The world’s oldest religion

Bulgaria has the oldest religion in the world, even today. We were the first country in the world to be converted to Christianity and the first to convert Christians. Long before the mass conversion in 864, evidence of a developed spiritual and religious life in our lands was found in written sources and temples in Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. When Boris I came to power, several different religions were practised in our lands and the people were not united. For this reason, Boris I decided that the Bulgarian people should adopt Christianity. Another reason was that Bulgaria, allied with the German Kingdom, was at war with Byzantium and Great Moravia. As Bulgaria was losing, Boris’s way out was to conduct peace negotiations with Byzantium. Byzantium immediately agreed, on condition that the ruling family adopt Christianity. Boris I and his family were therefore converted first, in the autumn of 863, while the mass conversion of the Bulgarian people began in the spring.