The Lives of the Saints

Manuscript No. 165 from the Neamț Monastery collection, dated 1441, recounts the life of Saint Philothea of Molivot: a virgin, a chaste wife to Constantine, then a hermit on an island, a healer of the sick and lepers. The text recounts the transfer of her relics to Tarnovo, at the command of Tsar Caloian, and the miracles performed during this journey.

This article presents the life and martyrdom of the Great Martyr Christina (Cristina) of Bolsena, who was martyred in the year 295 AD, tracing the spread of her cult throughout Italy and Europe, from the mosaics of Ravenna to the Roman basilicas, with reference to hagiographic sources such as the Passio Sanctae Cristinae and the Oxyrhynchos papyrus, published by Lorenzo Cammelli in 1911.

The Life of Saint John of Rila, as recounted by a medieval hagiographer, traces the saint’s Bulgarian origins in the village of Skrino, his ascetic life in the Rila Mountains, his conversations with Tsar Peter and John Asan, the miracles he performed, the pilgrimages of his relics through Sredets, Esztergom and Tarnovo, and their solemn transfer in 1195 at the behest of John Asan.