Damascene of Gabrovo

Venerable martyr Damascene of Gabrovo (eighteenth century to 16 January 1771) was a monk and abbot at Hilandar, hanged by the Turks at Svishtov for refusing to renounce Christ, and so also called the Martyr of Svishtov. He was canonized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church; our sources do not give the date of canonization. He is commemorated on 16 January Old Style (29 January New Style, according to the Serbian Church).

Childhood and monastic life

He was born in the first half of the eighteenth century at Gabrovo; his father was a well-⁠known craftsman of copper vessels, decorated with flowers, leaves, figures and even birds. An incident in his life turned his course: one day, bringing food to his father at the workshop, an old Turk who sat in the shade under a tree stopped him and asked why he did not become a Muslim, for their paradise had many tasty dishes, sweet sherbets and pleasures. The boy replied that his mother also prepared all kinds of tasty dishes for him. His father then explained that, according to the Saviour, paradise is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and that a man enters it with his soul, so he must keep it clean. From then on Damascene often thought of Christ and came to understand the difference between the earthly paradise of the Muslims and the heavenly one of the Christians. He liked to be alone, to pray and to think. When pilgrims set out from Gabrovo for the Holy Mountain, he went too, with his father, still very young, stayed there and received monastic tonsure at the Hilandar monastery. For blameless service he was ordained hierodeacon and hieromonk and, for virtues and example, was elected abbot.

Martyrdom

In 1770 he went to Svishtov on monastery business, to collect debts from some Turks. The debtors would not pay and decided to get rid of him while also mocking his faith. They found a Turkish woman of loose morals and took her to Father Damascene's lodging while he was out. They gathered a group of Turks and burst into the metochion, so that all might see how a Bulgarian monk had insulted the Muslim faith by bringing a Muslim woman into his house. The crowd bound and beat him, with cries of death, and took him to the local qadi. The qadi understood that it was all contrived, but the infuriated crowd forced him to yield.

The gallows was raised. He was told to renounce his faith or be killed, and he answered: "I was born a Christian and I wish to die a Christian"; according to the Serbian source he also said it would be folly to buy eternal perdition with a temporary life. He was allowed to pray and was hanged, on 16 January 1771 according to the Bulgarian source. The Serbian source also places the death in 1771, while the Bulgarian one says 1770 was the year of the journey. His body was buried by Bulgarian Orthodox people under the eaves of the church of Saints Peter and Paul at Svishtov. According to his Life, his killers were punished at once: crossing the Danube by boat, they drowned in a sudden storm.

Veneration

Athonite monks wrote his Life. According to the Athonite tradition, some years after the martyr's death the grave was opened and his skull was taken to Athos, to the ossuary of Hilandar monastery, in a silver reliquary with an inscription in Bulgarian, with the year 1779. His likeness and name are on the iconostasis of the Alexander Nevsky cathedral in Sofia. At Gabrovo there is a church dedicated to the martyrs of Gabrovo, Damascene among them, consecrated in November 2020 by Metropolitan Gregory of Tarnovo.