Bulgaria–Greece relations
bilateral relations between Greece and Bulgaria
Bulgaria–Greece relations are the bilateral relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Hellenic Republic.
Due to the strong political, cultural and religious ties between the two nations, Bulgaria and Greece today enjoy healthy diplomatic relations and consider each other a friendly nation and an ally.
Greece is a strong supporter of Bulgaria's Euro-Atlantic integration. Bulgaria and Greece share common political views about the Balkans, the enlargement plans of the European Union and the rest of the world, with Bulgaria having been a supporter of Greece's stance on the Macedonia naming dispute. Modern relations between the two countries were established in 1908 and are regarded as excellent despite the Axis occupation of Greece by Bulgaria, Italy and Germany during World War II.
Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO.
History
The common heritage of both nations played a significant role in the close relations between the two countries, ever since the Medieval Ages, between Southern Slavs and Byzantine Greeks (the Byzantine Empire played a prominent role in spreading of the Orthodox Christianity to Bulgaria and the rest of the Balkans). The missionaries Cyril and Methodius from the city of Thessalonica were the founders of the Glagolitic script and the first literary language of the Slavs, from which the modern Bulgarian Language evolved.
Between the late 14th century and the early 15th century, both Bulgaria and Greece came under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. During this period the Bulgarian Patriarchate was abolished and the Patriarch of Constantinople was declared by the Ottoman Sultan as the spiritual leader of all the Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire, regardless of their ethnicity. In the 19th century the Bulgarians began a struggle for the restoration of an independent Bulgarian church, which was met with stiff opposition by the Constantinople Patriarchy. While the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was restored in 1872, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, refused to recognize it until much later, in 1945, and especially after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of the Balkan and World Wars.
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