title: Joseph I of Bulgaria
text: # Joseph I of Bulgaria
  
  Exarch Joseph I (also known as Iosif I, secular name Lazar Yovchev, Bulgarian: Лазар Йовчев; May 5, 1840, Kalofer, Ottoman Empire – June 20, 1915, Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Exarch from 1877 to 1915. He has great merits for preserving the unity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and for the Bulgarian educational and ecclesiastical work in Macedonia and Thrace, which remained in the Ottoman Empire after 1878.
  
  His grave is marked with a white cross and a bed with flowers, it is located on the south side of the church "St. Nedelya" in Sofia, near the side altar door.
  
  ## Note
  
  * ↑ Buchan, John, ed. (1924). "Bulgaria". Bulgaria and Romania: The Nations of Today; A New History of the World. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 33. Retrieved 20 June 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  * ↑ The Sveta Nedelya Church of Sofia (in Bulgarian), pravoslavieto.com
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