In 1858 direct work for the Bulgarians was begun by opening a station at Adrianople, which was followed by a station at Philippopolis and Eski-Zagra within the next two years. The Bulgarians were longing for political freedom and welcomed the missionaries with their new literature and education as calculated to strengthen them as a nation. For fourteen years the work among the Bulgarians was considered a part of the Armenian mission. In 1872 the European work was set off by itself as the European Turkey mission, which is almost exclusively for the Bulgarians. The condition of the old Bulgarian Church was similar to the Armenian Church, so far as need of reform was concerned. The churches which were organized in 1846, among those cast out from the old Gregorian Church, were severely plain and simple in their form and ritual, as well as in their articles of faith. In the reaction from the rigid ritualism of the Church from which they had been driven, these evangelical Christians went to the other extreme, putting the emphasis of the service upon the sermon. Prevailing conditions demanded direct positive instruction in Christian living rather than new forms of worship. Had these people not been rudely excommunicated from the Church there is no doubt that they would have clung fondly to much if not all of the rich service of the old Church. Much place was also given to the reading of the Scriptures in the modern spoken language of the people and to congregational singing. The people were so eager for the sermon, and especially in the expository form, that large numbers who repudiated the name of evangelical, and who were among the persecutors of the Protestants began to demand that the priests of the old Church also expound the Scriptures. Few of them were able to accomplish this with any degree of success. Dr. Goodell published a volume of sermons in Armenian which were eagerly bought by the priests and preached by them to their people. Although the evangelicals had been violently thrust out of the Church, the spirit of reform in considerable measure remained. During the first bitter years, when feelings were stirred up and controversy was rife, there was a wide breach between the Gregorian and Protestant Churches. After discussions all over the country, extending to nearly every village of importance, had settled the question that the modern version of the Bible in the vernacular was the unquestioned Word of God, there was actually no ground for continued separate existence. All Armenians accepted the modern Scriptures as the revelation of God to men and an infallible guide to faith and practise. Neither did they have any scruples against the Bible being put into the hands of the people. Hence, as one might expect, the breach between the old and the new began gradually to heal. The spirit of bitterness, little by little, passed away until now it does not exist upon the old grounds which led to the separation.