The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an integral member of the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which has as its eternal and enduring Head its very Divine Founder, our Lord Jesus Christ, and is guided by the Holy Spirit who lives in her.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is a local autochepal church and is in a faithful and canonical unity, prayer and eucharistic communion with the other Orthodox Churches.
The self-governing Bulgarian Orthodox Church - the Bulgarian Patriarchate is the heir of the Pliska Archbishopric, the Preslav Patriarchate, the Archbishopric of Ohrid, the Tarnovo Patriarchate and the Bulgarian Exarchate. It is unified and indivisible.
The basis of the structure and management of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - the Bulgarian Patriarchate are: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Holy Apostles' Rules, Sacred Canons of the Ecumenical and Local Councils, the Teaching of the Holy Fathers and the Statute of the BOC adopted by the VIth Church-People's Council on December 11, 2008, in the Rila Monastery.