He succeeded in suppressing the rebellion, and showed the superficial nature of his Christianity by the cruel revenge he took on the leaders of the revolt.

Then the nation followed the lead of their king, and has ever since been nominally Christian.

Neander says, that Cyrill was distinguished from all other missionaries of that period, by not yielding to the prejudice which regarded the languages of the rude nations as too profane to be employed for sacred uses, and by not shrinking from any toil which was necessary to master the language of the people among whom he labored.
The Bulgarians wavered for a time, according to the sway of their political interests, between the Greek and Latin Churches, until finally they decided wholly in favor of the former, and a Greek archbishop and bishops were set over them.[1] [1] Neander's _Ecclesiastical History_, vol.iii.pp.

307-316, Torrey's Translation; and Dr.Murdock's Note to p.

51 of Mosheim's _Institute of Ecclesiastical History_, vol.ii.
In the year 924, Simeon, the Bulgarian monarch, compelled the Byzantine Emperor, Romanus I., to recognize the National Church of Bulgaria as wholly independent of the Greek Hierarchy.