Vasil Dimitrov

Vasil Dimitrov, called in Greek Vasileios Karapalakis, was a priest of Bulgarian nationality from Macedonia, born in 1858 at Zhelin, near Kastoria, and killed in church on 8 (21) June 1902. The Church of Greece numbered him among the new martyrs and saints. He was a priest of the Bulgarian Exarchate and a notable figure in public life.

He was born in the Bulgarian village of Zhelin in the Kastoria region, in 1858. Father Dimitrov was known throughout the area for his faith and piety, and enjoyed the respect of his Muslim fellow villagers.

On 8 (21) June 1902 two Turks of Chetirtsi, paid, according to the Bulgarian source, fifty lira by Metropolitan Germanos of Kastoria, killed the Bulgarian priest with axes in the church. In September 1902 the Bulgarian revolutionary organization killed in their house those who had sheltered the killers, Turkish spies, Vasil Dzhambov and Sterio Ivanov Dzhambov. Father Dimitrov had three children, two of whom died young, and descendants of his daughter still live at Zhelin.

For decades the priest was honored by the local people. In November 2014 Metropolitan Seraphim of Kastoria, after a study of the reports of miracles gathered about Father Dimitrov, carried out the opening and washing of his relics, and the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece unanimously numbered the new martyr among the saints of the Church.