Rayko of Shumen

Holy New Martyr Rayko of Shumen (Rayko-⁠John) was born in 1784 and was killed in 1802 by a local Muslim, who tried to force him to renounce his faith. He is regarded as the protector (heavenly guardian) of the city of Shumen. The Church commemorates him on 14 May, the day of his martyrdom.

Rayko was a young goldsmith of Shumen. His Life, written by the Greek monk Nicephorus of Chios, who calls himself the least of hieromonks, from oral accounts, relates that, going to deliver an order to a Muslim of the town, he refused the request of the man's daughter to take him to her room. In her anger she accused him of having assaulted her. The Muslim proposed not to punish him if he changed his faith. Rayko firmly refused, assuring him that he had only delivered the order. He was therefore cruelly tortured: strips of skin were cut from his body, salt was sprinkled on the wounds, splinters were driven under his nails and more. At the end his head was cut off on 14 May 1802.

From the end of the 1990s the cult of Saint Rayko was restored at Shumen. The martyr is honoured on 14 May, and Liturgies are served in all the churches of the town. A holy altar in the church of the Three Hierarchs in Shumen, dedicated to the holy martyr Rayko of Shumen, was consecrated on Lazarus Saturday in 2001. An old icon of the saint is kept in the church of the Ascension in the town, and an icon painted by the artist Branimira Todorova was made in 1999. A street in Shumen bears his name.

In 2017 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church decided to enter him in the church calendar from the following year, with his commemoration on 14 May each year. In the Trakia quarter of Shumen the building of an Orthodox church, Saint Rayko of Shumen, began in 2018, and on 20 November 2022 the church was consecrated by Metropolitan John of Varna and Veliki Preslav. In the akathist written in praise of and prayer to Saint Rayko, he is called chosen by God for the labour of martyrdom, defender of the faith and of his people, wonderful vessel of chastity and passion-⁠bearer of Christ.