Simeon of Samokov

Holy Hieromartyr Simeon of Samokov, called Simeon Popovich in the world, was Metropolitan of Samokov and Sofia, hanged by the Turks on 21 August 1737 for leading a plot against Ottoman rule. The place and date of his birth are unknown. He became Metropolitan of Samokov on 28 August 1734. Because the town then had only the small medieval Belova church, his actual seat was Dupnitsa.

During the Russo-⁠Austro-⁠Turkish War (1735-1739), with the support of high prelates, among them the Serbian-⁠Bulgarian Patriarch of Pec Arsenije IV, Simeon started and led a conspiracy known as the Uprising of the Bishops in the Sofia and Samokov region. Its centre was the monastery of the Holy Saviour near the village of Dolni Lozen, in the Lozen mountains. The Turks learned of the plan and, at the end of July and the beginning of August 1737, by order of Ali Pasha Koprulu, killed about 350 citizens of Sofia, priests, monks and people from nearby villages as a reprisal.

Around 20 July his metropolitan residence was plundered, and the bishop was bound at Dupnitsa, put in chains and thrown into prison, where he was tortured for twenty-⁠three days. Around 18 August he was brought to Sofia, wounded and with his beard torn out, and shut in the Turkish barracks. For three days he was tortured and pressed to turn Muslim. Since he stood firm, he was tried as the leader of the plot and hanged in Sofia on 21 August 1737, behind the church of Holy Wisdom. It is told that the rope broke twice and that he died on the third attempt; his body hung three days on the rope. Ali Pasha, fearing the veneration of the crowd, forbade burial in Sofia, and the body was carried quietly to Samokov.

His relics were found in 1994 in the Belova church, in its narthex, in a grave holding bones, a Gospel book, a metropolitan's staff and vestments woven with gold thread. After 2000 it was established that he had been canonized as a martyr for the faith. He is venerated as patron of the town of Samokov, and 21 August is the town's day. His feast is on 21 August, by the calendar of the Bulgarian Church (new style).