Antim I was a Bulgarian clergyman who lived from 1816 to 1888. In 1872 he was elected the first Bulgarian exarch, head of the new church administration. He read a declaration of church independence in Constantinople. This did not end the dispute with the Patriarchate; that year it declared a division that broke shared worship. Returning from exile to Vidin in 1878, Antim again led his diocese, a church district. In 1879 he chaired the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo, where the constitution was debated and adopted. He died in Vidin in 1888. His roles connect church self-government with the formation of state institutions.
History of Bulgaria
