Organizzazione ecclesiastica e politica culturale nella Bulgaria del Khan Boris: alcune (ri)considerazioni

The article analyses the christianization of Bulgarian Kingdom by khan Boris (ca. 865) with regard to controversies between Rome and Costantinople concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Illyricum. Aside from the possibility to use Slavic as liturgical language, the main and only aim of Boris policy was the aknowledgement of a Bulgarian autocephalous Church. The latter being an inadmissible claim for both the Papacy and the Byzantine Emperor, Boris accepted baptism from Byzantium by negotiating the restoration of Dorostolon Archiepiscopal See. Only later, he and his successor Symeon took advantage of the Cyrillo-Methodian Slavonic liturgy to consolidate the local Church in view of a full independence from Costantinopolitan Patriarchate