Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo (also ''Evtimiy''; , ''Sveti Evtimiy Tarnovski'') was

Patriarch of Bulgaria The Patriarch of All Bulgaria () is the patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The patriarch is officially styled as ''Patriarch of All Bulgaria and Metropolitan of :bg:Софийска епархия, Sofia''. The current patriarch Daniil of ...

between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

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 ...

, Euthymius was the last head of 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 ...

in the

Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1422. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...

. Arguably the best esteemed of all Bulgarian patriarchs, Euthymius was a supporter of hesychasm and an authoritative figure in the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

world of the time.

Early years

Born around 1325 (between 1320 and 1330) and possibly an offspring of the eminent Tsamblak family of the capital Tarnovo, Euthymius was educated at the monastery schools in and around the city and became a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

. He joined the Kilifarevo Monastery around 1350, attracted by the fame of Theodosius of Tarnovo. Theodosius appointed him his first assistant in 1363 and the two went together to Tsarigrad, with Theodosius dying soon afterwards. Euthymius then consecutively joined the Studion monastery and the

Great Lavra The Monastery of Great Lavra () is the first monastery built on Mount Athos, on the Athos peninsula in geographical Macedonia, northeastern Greece. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of . The founding of the ...

of Athanasius the Athonite on

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

. He was influenced by outstanding scholars and reformers of Southeastern Europe's spiritual life, such as Gregory the Sinaite, Gregory Palamas, Callistus Philotheus and John Kukuzelis. He was sent into exile on the island of

Lemnos Lemnos ( ) or Limnos ( ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos (regional unit), Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean modern regions of Greece ...

Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

John V Palaiologos and, upon his release, returned to the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery on Mount Athos. It was there that he first reflected on the spelling reforms and planned corrections to the translations of the clerical books.

Activity in Bulgaria

Around 1371 Euthymius returned to Bulgaria and founded the Holy Trinity Patriarchal Monastery near Tarnovo, where he grounded the Tarnovo Literary School. He established orthographic rules and corrected inaccurately translated religious books by comparing them to the Greek originals. These corrected texts became models for the Orthodox churches using Church Slavonic language: Bulgaria,

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Gregory Tsamblak Gregory Tsamblak (; ; ; sr-Cyr, Григорије Цамблак; ; ), member of the Tzamplakon family, was a writer and cleric active in Bulgaria, Moldavia, Serbia, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Principality of Kiev. Biography Early life ...

, his biographer, compared Euthymius' work to that of

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

and Egyptian king Ptolemy I. In 1375, following the death of Patriarch Joanicius, Euthymius was elected to become his successor. A supporter of

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

, Euthymius aimed to persecute heresies and moral decay. Euthymius became a prominent figure in the Orthodox world and a number of metropolitans and

hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen (, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of ...

s addressed him to interpret theological matters. There are 15 known works by Euthymius, including

liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official Church service, religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of ...

s, laudatory works, passionals and epistles. Among his literary disciples are

, Metropolitan of Kiev;

Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...

, Metropolitan of Moscow; and

Constantine of Kostenets Constantine of Kostenets (; – after 1431), also known as Constantine the Philosopher ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Константин Филозоф, Konstantin Filozof, separator=" / "), was a medieval Bulgarian scholar, writer and chronicler, who spent mo ...

Establishment of Tarnovo Literary School and language reform

During the time of patriarch Theodosius of Tarnovo Euthymius founded and ran the Tarnovo literary school, which was to quickly become an important cultural center of the Slavic Christian world. Euthymius initiated a language reform in Old Bulgarian that was widely influential to the standardized literary languages of Serbia, Walachia, Moldova, and the Russian principalities.

describes Euthymius' language reform in the following manner.P. Rusev et al. (eds), ''Gregory Tsamblak, Pokhvalno slovo za Evtimii'' (Sofia: B’lgarskata Akademiia na Naukite, 1971), pp. 196–7; cited by ''H. Goldblatt, Orthography and Orthodoxy: Constantine Kostenecki's Treatise on the Letters'' (Florence: Le Lettere, 1987), p. 33. Quotation cited in .

Works

Partial list of works: *Hagiographies **"Hagiography of St. Ivan of Rila" **"Hagiography of St. Ilarion Maglenski" **"Hagiography of St. Philothea Temnishka" **"Hagiography of St. Petka of Tarnovo" *Praises **"Praise for Mikhail Warrior" **"Praise for Ioan Polivotski" **"Praise for St. Nedelya" **"Praise for St. Constantine and Helena" *Letters **"Letter to

" **"Letter to metropolitan Arsenius" **"Letter to Nikodim – monk of Tismana"

Fall of Tarnovo and its consequences

In the spring of 1393 the son of Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Bayezid I Bayezid I (; ), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt (; ; – 8 March 1403), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He adopted the title of ''Sultan-i Rûm'', ''Rûm'' being the Arabic name for the Eastern Roman Empire. In 139 ...

, Suleyman Çelebi, laid siege to the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo with his sizable forces. With

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Ivan Shishman out of the city (leading the remnants of his troops to the fortress of Nikopol), Euthymius was the one entrusted with the defense of Tarnovo. After a three-month siege on 17 July 1393, the Ottomans captured the capital despite its ferocious resistance; Gregory Tsamblak several years later suggested the conquest was due to treason from one of the non-Christian neighborhoods of Tarnovo. Joasaph of Bdin, Metropolitan of Vidin, a contemporary of the event, described it as follows: "A great Muslim invasion happened and total destruction was done with this city and its surroundings." According to Gregory Tsamblak, churches were turned into

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s, priests were expelled and substituted with "teachers of shamelessness." 110 noted citizens of Tarnovo and

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s were massacred, but Patriarch Euthymius was reprieved and sent into exile in the theme of Macedonia (contemporary

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

), possibly in the Bachkovo Monastery. He is supposed to have died there in 1402–1404. The Tarnovo Patriarchate thereupon ceased to exist as the Bulgarian church lost its independence and became subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1870. Patriarch Euthymius has been

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 ...

and his memory is honored on the same day as that of his namesake Euthymius the Great, 20 January.

Commemoration

St. Evtimiy Crag on

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

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 Patriarch Euthymius of Bulgaria.

References

Sources

* Ivanova, Kl. (1986) (in Bulgarian). Патриарх Евтимий. С. * Патриарх Евтимий Търновски и неговото време. Материали от националната научна сесия за 600 г. от заточението на св. Евтимий, патриарх Търновски, Велико Търново, 6 октомври 1993 г. Ред. кол. Георги Данчев и др. Велико Търново, 1998 (Проглас).

External links

Biography of Evtimiy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evtimiy 14th-century births 1402 deaths 14th-century Bulgarian writers 15th-century Bulgarian writers Bulgarian male writers Patriarchs of Bulgaria People from Veliko Tarnovo Medieval Bulgarian saints Bachkovo Monastery Tarnovo Literary School Hesychasts People associated with Mount Athos People associated with Great Lavra People associated with Zograf Monastery Monastery prisoners