Свети Патриарх Евтимий Търновски Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo | |
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 Icon of Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo | |
| Patriarch of All Bulgaria | |
| Born | c. 1325 Tarnovo,Bulgarian Empire |
| Died | c. 1402 – 1404 Bachkovo Monastery |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 20 January |
Saint Euthymius of Tarnovo (alsoEvtimiy;Bulgarian:Свети Евтимий Търновски,Sveti Evtimiy Tarnovski) wasPatriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures ofmedievalBulgaria, Euthymius was the last head of theBulgarian Orthodox Church in theSecond Bulgarian Empire. Arguably the best esteemed of all Bulgarian patriarchs, Euthymius was a supporter ofhesychasm and an authoritative figure in theEastern Orthodox world of the time.
Born around 1325 (between 1320 and 1330) and possibly an offspring of the eminent Tsamblak family of the capitalTarnovo, Euthymius was educated at the monastery schools in and around the city and became amonk. He joined theKilifarevo Monastery around 1350, attracted by the fame ofTheodosius of Tarnovo. Theodosius appointed him his first assistant in 1363 and the two went together toTsarigrad, with Theodosius dying soon afterwards.
Euthymius then consecutively joined theStudion monastery and theGreat Lavra ofAthanasius the Athonite onMount Athos. He was influenced by outstanding scholars and reformers of Southeastern Europe's spiritual life, such asGregory the Sinaite,Gregory Palamas,Callistus Philotheus andJohn Kukuzelis. He was sent into exile on the island ofLemnos byByzantine EmperorJohn V Palaiologos and, upon his release, returned to the BulgarianZograf 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.
Around 1371 Euthymius returned to Bulgaria and founded theHoly Trinity Patriarchal Monastery near Tarnovo, where he grounded theTarnovo Literary School. He establishedorthographic rules and corrected inaccurately translated religious books by comparing them to theGreek originals. These corrected texts became models for the Orthodox churches usingChurch Slavonic language: Bulgaria,Serbia,Romania, andRussia.Gregory Tsamblak, his biographer, compared Euthymius' work to that ofMoses andEgyptian kingPtolemy I.
In 1375, following the death of Patriarch Joanicius, Euthymius was elected to become his successor. A supporter ofasceticism, Euthymius aimed to persecuteheresies and moral decay. Euthymius became a prominent figure in the Orthodox world and a number ofmetropolitans andhegumens addressed him to interpret theological matters.
There are 15 known works by Euthymius, includingliturgical books, laudatory works, passionals and epistles. Among his literary disciples areGregory Tsamblak,Metropolitan of Kiev;Cyprian,Metropolitan of Moscow;Joasaph of Bdin [bg] andConstantine of Kostenets.
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 alanguage reform in Old Bulgarian that was widely influential to the standardized literary languages of Serbia, Walachia, Moldova, and the Russian principalities.Gregory Tsamblak describes Euthymius' language reform in the following manner.[1]
When he [Euthymius] had destroyed all the old [books], this second lawgiver, descending from the top of the spiritual mountain and carrying in his hands [the books] (similar to the Tablets written by God) at which he had labored, delivered to the Church in truth a heavenly treasure – all new, all true, in accord with the Gospel, unshakable in the force of the dogmas, like the water of life for the souls of the pious, like a knife for the tongues of the heretics, like fire for their [heretics’] faces. And he cried out with Paul: ‘The old has passed away. Behold! Everything has become new’ [2 Cor. 5:17].
Partial list of works:
In the spring of 1393 the son ofOttomanSultanBayezid I,Suleyman Çelebi,laid siege to the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo with his sizable forces. WithTsarIvan Shishman out of the city (leading the remnants of his troops to the fortress ofNikopol), 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 ofVidin, 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 intomosques, priests were expelled and substituted with "teachers of shamelessness." 110 noted citizens of Tarnovo andboyars were massacred, but Patriarch Euthymius was reprieved and sent into exile in thetheme of Macedonia (contemporaryThrace), possibly in theBachkovo 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 thePatriarchate of Constantinople until 1870.
Patriarch Euthymius has beencanonized and his memory is honored on the same day as that of his namesakeEuthymius the Great, 20 January.
St. Evtimiy Crag onLivingston Island in theSouth Shetland Islands,Antarctica is named after Patriarch Euthymius of Bulgaria.
| Preceded by Patriarch Joannicius II | Patriarch of Bulgaria 1375–1393 | Succeeded by Office abolished |
