site.btaRelic of St Euthymius of Tarnovo Taken to Sofia for Veneration

A particle of the relics of St Euthymius of Tarnovo on Friday arrived in Sofia. The relic was received by Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte at the St Marina Church of the Sofia Metropolitanate from Bishop Sionios of Velika, Hegumen of Bachkovo Monastery (South Central Bulgaria), where the relic has been kept for 620 years.

The relic was welcomed by Metropoltan Anthony of Western and Central Europe, Bishop Polycarp of Belogradchik and Bishop Isaac of Velbazhd (vicars to Patriarch Neophyte) and clergymen of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Believers were able to venerate the relic until 2:00 p.m.  

By decision of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, St Euthymius's relic will be glorified at a liturgy celebrated by metropolitans at Bachkovo Monastery at 9:30 a.m. on October 22. 

St Euthymius was born in the medieval Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo in 1327. He took monastic vows at the Kilifarevo Monastery in 1350 under the guidance of Venerable Theodosius. Having spent several years in Constantinople and Holy Mount Athos. Back in Tarnovo, Euythimius secluded himself in a cave near the city. He was joined by other monks, and they set up the Holy Trinity Monastery. There Euthymius wrote saints' vitae and encomiums, adjusted the liturgical books and translated other works. He founded and ran the Tarnovo literary school and initiated a language reform in Old Bulgarian. In 1375 he was elected Bulgarian Patriarch and excelled in his ministry. When the Ottoman Turks captured Tarnovo in 1393 he boldly stood up for the people. He was exiled to Southern Bulgaria, where he demised c. 1402.