Patriarch Evtimii

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Patriarch Evtimii was the last Patriarch of the church of medieval Bulgaria.

[edit] Life and contribution to Orthodox Christianity

According to some historians he was born in 1332 in the medieval capital Tarnovo to a family related to the boyar kin of Tsamblaks. In 1350 he entered the Kilifarevo Monastery founded by the isihast Theodosius of Tarnovo and together with his spiritual teacher visited Constantinople in 1363. He spent some time at the Studit Monastery, known for its centre of learning and its rich library. Evtimii became well-known among the educated clergy. He was influenced by many outstanding thinkers, scholars and reformers of the spiritual life and believes in the Balkans- Grigori Sinait, Grigori Palama, Calist Philotei, John Kukuzel. Later on, Evtimii moved to the Zograph Monastery. It was there that he first reflected on the spelling reforms and planned corrections to the translations of the clerical books. In 1371 Evtimiy returned to Bulgaria and founded a monastery near Turnovo called "Holy Trinity". He started to revise the old translations of the clerical books, full of mistakes, and supplied the peoples of Eastern Orthodox faith, using Slavic languages, with new translations. Grigoriy Tsamblak, his biographer, compares Evtimii's work to the work of Moses the legislator and that of the Egyptian king Ptolomy. 1375 Evtimiy was elected Patriarch of Bulgaria. As head of the Church he made legitimate "the correction of the books" in order to impose his linguistic, spelling and literary reform. Thus he laid the foundation for the religious and national unity of Bulgarians on the eve of the Ottoman invasion.

[edit] The Fall Of The Bulgarian State

In 1393 when the state was invaded by the Ottoman troops, Patriarch Evtimii was entrusted by tsar Ivan Shishman to protect the capital and encourage the defending soldiers, while the tzar himself led the remnant of his troops to the Nikopol fortress. However, neither the Patriarch nor the tzar were able to save the country from falling under Ottoman domination.Patriarch Evtimii together with other high-ranked officials of Turnovo were lined up and forced to choose between conversion to Islam or death. When Evtimii`s turn to make his choice had come, the Patriarch declined to convert and was sentenced to death. According to Grigory Tsamblak the verdict was not executed because "the hand of the executioner froze in the air and could not move". This was taken by the Ottomans as a heavenly sign and instead of death the Patriarch was sent in exile. Patriarch Evtimii died in 1402 in Bachkovo Monastery and was proclaimed a Saint by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.