On June 25, 1868, the Patriarchate sent to the Sublime Porte its official objections to the two government projects for resolving the Bulgarian church question. The response proposed the convening of an ecumenical council. After the conquest of Bulgaria by the Turks in 1396 and the destruction of the Tarnovo Patriarchate, the majority of the Bulgarian lands were subordinated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople in ecclesiastical matters. With the abolition of the independent Patriarchate of Ipek (1776) and the Archbishopric of Ohrid (1767), the remaining Bulgarian lands that had previously been outside its reach also came under the spiritual authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
It became a supporter of the sultan's power, in return for which it acquired the right to receive large income from the enslaved Christian peoples in the form of many church taxes, fees, etc. After the introduction in the second half of the 15th century of the custom for the newly elected patriarch to pay the sultan a large monetary gift (peshkesh) in order to receive a berat for his appointment, the plunder and exploitation by the Greek clergy increased even more.
The dissatisfaction of the Bulgarians was initially expressed in actions against the actions and abuses of individual Greek bishops. The population of Vratsa (1824), Skopje (1825), Samokov (1829), Stara Zagora, Kazanlak, Nova Zagora (1836), etc. began to fight against them. Thus, a church-national struggle gradually began to form. The Bulgarian commercial and industrial bourgeoisie took the lead. Gradually, it managed to attract the broad masses of the people into the struggle, especially the peasants (who suffered the most from the plundering of the Greek clergy) and the urban artisans. The leaders of the struggle were Neophyte Bozveli and Hilarion Makariopolsky, who won the help of the Bulgarian merchants and artisans in Constantinople.
On June 25, 1845, they received from the Bulgarians of Constantinople authorization to act on behalf of the Bulgarian people; submitted a separate petition to the Turkish government, in which they set out the demands of the Bulgarian people: that in all Bulgarian dioceses, Bulgarian bishops elected by the people and replaceable with a certain monthly salary be appointed; that there be representatives of the Bulgarian people in Constantinople who would be advocates of Bulgarian interests before the Sublime Porte; that permission be given to build a Bulgarian church in Constantinople and to publish a Bulgarian newspaper. Although the Sublime Porte accepted these demands, the Patriarchate rejected them and exiled the two Bulgarian representatives (end of July 1845). This gave a new impetus to the church-national movement.
The population in Sofia, Samokov, Vidin, Lom, Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Ohrid, Syar, etc. began to fight more energetically for a Bulgarian bishop. The church-national struggle entered its decisive phase after the Crimean War (1853-1856). The Hatihumayun issued in 1856, which also envisaged church reforms, gave new hopes and a strong impetus to the struggle. That same year, the Bulgarians of Constantinople, on behalf of 6.4 million Bulgarians within Turkey, sent a petition to the Sultan asking for permission to elect a Bulgarian supreme ecclesiastical and supreme civil head, who would represent Bulgarian judicial and other services before the Sultan. The second request marked the beginning of attempts to gain some civil autonomy. The Bulgarian emigration in Romania and Russia actively supported the struggle. G. S. Rakovski, Dr. Iv. Seliminski, and others were particularly active.
The Bulgarian Municipality of Constantinople established itself as the leading center of the Church-National Struggles. Its leader was Hilarion Makariopolski, who was ordained a bishop in 1858. Its members were Dr. St. Chomakov, P. R. Slaveykov, T. Burmov, G. Krastevich, etc. In the Church-National Struggle, two trends emerged: moderate (conservative) and extreme (democratic), or two parties - "old" and "young". The former expressed the interests of the large commercial-usurer bourgeoisie, and the latter - of the small merchants and artisans. Led by G. Krastevich, the "old" insisted that the struggle be waged in agreement with the Porte, while the "young", led by P. R. Slaveykov, were supporters of extreme measures. By order of the Sublime Porte, the Patriarchate convened a council (1858 - February 16, 1860) in order to introduce certain changes in its governance. Only three representatives of Bulgarian dioceses were present. The council rejected even the moderate request of the "old men" to appoint bishops in the dioceses who knew the language of the local population.
In protest, the Bulgarian representatives refused to sign the protocols of the council. The church-national struggle became increasingly acute. In many settlements, the population did not accept the newly appointed Greek bishops, clashes occurred between Bulgarians and Greek-speaking people, etc. The persistence of the Patriarchate of Constantinople convinced the Bulgarian leaders that the people themselves must openly reject its authority. On April 3, 1860 (Easter), Hilarion Makariopolsky fulfilled the people's will and did not mention the name of the Greek patriarch at the solemn service. The Easter action raised the spirits of the Bulgarian people. Petitions arrived from all over Bulgaria, with which the people renounced the Patriarchate and recognized Hilarion as their spiritual head. Shortly afterwards, he was exiled again, together with Avksentiy of Veles and Paisii of Plovdiv, who had joined the struggle.
Rallies were held in all Bulgarian lands, bishops were expelled, the population did not pay church taxes, etc. The Cretan uprising (1866-1869), the growth of the revolutionary upsurge in Bulgaria, and the passage of the detachments of P. Hitov and Filip Totyo (1867), Hadji Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha (1868) into Bulgaria forced the Sublime Porte to resolve the church-national question in favor of the Bulgarian people. On February 28, 1870, a decree was issued establishing the Bulgarian Exarchate.