Saint Sophronius of Vratsa (1739–1813) was one of the first national and spiritual leaders of the Bulgarian people during the Renaissance and one of the earliest spiritual guides and founders of education and literary culture within the borders of the new Bulgaria. At the beginning of the 19th century, as Bishop of Vratsa and shepherd of the Church, he contributed greatly to the development of Orthodox moral and ecclesiastical literature in the Bulgarian language, through his sermons and moral teachings, written in the language spoken and understood by all strata of Bulgarian society at that time. Through the publication of his book of sermons and moral teachings, Kiriakodromion 1, which appeared in Râmnicu-Vâlcea in 1806, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa became the founder and pioneer of printing in modern Bulgarian culture and literature.
This remarkable book for modern Bulgarian history and culture was printed with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia, Dositei, and with the support of Bishop Nectarius at the printing house of the Diocese of Râmnic; its author, Sophronius, Bishop of Vratsa2, mentions this with great reverence and gratitude right from the title page of the edition.
This book is the only theological work by Saint Sofronie of Vratsa to have been printed during his lifetime and contains sermons on moral themes and teachings for the Christian feasts and the Sunday Gospel readings for the whole year. In 1813, the great Bulgarian spiritual father and teacher ended his earthly journey in Bucharest, whilst serving as abbot of Mărcuța Monastery, and was buried at Șerban Vodă Monastery.
With piety, gratitude and reverence for his spiritual, educational and ecclesiastical teachings, the Bulgarian Patriarchate canonised him by a special decision of the Holy Synod in 1964 andincluded him amongst the saints and spiritual guides honoured by Bulgarian believers.
1. The Ministry of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa as a Spiritual Guide and Enlightener of the People
As a pupil and disciple of the Venerable Paisius of Hilandar, Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa continued the work of revival and guidance of the Church and became the initiator of the covenants addressed to the Bulgarian ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is called to serve the people of God through the Gospel and to continue the work of enlightening the Bulgarian people of one blood (‘The Testament of Saint John of Rila’) through true and effective Christian preaching and through the spiritual guidance of the people in the new Bulgarian language, in a way that the people can understand. 3
Saint Sophronius of Vratsa is the author of numerous collections of books with moral content, which he compiled in manuscript form, and of the first book printed in the modern Bulgarian language. This is the book known as the Nedelnic or Kiriakodromion, which is a collection of moral teachings and sermons 4, written by him personally and compiled through his own literary efforts and translations from Greek and Church Slavonic. This collection contains the Gospel readings for Sundays throughout the year and for the great feasts of the Lord and the saints, accompanied by appropriate theological interpretations and practical spiritual teachings for Christians. This ecclesiastical book is one of the most important literary monuments of the Bulgarian Renaissance and a key factor in the development of modern Bulgarian education, as it is written in the language spoken by the people and, through its printed form, contributes to the consolidation of the modern Bulgarian language as a literary language, whilst also entering into ecclesiastical usage. The Kiriakodromion is also the first book of moral content in 19th-century modern Bulgarian literature to address the subject of Christianand containing commentaries on the Gospel by Holy Fathers such as Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Theophylact of Ohrid (of Bulgaria) and other eminent teachers of the Church.
According to the teaching of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, the Gospel of Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith and a source of spiritual light, grace-filled power, wisdom and sound judgement for humankind. According to his exegesis and pastoral teaching, ‘the Gospel means the Good News, for it speaks to us of truths such as growth in the fulfilment of goodness. This means: the forgiveness of sins, truth, deification, adoption as children of God, the inheritance of eternal goodness and deliverance from eternal torment. The Holy Gospel speaks to us of all the works of goodness and teaches us how to fulfil them. We have received it easily, without any effort, and have been deemed worthy of such great goodness through God’s grace and love for mankind’5
2. Spiritual and moral exhortations addressed to Bulgarian priests
Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa was convinced that Christian teaching, which has its source in the Gospel, is the beginning of goodness, whilst ignorance is the cause of spiritual bondage and the source of troubles. The teaching of the Gospel and the truths of Christ must be received with firm and unshakeable faith in order to contribute to salvation and the renewal of life in grace. ‘Therefore, my dear and beloved Christian brothers’, writes Saint Sophronius, “let us not harbour various doubts in our minds, but let us believe without hesitation in what the Holy Gospel tells and teaches us, and let us hold fast to its teaching”6.
