Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396). Memorial of the liberation of the Bulgarian Church from the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate, after fifteen years of struggle. Roman Catholic missionaries first attempted to convert the Bulgarians during the reign of Tsar Boris I (852-889). They were unsuccessful, and Boris I led the Bulgarians in their conversion to Eastern Christianity. In 1204, Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan (ca. 1170-1207) achieved a short-lived union between the Roman Catholic Church and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to balance the religious power of the Byzantine Empire. The union came to an end when Baldwin I of Constantinople, Latin Emperor of Constantinople (1171-1205), declared war against Bulgaria in 1205. The Catholic Church had no influence in the Bulgarian Empire after that date, and the Bulgarian Patriarchate was re-established in 1235. Memorial of the Liberation of the Bulgarian Church, ca. 1870, by Nikolai Pavlovich (1835-1894). National Gallery. Sofia, Bulgaria. Author: Nikol