Saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

Enravota () or Voin (Воин, "warrior") or Boyan (Боян) was the eldest son of

Omurtag of Bulgaria Omurtag (or Omortag) (died 831) also known as Murtag or Murtagon (; Веселин Бешевлиев, Първобългарски надписи. 2ed. София 1992. Chapter: VI. Възспоменателни надписи, Inscriptio) was a ...

and the first

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

, as well as the earliest Bulgarian saint to be

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

. Born in the early 9th century, Enravota was the elder brother of

Malamir of Bulgaria Malamir () (died 836) was the ruler of Bulgaria in 831–836. Malamir was a son of Omurtag and a grandson of Krum. His name may be of Slavic origin, which would make him the first Bulgar khan to possess a Slavic name; this has led to the specul ...

, who succeeded their father Omurtag to the Bulgarian throne in 831. Enravota was possibly deprived of the throne because he favoured Christianity, which the

boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russian nobility, Russia), Boyars of Moldavia and Wallach ...

feared might endanger the court. Not long after the death of Omurtag, Enravota asked his brother to release a pious

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

captive who had been imprisoned by Omurtag. The captive's sermons persuaded Enravota to convert to Christianity and be

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

. Once informed of his brother's deeds, Malamir attempted to make him renounce Christianity, but did not succeed. Enravota was killed on the order of Malamir, around 833. 11th-century chronicler Theophylact of Bulgaria claimed he delivered the following prophetic speech before his death: In the

Bulgarian Orthodox Church The Bulgarian Orthodox Church (), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the first medieval recognised patriarchate outside the Pentarchy and t ...

, Enravota's

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is 28 March.

Honours

Enravota Glacier Drygalski Glacier () is a broad glacier, long which flows southeast from Herbert Plateau through a rectangular re-entrant to a point immediately north of Sentinel Nunatak on the east coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. Location Drygalski Glac ...

Nordenskjöld Coast The Nordenskjöld Coast (64° 30' S 60° 30' W) is located on the Antarctic Peninsula, more specifically Graham Land, which is the top region of the Peninsula. The Peninsula is a thin, long ice sheet with an Alpine-style mountain chain. The coast ...

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named after St. Enravota.

References

* * {{authority control 9th-century births 9th-century Bulgarian people 830s deaths Bulgarian princes 9th-century Christian saints 9th-century Christian martyrs Medieval Bulgarian saints Bulgarian royal saints