Sophronius of Sofia

Venerable Sophronius of Sofia and Bulgaria is one of the nine saints of Sofia and a new martyr of the sixteenth century, under Ottoman rule. He was killed in 1515. He is commemorated on 28 May.

He was a priest in the village of Penkyovtsi, near Sofia. Harshly tormented by the Turks, he fled to Voivode Radu in Wallachia, where his wife died and he became a monk and received the name Sophronius. After the voivode's death he returned to Bulgaria and settled in the rock monastery of Basarbovo, near Ruse, giving himself to fasting and prayer. There he was killed, in 1515, with an axe, by a servant of the monastery.

His life was written by the Sofia writer Priest Peyo.