Owing to the need for this spiritual guidance of Christians, the national leader and spiritual guide of the Bulgarians devoted himself energetically to the work of educating the people and, even whilst he was a priest in his home town, Kotel, he strove for the moral education of the Christian faithful, devoting himself to extensive pastoral and scholarly work. During this period, at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, due to foreign Ottoman rule and the influence of the foreign church, the Bulgarians lagged behind other European nations in their spiritual and educational development, as they had no schools of their own and were condemned to remain uneducated and ignorant. Through his pastoral duty as a bishop, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa uncovered and revealed to his compatriots, chiefly the priests, the true causes of the people’s plight, seeking to transform the Bulgarians’ spiritual condition through educational and missionary work, by producing Christian literature for the purpose of educating the people, and by organising church schools where children learnt ‘grammatical and philosophical teachings’ in order to become educated and wise.
The writings of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa contain many moral teachings drawn from the theological treatises of the era, as well as translations from manuscripts and books from the Athonite monasteries and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Saint Sophronius of Vratsa’s personal library was rich in ecclesiastical theological writings in Church Slavonic and Greek, and also included philosophical treatises from the Age of Enlightenment7
In his spiritual and educational work, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa was guided by the principles of the Gospel and church traditions. According to him, true and effective ecclesiastical education should be guided by several key characteristics. ‘Firstly, let us preach the faith with our own mouths and teach and guide those who waver in the truth. Secondly, let us strive to demonstrate through our deeds the power of the Christian faith, which is true, good, righteous and orthodox. For ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 3:17, 20, 26), as the Holy Apostle James says. This is also what the Holy Fathers teach us: that there is no salvation through faith alone without good works, nor through works alone without faith8).
The Bulgarian clergy, in the person of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, were convinced that the people would be freed from bondage (both spiritual and political), through true spiritual enlightenment once they had acquired knowledge of ‘the laws of truth given to us through books’. For this reason, books must be written in ‘plain’ (spoken) Bulgarian, understood by the whole people. According to the spiritual shepherd, this is because ‘in our days, and even more so amongst the Bulgarian people, there are many spiritually unenlightened people who, although they can read, do not understand Holy Scripture, for this is the Covenant of Christ. And if we do not know it and do not understand it, how shall we become heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven?’6
The moral sermons, teachings and words of Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa contain numerous Christian moral truths and ecclesiastical teachings on asceticism in the Gospel virtues and the struggle against sin and sinful passions.
3. Ecclesiastical-educational and socio-Christian perspectives
Saint Sophronius of Vratsa reorganised ecclesiastical life, as he was the first bishop of Bulgarian nationality, and remains in everyone’s memory as the true spiritual shepherd of the church community. He was the bishop who began to preach and write in the spoken language. He was the one who created printed ecclesiastical literature in the vernacular, spoken and understood by all Bulgarians. To a certain extent, his work is a continuation of the work of Saint Clement of Ohrid and Bishop Constantine of Preslav. During the Renaissance, he applied the spiritual principles of Christian teaching—which formed the basis of the literary schools at Preslav and Ohrid, and of the literary and ecclesiastical work of Saint Euthymius, Patriarch of Tarnovo— towards the creation of ecclesiastical-liturgical and pedagogical literature, and the spiritual and national activities of Saint Paisius of Hilandar 9.
