Paisius of Hilendar

Venerable Paisius of Hilendar was a Bulgarian monk of the Holy Mountain who lived in the eighteenth century. He wrote the Slavonic-⁠Bulgarian History, calling his people not to forget their faith, language and past, and he is honoured as one of the fathers of the Bulgarian revival.

He was born in 1722 in the diocese of Samokov, most probably at Bansko. In 1745 he came to the Holy Mountain and entered the Hilandar Monastery, where he was tonsured a monk and ordained a hieromonk, later serving as deputy abbot.

At that time, under Ottoman rule and strong Greek influence, many Bulgarians had lost confidence in their own nation and language. Patiently studying the manuscripts and charters in the libraries of Athos and elsewhere, Paisius gathered information about the tsars, saints and Church of his people.

In 1762, at the Zograf Monastery, he completed the Slavonic-⁠Bulgarian History. In it he speaks with love of the Bulgarian saints, of Saints Cyril and Methodius and of the former glory of the Bulgarian tsardoms, urging his countrymen to cherish their language and faith. The work was copied by hand and spread widely, awakening the conscience of a whole people.

He travelled widely through the Bulgarian lands as a monk sent to collect alms for his monastery, and he reposed in 1773 during such a journey, near Asenovgrad. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church numbered him among the saints in 1962 and commemorates him on 19 June.