On January 18, the Orthodox Church revers the memory of St. Athanasius the Great. According to popular belief, St. Athanasius is a patron of winter storms. On horseback, donned in a silk shirt, goes St. Athanasius into the forest and yells, “Go away, yo, winter, come, thee, summer!” And according to the Bulgarian popular belief, he does that each year on January 18, and that is why it is known as the Winter Atanasovden or Amidst Winter in the popular calendar.
It is said that from January 18 the day begins to grow by one millet seed. In some regions of the country people used to believe that plague was born on this day. To protect themselves from the deadly disease, people used to sacrifice a black hen to prepare a ritual meal.
Atanas, Atanaska, Nasko, Tina, Tinka, Tanyu, Taska celebrate their name day today.
Elena is the wife of Father Ivan Karageorgiev, a Bulgarian Orthodox priest based in Paris. She has lived in the French capital since 2010. Elena grew up in a church-going family, and two of her brothers are priests. She studied iconography at St..
The Troyan Monastery "Dormition of the Mother of God" will donate relics of the patron saints of the town—St. Paraskeva-Petka and St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr—to the St. Paraskeva Petka Church in Troyan , Archimandrite Stefan, deputy abbot of the..
Today, June 7, is one of the special days in the liturgical year, in which we offer prayers for forgiveness of sins and repose of the souls of our deceased loved ones. In the calendar of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, All..
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