Saint Sophronius is the bearer of all these ecclesiastical and literary traditions of the Bulgarian Church, which he succeeds in realising in the context of the new era, taking into account the needs of his flock 10. The ideas of Saint Paisios of Hilandar regarding the education of Bulgarian youth find their continuation and reach their fullest expression in the person of Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa, as well as amongst later Bulgarian scholars, such as the hieromonk Neophytus of Rila. Spiritual catechesis, according to Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, is the primary duty of the clergy, as shepherds of the faithful, and if they fail to fulfil these duties, they are guilty of a grave sin before God. Here is how he addresses the priests regarding his convictions: ‘And you, ministers of the Church, let you all show love for your neighbour, and on every Sunday and feast day do not be lazy, but be sure to read it in the church assembly, so that even simple/uneducated people may understand the Orthodox faith. Whoever, whether priest or teacher, is lazy and fails to read it on Sundays and feast days, let it be a sin upon his soul, and let him give an account before the Righteous God for all the uneducated people, for I have fulfilled my duty. Indeed, priests, my brothers, we have a great obligation to teach the uneducated Christian people, for they are our spiritual children, lest, by burying God’s talent in the ground, we remain under a curse and the words of Christ, which He spoke to the Jewish scribes, be fulfilled in us: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were trying to enter’ (Luke 11:52)’11
4. The views of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa on the Christian family
Sofronius of Vratsa focused his attention on the education and catechism of Christians and the Bulgarian people, both by the Church and by the family. The family is understood as a small ‘domestic church’ where spiritual and Christian upbringing must be ensured, above all, by the children’s parents. For this reason, the spiritual shepherd and the national conscience of the Bulgarian people insist on and share their pastoral convictions and guidance first and foremost with parents, who must fully understand the meaning and significance of their children’s instruction and upbringing, and responsibly fulfil their Christian duty as their educators. The family and the upbringing of children are among the principal concerns in the priest’s spiritual, educational and pastoral work, for the destiny and future of the entire nation depend on the sound Christian upbringing of children. The family is a fundamental Christian institution, blessed by God, which is both a holy union and a social unit. The Christian family is, above all, a living spiritual community of faith, for within it children are not only raised but also educated in accordance with the fundamental Christian virtues – faith, hope, love, humility, patience and diligence. These are the virtues through which children must grow spiritually as individuals and develop their character as discerning young people, true patriots and cultured individuals, responsible for their own lives and the needs of the people.
In his sermons and spiritual homilies, Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa emphasises that fathers and mothers are the best educators, even better than teachers, because the best education is acquired within the family. Despite the poverty of many families, he managed to carry out his spiritual and educational programme, overcoming the indifference and even neglect of many parents, and urging them to recognise the necessity and value of education. He helped many poor parents, using his own resources, to send their children to school, thereby encouraging and urging them to strive for learning and education. The religious, moral and pedagogical vision of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa was founded on the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the ancient sages and philosophers, from whose works he drew useful advice and teachings for parents and adolescents. Fully aware of the importance of the education of children and young people, he urged parents to invest even their last resources in education, often forbidding them to give alms to ‘lazy monks’. He placed support for the Church in second place, after the education of children, and thus became the embodiment of the spirit of the Bulgarian Renaissance, which prioritised the education of the Bulgarian people as a fundamental value and a priority for personal growth, family well-being, and the renewal of the Church and the nation.
He placed support for the Church in second place after children’s education and thus became the embodiment of the spirit of the Bulgarian Renaissance in regard to the education of the Bulgarian people as a fundamental value and priority for personal growth, the well-being of the family and the renewal of the Church and the people.
5. The role of education and spiritual guidance in the lives of Christians
Saint Sophronius of Vratsa constantly emphasised the need to improve and strengthen education both within the Church and in the family. He did so because he was aware of the importance of education for personal and communal morality, for a dignified human existence, and for the true freedom and genuine progress of the people. Spiritual education and catechesis in the truths of the Gospel are beneficial and salvific for every person and, therefore, they represent an invaluable spiritual good and a precious treasure, which Saint Sophronius of Vratsa compares to the spiritual talent in the Parable of the Talents told by the Saviour. The Saint advises all his spiritual children and fellow priests to labour diligently for this spiritual good and not to abandon their teaching, lest they behave like the lazy and crafty servant in the Gospel parable: ‘My brothers, consider that servant who hid his master’s talent and the harsh judgement he received from his master’ (Matthew XXV, 26–30). For this reason, every reader must take care to work diligently to share the word of God with the Christian people in the assembly of the Church. And as for you, my dear children, I ask you to listen with spiritual joy to what is being said to you, as though you were hearing it from the lips of Christ Himself. For when you listen attentively to this word of teaching, it will not only enter your ears, but will also take root in your hearts and will not come forth from there barren, until it bears good fruit’12
The Saint knew full well, and understood from his rich spiritual experience and his extensive ecclesiastical work, that the Church’s ministry for the good of the people is directly linked to education and could only begin with Christian moral guidance and the enrichment of the culture of the entire people. Education broadens a person’s conscience and cultural horizons, cultivates virtues and changes their attitude towards the destiny of the people and the mission of the Church. Only people who are educated and spiritually catechised can take responsibility for their own lives and the destiny of the people, and can strive for a dignified human existence, without remaining indolent and indifferent to their spiritual condition and to salvation, and, consequently, their status in society.
