, Simeon, and Boris retired permanently to monastic life, making generous grants to the Bulgarian Church and patronizing Slav scholarship. The Bulgar ruling elite had pushed everything Slavic since 681. But it was Khan Krum's great grand son, Omurtag's grand son, the son of Presian, Boris who made the decisive hammer stroke that forged the unified Bulgarian ethnicity.
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alphabet and Old Bulgarian made Bulgaria the
first center of Slavonic literature and culture. As a result of the intensive
work of scholars, and through Mihail's will, Old Bulgarian replaced Greek in
church services and in literary life and became the country's official language.
And that is why modern Bulgarian is so lexically dominated by Slavic.
