From 1873 he headed the Bulgarian church community in Serres but under pressure from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, he was arrested by the Ottomans, tortured and received threats to his life,[9] In 1874 he was imprisoned in Sеrres by the Ottoman authorities on charges of his involvement in the Bulgarian revolutionary movement in the Plovdiv region. Later Theodosius was released with the assistance of the Greek Metropolitan, and due to the strong pressure to be set free, he renounced the Exarchate.[10] However, in the same year, after the Christian population of the bishoprics of Skopje and Ohrid voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining the Exarchate, Theodosius repentеd and the BulgarianHoly Synod restored him to communion.[11][non-primary source needed] Between 1874 and 1875 Theodosius was the head of the local Bulgarian Orthodox Church organization in the region of Serres. He was ordained as an archmandrite in 1875 and became an assistant of the Metropolitan of Nish, who at the time was under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarch. In 1876-1877 he was in Istanbul again and served in the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church. Between 1878 and 1880 Archimandrite Theodosius performed there the duties of Exarch Joseph I, since the exarch was stuck in Plovdiv after the start of the Russo-Turkish War.
Afterwards, Theodosius continued to hold high-ranking positions within the Exarchate. From 1880 to 1885 he was a representative of the Exarchate at the Sublime Porte, and in 1885 he was chosen as a bishop of the episcopacy of Skopje. However, under the pressure of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople the Sultan issued an official ordinance only in 1890 and he had to wait five years to take office. As a bishop of Skopje (1890-1891), Theodosius renounced de facto again the Bulgarian Exarchate and attempted to restore the Archbishopric of Ohrid and to separate the episcopacies in Macedonia from the Bulgarian Exarchate.[12][non-primary source needed] His plan was to create a separate Macedonian church in which the Macedonian vernacular would be used in the religious service. He contacted the Patriarchate of Constantinople, attempting to convince its leadership to accept and promote the revival of the Ohrid Archbishopric under its patriarchate but as an autonomous church. The Exarchate initiated proceedings for his dismissal. Afterwards, he contacted the Vatican representative Augusto Bonetti with the plan to establish a Greek Catholic (Uniate) archbishopric in Ohrid.[13] Greek propagandists favorably regarded his activity.[14]
At the insistence of the Exarchate at the end of 1891, he was extradited by the Ottomans to Istanbul. Despite his repentance, the Exarchate fired him from his high position in 1892 because of his separatism. He was overthrown by the Exarchate and exiled to the Dragalevtsi Monastery near Sofia.[7] There he spent the period from 1892 to 1901, when he was engaged in translations of fiction and religious literature and as before demonstrated a pro-Bulgarian position on the Macedonian Question.[15][16]
As a result, he was rehabilitated and between 1901 and 1906 served as bishop of the Plovdiv eparchy, and then in the Bachkovo Monastery and in the Rila monastery. In 1910 he tried again to run for Metropolitan of Skopje, whose position was then vacant, but he was refused, despite the pro-Exarchate positions he demonstrated in the press.[17][non-primary source needed] During 1913 he participated on the Christianization of the Pomaks in the Rhodopes, a mission held from the Bulgarian Exarhate and IMORO.[18] Completely repenting his Catholic aspirations, he wrote the pamphlet The Orthodox Church and Catholic Propaganda, which the Synod printed and used in the struggle against the Uniate movement in 1914. During this period he served in Sofia, where in November 1915, when the Bulgarian army defeated Serbian troops in Macedonia, he performed a solemn prayer on the occasion of the Victory Day.[19] Theodosius also led the short-lived eparchy of Gyumyurdzhina, (Komotini) between 1915 and 1919, when the area was part of Bulgaria. He spent the last years of his life in Sofia in literary activity - writing books and translations of foreign literature.[20]
^Diana Mishkova, ed. (2009). We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe. Central European University Press. p. 132. ISBN9786155211669.
^ abcdVladimir Dimitrov (2009). "The Minov Family of Zographs: Personalities and Works"(PDF). Scripta & e-Scripta. 7. Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: 269–270. Bishop Theodosius translated into Bulgarian works by Epictetus, Virgil, Milton and Chateaubriand.
^Владимир Трендафилов, Александър Шурбанов, Преводна рецепция на европейска литература в България: в 8 тома, том 1, Академично изд-во "Проф. Марин Дринов", 2000, ISBN 9548712059, стр. 59-61.
^Dimitris Stamatopoulos (2022). Byzantium after the Nation: The Problem of Continuity in Balkan Historiographies. Central European University Press. p. 17. ISBN9789633863084.
^ abBlaže Ristovski, ed. (2009). Makedonska enciklopedija: M-Š (in Macedonian). MANU. p. 1477. ISBN9786082030241.