6. Christian charity and the social service of the Church
Alongside his educational mission and preaching ministry, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa also performed many acts of charity. Owing to the precarious situation of the people – there were at that time many widows, many orphans and widespread famine amongst the people – Saint Sophronius helped the needy both personally and through the Church. Following the Gospel principles of Christian charity, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa laid the foundations for a system of basic Christian ethical and social principles, which he began to apply first in the organisation of church life, and subsequently in the wider social sphere. The social vision of this remarkable Bulgarian scholar and educator of the late 18th and early 19th centuries is imbued with a strong Christian sense of ecclesiastical duty, of freedom, of service to one’s fellow human beings and of love for one’s nation. This is closely linked to the educational and national liberation movement of the Bulgarian people and to the struggles for spiritual education and an independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The struggle to preserve the Orthodox faith, according to Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, is inextricably linked to the struggle for the spiritual education of the people and the independence of the Church 13.
He called upon the wealthy to practise charity and generosity, and upon the poor to work hard and be patient in times of hardship. He taught everyone to entrust themselves to God and to take part in church services, to study the word of the Gospel and to practise Christian virtues in their lives. As bishop and shepherd of the Church, Saint Sophronius worked diligently to organise church life and secure the Church’s freedom, thereby preparing the Bulgarians for their struggle for an autonomous Church and a free state. Saint Sophronius was aware that charity alone would not free society from bondage nor make it more just, but charity was an important and effective means of healing social injustices, as well as of fostering compassion for the poor and an awareness of suffering amongst the wealthiest. We can find these moral teachings in many of Saint Sophronius’s sermons in his Kiriakodromion, and, in particular, in his sermon on ‘The Parable of the Unmerciful Rich Man and Lazarus the Poor Man’ and in his other sermons 14.
When we do good before God and for Christ, according to Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, we should not show off or take pride in it. Above all, it is essential that we perform our good deeds of charity and kindness towards our fellow human beings with humility and repentance, without considering ourselves to be the source of these good deeds. In this regard, the Saint refers to Christian moral teachings through the spiritual guidance he offers to his flock: ‘Let us not dwell on the good we have done, but let us reflect on our sins, which we have committed before God, and let us always regard ourselves as sinners; then we shall drive away evil thoughts and the devil from us. And let us continually have love, mercy and humility, and with a pure heart let us pray to God for all Christians and ask Him to grant us help and strength, so that we may act in accordance with His holy commandments and have love for all people’15
The ministry of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa unfolded along two closely related lines: spiritual catechesis and ecclesiastical charity. To the extent that his life, full of trials, was crowned with success, Saint Sophronius helped the poor, the suffering and the weak, but he devoted himself most of all to the education of the people, sparing neither his own strength nor the resources of the Church. Thanks to the dozens of priests who fought for freedom, the Bulgarian Church began to consolidate its extensive work of catechesis and cultural renewal, setting out to liberate the people from bondage, advancing the struggle to restore the independent Bulgarian state and to prepare for the spiritual elevation of the nation’s Church. The spiritual counsels of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa to Bulgarian priests, concerning the pursuit of a life of perfect morality and the spiritual guidance of the nation’s Church, contributed greatly to this spiritual endeavour. the spiritual exhortations of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa to the Bulgarian priests concerning the leading of a life of moral perfection and the endeavour to follow the example of Christ in their ecclesiastical ministry. He bequeathed to his fellow clergy a book containing sermons and teachings entitled Kiriakodromion, in which he left precious spiritual precepts, guidance and moral counsel on purity and repentance, zeal and humility in the pursuit of a perfect life and the following of Christ. In this testament, Saint Sophronius addresses the Bulgarian clergy and spiritual shepherds, amongst others, with the following words:
Saint Sophronius helped the poor, the suffering and the weak, but he laboured most of all for the education of the people, sparing neither his own strength nor the resources of the Church.
