On April 3, 1860, the Bulgarians of Constantinople held an action, which was one of the highlights of the Bulgarian revival struggles - for the first time a church service was held in Bulgarian in Constantinople.
This marks the beginning of the struggle for church independence and the separation of the Bulgarian Church from the Greek Patriarchate.
The day of the Resurrection of Christ was hardly chosen by chance. At that time, the Bulgarians were in sharp conflict with the Catholic demands of the East. They had to maneuver between all the great powers, fight the powerful patriarchate, heir to the Byzantine past, and cautiously surround the High Gate.
The Feast of the Resurrection was particularly suitable for such actions demonstrating independence. In the Constantinople church "St. Stephen" during the church service, Bishop Hilarion Makariopolski did not mention the name of the Ecumenical Greek Patriarch. In this way, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is separated from the Greek Patriarchate.
On our national calendar, April 3 is still a blank slate.
Georgi S. Rakovski himself highly appreciates what happened on that day, claiming that in the new Bulgarian calendar, April 3 should be honored as one of the biggest holidays related to our nationality.
With this statement, Rakovski most likely wanted to draw the attention of the Bulgarians to one of the most important days in their new calendar, but after the events that followed in our history, the Bulgarian calendar is filled with many important dates and it seems that this date has not yet found its place.