^ abcDimitar Bechev (2019). Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 289. ISBN9781538119624. Theodossius of Skopje (1846–1926). Exarchist metropolitan of Skopje, born Vasil Gologanov in the village of Turlis near Serres. Theodossius (Teodosij) is credited by the Macedonian historiography for his attempt to restore the autocephaly of the Ohrid Archbishopric under the aegis of the Catholic Church in 1891. Bulgarian historians have explained this initiative with Theodossius's personal animosity toward the Istanbul-based Exarch Joseph. Removed from the Skopje See in 1892, he was exiled to a monastery near Sofia. From 1901 to 1906, Theodossius was the metropolitan of Plovdiv, and from 1913 to 1919 was the Bulgarian bishop of Maroneia in present-day Greek Thrace. Theodossius was also a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
^At the insistence of the Greek metropolitan of Serres, the chairman of the Serres Bulgarian ecclesiastical community, Theodosius (later Metropolitan of Skopje), was arrested in the village of Frashteni, where he served on January 4, 1873, and, despite protests from the whole village, was taken to Serres. On the way he was very tortured and beaten. The Greek priest in the village advised him to recognize the Patriarchate, because otherwise he would have suffered badly in Serres and he could have been killed. In Serres, the mutesarifin Haidar Bey released him, but due to Greek threats, Theodosius moved to a Turkish house. Because even after that. Theodosius went to serve in the Bulgarian villages, he was summoned before the Greek metropolitan and other Greek leaders to give explanations why he went to the villages to serve in Bulgarian and was threatened with imprisonment. Иван Снегаров. Отношенията между Българската църква и другите православни църкви след провъзгласяването на схизмата. по "Църковен архив", книга III-V, София — печатница "П. Глушков" — 1929.
^Борис Цацов (2003). Архиереите на Българската православна църква: Биографичен сборник (in Bulgarian). Принцепс. p. 297. ISBN9548067757.
^141-во засед. на Св. Синод, 16 януари 1874 г., стр. 316.
^ abBalázs Trencsényi; Michal Kopeček, eds. (2007). "Letter on the renewal of the Archbishopric of Ohrid". National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements. Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe 1770–1945. Central European University Press. pp. 188, 190. ISBN9786155211249.
^ abRoumen Daskalov; Tchavdar Marinov (2013). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. BRILL. p. 288. ISBN978-9004250765.
^Theodosius of Skopje. Memories from the times of the Bulgarian political and religious revival (Otalamci). A collection honouring Metropolitan Simeon, Metropolitan of Preslav and Varna, Sofia 1922, 212-19. (in Bulgarian: Теодосий Скопски. Спомени от епохата на българското духовно и политическо възраждение (Отъломци). Сборник в чест на Варненский и Преславский Митрополит Симеон, София 1922, 212-219.)
^„Беззащитно във всяко едно отношение, българското население, онеправдано от местните власти и бедно от материална и умствена страна, то представляваше твърде удобна почва за насаждането и възприемането на всякакви пропагандистични идеи. На това се дължеше и успехът на чуждите пропаганди в такива чисто български градове в Македония като Воден, Ресен, Лерин, Неврокоп, Щип и пр., където български училища нямаше, или ако имаше те бяха незначителни, а гръцки училища имаше по градове и по села и добре бяха наредени." Теодосий Гологанов - бивш митрополит Скопски, вестник „Ден", София, 20 септември, 1910 год., бр. 2322.
^„Беззащитно във всяко едно отношение, българското население, онеправдано от местните власти и бедно от материална и умствена страна, то представляваше твърде удобна почва за насаждането и възприемането на всякакви пропагандистични идеи. На това се дължеше и успехът на чуждите пропаганди в такива чисто български градове в Македония като Воден, Ресен, Лерин, Неврокоп, Щип и пр., където български училища нямаше, или ако имаше те бяха незначителни, а гръцки училища имаше по градове и по села и добре бяха наредени.“ Теодосий Гологанов – бивш митрополит Скопски, вестник „Ден“, София, 20 септември 1910 г., бр. 2322.
^Елдъров, Светозар. Православието на война. Българската православна църква и войните на България 1877-1945, София 2004, с. 112.
^Празникът на победите– 27 ноември, непознатата история на бойния празник на Българската Армия. Светлозар Елдъров, проф. д.и.н. списание Военноисторически сборник, ISSN0204-4080, бр. 4, 2004 г.
^Писма и изповеди на Иван Гологанов: Веда Словена, Христо Спирев, ВУДУТЕК ООД, 2015, 5 стр.
^Alexander Vezenkov (2015). "The Concept of National Revival in Balkan Historiographies". In Tchavdar Marinov (ed.). Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three. BRILL. pp. 450–451. ISBN978-9004290365. Although he was named Bulgarian metropolitan bishop in Skopje, in 1890–1892 Gologanov tried to establish a separate Macedonian Church, an activity that resulted in his dismissal and temporary marginalization. Thus after this short period as an early Macedonian national ideologist, Gologanov again became a Bulgarian bishop, as well as a writer and a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. As we have seen, he contributed significantly to the construction of the image of Macedonia as "cradle of the Bulgarian Revival" through his "data" about Paisiy Hilendarski's birthplace.
^С. Димевски, Присуството на Теодосиј Гологанов во развојот на македонската национална мисла во епохата на национално - револуционерното движење, Скопје, 1976.