‘You, the priests of God, take care and be mindful, lest any of you begin to celebrate the Divine Liturgy without having been reconciled with a person with whom you are at odds, for he shall be consumed by fire and consigned to the destruction of divine fire, if, out of ignorance, he fails to guard against this. But let us offer the holy sacrifice to God with a pure heart, my brothers, with hope, and let us pray to God for all Christians, that we may all be saved from eternal sorrow and be made worthy of those eternal joys, of the radiant paradise alongside Christ the Lord. I wish these things for you with great love and ask for your forgiveness for myself, who have laboured hard. Be well! I, the sinner Sophronius, Bishop of Vratsa16”.
7. Key Conclusions
From this brief overview of the spiritual, pedagogical and moral works of Saint Sophronius of Vratsa, the following conclusions may be drawn:
1. Through his literary works, moral homilies and collections of spiritual writings, but above all through his most important work, the Kiriakodromion—which holds great spiritual authority— as the Church’s pedagogical treatise on the words of the Saviour’s Gospel, occupying a place of honour in the spiritual, educational and homiletic tradition of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa fully reveals the image of a spiritual luminary and a saint, through whom he fulfils his ascetic endeavour before God and his mission as a church teacher of the ‘17’ faith.
2. In 1964, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church solemnly proclaimed Bishop Sophronius of Vratsa a saint, canonising him as a saint of the Church and holding him up as an example of a tireless shepherd and teacher, preacher and saint of the faith ‘who laid down his life for his neighbour’ and fulfilled the work of a true disciple of Christ 18.
3. What Saint Sophronius of Vratsa accomplished together with his disciples – priests and teachers – in the field of the Christian education of the people, was a work of great scope and epoch-making significance both for his own time and for the Bulgarian Renaissance in general, as well as for modern Bulgarian education. This Bulgarian bishop laid the foundations for the ecclesiastical movement towards modern Bulgarian education and literature, whilst also contributing to the pedagogical and ecclesiastical work of the Bulgarian Church. He also set the direction for the development of the Bulgarian Exarchate in this field and contributed to the emergence of the modern Bulgarian education system.
4. The book Kiriakodromion by Saint Sophronius of Vratsa is a model of moral preaching and authentic ecclesiastical pedagogy on Christian virtues and the asceticism of Christians on the path to salvation, clearly and convincingly showing the Way to follow in the example of Christ and the grace-filled communion with God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Through this work of his, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa proved himself to be a true saint of the Church, a bishop and a shepherd who saw many decades ahead and with greater insight than his contemporaries.
5. Through his extensive and nationwide work of evangelisation and literacy-building in the modern Bulgarian language, Saint Sophronius of Vratsa became a true beacon of the Church and a teacher of the Bulgarian people, the torch that illuminated his compatriots with the spiritual light of the Gospel and which contributed to the rebirth of the faith and the revival of the Bulgarian people, enabling them to take their rightful place in history, through the restoration of the spiritual freedom of church life and the political independence of the state.
References
St Sophronius of Vratsa. Sunday Book. An Instructional Gospel for All Sundays of the Year, for the Feasts of the Lord and the Theotokos, and for the Great Saints. Mount Athos, 2007.
St Sophronius, Bishop of Vrachanski. Catechetical, Homiletic and Moral Writings. Sofia, Synodal Publishing House, 1989.
Dimitrov, Hr. ‘The Authentic “Weekly” of Sophronius of Vratsa’. – Yearbook of the Theological Academy, Vol. VII (XXXIII), 1957/1958, Sofia, 1958, pp. 136–137.
