The Bishops' Uprising in Sofia, Samokov and Western Bulgaria

The historical setting of the uprising is described as one of extensive Turkish violence against the Bulgarian population, particularly the clergy. This violence is viewed as Turkish retaliation against Christians for the wars then being fought: the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739. The uprising arose amid Austrian occupation of territories in Serbia and the western Bulgarian lands in the Morava region and Macedonia, after Austrian troops captured Niš and other strategic positions.

Bulgarians in the Pirot, Znepole, Breznik, Kyustendil, Dupnitsa, Kriva Palanka, Berkovitsa and other western Bulgarian regions rose against the Turks, with resistance also organised by the Metropolitanate of Samokov. The conspiracy's centre was the Monastery of the Holy Saviour above Lozen, near Sofia. Metropolitan Simeon of Samokov was its leader and principal initiator, supported by senior clerics, including Patriarch Arsenije IV of Peć, who governed the Diocese of Samokov.

The Bulgarian movement was suppressed, and many families from the western Bulgarian lands fled with Patriarch Arsenije IV to the Banat, seeking refuge from Turkish reprisals.

Bishop Simeon was captured, brutally tortured by the Turks and hanged in Sofia on 21 August 1737. On the orders of Ali Pasha Köprülüoğlu, commander of the Turkish forces on the Austrian front, preventive reprisals included the killing of around 350 Sofia residents, priests, monks and inhabitants of surrounding villages. The victims included clergy and people from various monasteries and settlements.