Elijah of Batak

Elijah (Iliya) of Batak († 1876) was one of the inhabitants killed by the Turks in the massacre at Batak, in the spring of 1876, and is commemorated among the new martyrs of Batak. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonized him in 2011: the Synod decided in March 2011, and the service was held on 4 April 2011 in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia; he is commemorated on 17 May (4 May by the old calendar).

His name was preserved, like John's, among those of the people killed at Batak, while history remembered chiefly the priests Peter and Neycho and Trendafil Kerelov, burned alive. No details of his life survive. The testimonies of the surviving women, written as early as 1877, regard their death as Christian martyrdom, because they chose not to renounce the faith. After two years of inquiry, the Church decided on their canonization.