Hegumen Innokentiy (Pavlov). ‘Archaeographic and Source-Critical Notes on the Manuscripts of Saint Sofronius, Bishop of Vrachansk’. – In: Saint Sofronius, Bishop of Vrachansk. Catechetical, Homiletic and Moral Writings. Sofia, Synodal Publishing House, 1989.
The Life of St Sofronius, Bishop of Vrachanski. – In: Lives of the Bulgarian Saints, Tsarnogorski Monastery of ‘Sts Cosmas and Damian’, pp. 419–427.
‘Minutes No. 23 of the Solemn Session of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (31 December 1964)’. – in: A Bright Light in Our National History. Vratsa, 2009, pp. 41–50.
Metropolitan Kalinik of Vratsa. Liturgical celebration of St Sophronius of Vratsa. – In: A Bright Light in Our Native History. Metropolitanate of Vratsa, 2009, pp. 16–19.
Metropolitan Kalinik of Vratsa. The Crown of Holiness through the Golgotha-like Feat of Service to the People. – In: Collection A Bright Light in Our Native History. Vratsa Metropolitanate, 2009, pp. 20–24.
- 1
Sermons for Sundays throughout the year. (The note marked with an asterisk in the article’s title is included here at the first occurrence of the word ‘Kiriakodromion’.)
- 2
Dimitrov, Hr., ‘The Authentic “Nedelnik” of Sofroniy Vracianski’ – Yearbook of the Theological Academy, Vol. VII (XXXIII), 1957/1958, Sofia, 1958, pp. 136–137.
- 3
See Metropolitan Kalinik of Vrachans, ‘Attaining Holiness through the Golgotha Feat for the Sake of the People’ – in: Collected Works. A Bright Light in Our Native History, Vrachanska Metropolis, 2009, pp. 20–24.
- 4
St Sophronius of Vrachansko, The Sunday Book. A Collection of Gospel Readings for All Sundays Throughout the Year, for the Feasts of the Lord and the Theotokos, and for the Great Saints. Mount Athos, vol., 2007.
- 5
St Sophronius of Vrachans, ‘Foreword’ – in: Nedelnik, 2007, p. 6.
- 6a6b
Ibid., p. 7.
- 7
See St Sophronius of Vrachanski. Catechetical, Homiletic and Instructional Writings, Sofia, Synodal Publishing House, 1989, pp. 33–189.
- 8
St Sophronius of Vrachansko, Nedelnik, p. 7.
- 9
See Metropolitan Kalinik of Vrachansk, ‘Liturgical Commemoration of Saint Sophronius of Vrachansk’, in A Bright Light in Our Native History. Metropolitanate of Vrachansk, 2009, pp. 16–19.
- 10
See Hegumen Inokentii (Pavlov), ‘Archaeographical and Source-Critical Notes on the Manuscripts of Saint Sofronius, Bishop of Vrachansko’ – in: Saint Sofronius, Bishop of Vrachansko. Catechetical, Homiletic and Moral Writings, Sofia, Synodal Publishing House, 1989.
- 11
St Sophronius of Vrachansk, Nedelnik, p. 8.
- 12
St Sophronius of Vrachansk, Nedelnik, p. 9.
- 13
See St Sophronius, Bishop of Vrachans, ‘Confession of the Orthodox Faith of the Ecumenical and Apostolic Eastern Church’ – In: Catechetical, Homiletic and Moral Writings. Sofia, Synodal Publishing House, 1989.
- 14
See St Sophronius of Vrachanski, ‘On the Love of Money’ – in: Nedelnik, 2007, pp. 197–201.
- 15
Ibid., pp. 10–11.
- 16
Ibid., p. 11.
- 17
See: TheLife of St Sophronius, Bishop of Vrachansko. – In: Lives of the Bulgarian Saints, Tsarnogorski Monastery of ‘Saints Cosmas and Damian’, pp. 419–427.
- 18
See ‘Protocol No. 23. Solemn Session of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of 31 December 1964’ – in: A Bright Light in Our Native History, Vratsa, 2009, pp. 41–50.