Ecumenism in Terms of the Cold War: Bulgarian Socialism and the Case of Cyrillo-Methodian Studies

This article explores the political entanglement of the humanities and social sciences in Bulgaria under socialism. It is devoted to the (re)production of knowledge within the field of Cyrillo-Methodian studies. The focus is on narratives built by Bulgarian philologists and historians about the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The analysis is conducted in the context of a sequence of events: the celebrations of the “1,300 years of the Bulgarian state” anniversary (1981), “1,100 years since the death of Methodius” (1985), and the publication of the apostolic letter Egregiae virtutis (1980) and the encyclical Slavorum apostoli (1985) by Pope John Paul II. The aim is to capture the meaning of the concept of “ecumenism” as it then functioned in the Bulgarian academic milieu and discuss it with regard to the process of reframing common knowledge under Cold War conditions.