#Theophylact of Bulgaria

Saint Sophronius of Vratsa (1739–1813), a Bulgarian bishop and disciple of the Venerable Paisius of Hilandar, is regarded as the founder of literature and printing in the modern Bulgarian language, through his book of sermons and moral teachings, Kiriakodromion, printed in Râmnicu-Vâlcea in 1806. His spiritual, educational and philanthropic work made a decisive contribution to the Bulgarian Renaissance, to the education of the clergy and the people, and to paving the way for the struggle for an autonomous Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

The five homilies of Saint Antim of Ivire, delivered on Palm Sunday, constitute the most substantial homiletic collection in his Didachies, offering a vivid picture of sacramental practice in Wallachia at the beginning of the 18th century. Analysed in turn, these sermons reveal the theology of repentance, Baptism and frequent communion, a scathing critique of the boyars’ hypocritical penance, and an urgent call to confession during the three days of Holy Week.

Bishop Damaschin of Râmnic (†1725) translated into Romanian almost all the Orthodox liturgical books — the Octoechos, the Triodion, the Pentecostarion, the Miney, the Apostol, the Gospel Book, The Commentary of Theophylact —, drawing on Greek, Church Slavonic and Latin editions; whilst for the New Testament books he relied on the commentaries of St John Chrysostom and St Theophylact, thereby ensuring the patristic accuracy of the translation. His enlightened style, attested to by Chesarie of Râmnic, Radu Tempea and Constantin Erbiceanu, established the Muntenian dialect as the standard for literary and liturgical Romanian; his translations remain in use to this day.