Patriarch Evtimiy of Bulgaria. Saint Evtimiy of Tarnovo (also Evtimii,
Evtimij, Euthymius; Bulgarian: Свети Евтимий Търновски, Sveti Evtimiy
Tarnovski) was Patriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded
as one of the most important figures of medieval
Bulgaria,
Evtimiy was the last head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the
Second Bulgarian Empire. Arguably the best esteemed of all Bulgarian
patriarchs, Evtimiy was a supporter of hesychasm and an authoritative
figure in the Eastern Orthodox world of the time.
Born
around 1325 (between 1320–1330) and possibly an offspring of the
eminent Tsamblak family of the capital Tarnovo, Evtimiy was educated
at the monastery schools in and around the city and became a monk. He
joined the Kilifarevo Monastery around 1350, attracted by the fame of
Theodosius of Tarnovo. Theodosius appointed him his first assistant in
1363 and the two went together to Tsarigrad, with Theodosius dying
soon afterwards.
Evtimiy then consecutively joined the
Studion monastery and the Great Lavra of Athanasius the Athonite on
Mount Athos. He was influenced by many outstanding thinkers, scholars
and reformers of the spiritual life and beliefs in South eastern
Europe, such as Gregory the Sinaite, Gregory Palamas, Callistus
Philotheus and John Kukuzelis. He was sent into exile on the island of
Lemnos by Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and, upon his release,
returned to the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos. It was
there that he first reflected on the spelling reforms and planned
corrections to the translations of the clerical books.
Around 1371 Evtimiy
returned to Bulgaria and founded the Holy Trinity Patriarchal
Monastery near Tarnovo, where he grounded the Tarnovo Literary School.
He established orthographic rules and corrected the wrongly translated
Bulgarian religious books by comparing them to the Greek ones. These
corrected texts became models for the Orthodox churches of Bulgaria,
Serbia, Romania and Russia using the Church Slavonic language. Gregory
Tsamblak, his biographer, compared Evtimiy's work to that of Moses and
the Egyptian king Ptolemy I.
In 1375, following the death of Patriarch Ioanikiy
(Joanicius), Evtimiy was elected to become his successor. A supporter
of asceticism, Evtimiy persecuted the heresies and the moral decay.
Evtimiy became famous all around the Orthodox world and a number of
metropolitans and hegumens addressed him to interpret theological
matters. Of Evtimiy's works, 15 are known: liturgical books, laudatory
works, passionals and epistles. Many of his works were likely
destroyed or are yet to be discovered. Among his disciples in literary
work are Gregory Tsamblak, Metropolitan of Kiev; Cyprian, Metropolitan
of Moscow; Joasaph of Bdin and Constantine of Kostenets.
Patriarch Evtimiy has
been canonized and his memory is honoured on the same day as that of
his namesake Euthymius the Great, on 20th January.
Saint Euthimius, Patriarch of
Turnovo
Saint Euthimius, Patriarch of Turnovo, was born to an illustrious
family in the old Bulgarian capital Turnovo about 1327. He joined, in
his early teens, the monastic brotherhood at the Kilifarevo Monastery,
whose
Father Superior was Theodossii of Turnovo. In those times the
monastery was a prominent centre of learning and literature in
Bulgaria which was looked up to by all other Slav nations. The
monastery provided scholastic instruction to some outstanding theology
students, men of letters and historians.
For
many years Saint Euthimius improved on the structure and curriculum of
the monastery school making of it a full-time university of major
international importance, gaining fame as the Turnovo Literary School.
Following a lengthy sojourn in Byzantium, Euthimius came back to his
native land and made a secluded cave, not far from the capital
Turnovo, his abode. There he built the "Holy Trinity" church. The
church soon grew into a monastery. Saint Euthimius took it upon
himself to improve the orthography of the Bulgarian language, building
on the groundwork laid by the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, who
created the Slav letters and alphabet. He actually carried through a
language reform, evolving and inculcating a literary language,
purposefully kept aloof from the spoken language, thus bringing "the
art of wreathing words into a garland" to perfection. For the first
time in the history of Slav languages a literary language, unified for
the whole country was imposed, sanctioned by church canon too. The
lofty achievements of the Turnovo Literary School of the 14th c.
earned recognition in neighbouring and far-off Orthodox peoples.
Euthimius pushed on with his intensive literary
activity after he was elected Patriarch of Turnovo in 1375. He
translated a multitude of liturgies and composed the passionals of the
Bulgarian saints, safeguarded the Christian Orthodox heritage from
heretical encroachments, pounced on decadent public morals, took care
of the poor and the suffering. As Patriarch of the Bulgarian Church he
aspired to guide the people in a manner that will make it easier for
them to comprehend their own religion and attain its consummate goal
of spiritual improvement and salvation. That is why he instituted the
reform in the Bulgarian liturgical books, to make them easily
accessible, to reach the minds and hearts of believers.
When
the capital Turnovo fell to the Turks in 1393, Saint Patriarch
Euthimius proved to be the last stronghold of the Bulgarian Orthodox
faith and state. His challenge to the invaders led to his being
sentenced to death. However, a genuine miracle occurred at the
execution - the executioner lifted the sword to behead him, his arm
was petrified and the sword fell to the ground. The death sentence was
replaced with a lifetime exile and he died sometime in 1402. Saint
Patriarch Euthimius of Turnovo was canonized by the Bulgarian Orthodox
Church in the15th century and ever since his memory has been revered
on January 20th by the Bulgarian and other Orthodox Churches.
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