Saint Evtimiy of Tarnovo (also Evtimii, Evtimij, Euthymius; , Sveti Evtimiy Tarnovski) was Patriarch of Bulgaria between 1375 and 1393. Regarded as one of the most important figures of medieval Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Evtimiy was the last head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Bulgarian Orthodox Church

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia...

 in the Second Bulgarian Empire

Second Bulgarian Empire

The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...

. Arguably the best esteemed of all Bulgarian patriarchs, Evtimiy was a supporter of hesychasm

Hesychasm

Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Byzantine Rite, practised by the Hesychast Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches,...

 and an authoritative figure in the Eastern Orthodox world of the time.

Early years

Born around 1325 (between 1320–1330) and possibly an offspring of the eminent Tsamblak family of the capital Tarnovo, Evtimiy was educated at the monastery schools in and around the city and became a monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

. He joined the Kilifarevo Monastery around 1350, attracted by the fame of Theodosius of Tarnovo

Theodosius of Tarnovo

The Holy Venerable Theodosius of Tarnovo was a high-ranking 14th-century Bulgarian cleric and hermit and the person credited with establishing hesychasm in the Second Bulgarian Empire...

. Theodosius appointed him his first assistant in 1363 and the two went together to Tsarigrad, with Theodosius dying soon afterwards.

Evtimiy then consecutively joined the Studion monastery and the Great Lavra

Great Lavra

This is the monastery on Mount Athos. For the monastery associated with Saint Sabbas, see Mar Saba.The Monastery of Great Lavra is the first monastery built on Mount Athos. It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of 160 metres...

 of Athanasius the Athonite

Athanasius the Athonite

Athanasius the Athonite , also called Athanasios of Trebizond , was a Byzantine monk who founded the monastic community on Mount Athos, which has since evolved into the greatest centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism....

 on Mount Athos

Mount Athos

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...

. He was influenced by many outstanding thinkers, scholars and reformers of the spiritual life and beliefs in Southeastern Europe, such as Gregory the Sinaite, Gregory Palamas

Gregory Palamas

Gregory Palamas was a monk of Mount Athos in Greece and later the Archbishop of Thessaloniki known as a preeminent theologian of Hesychasm. The teachings embodied in his writings defending Hesychasm against the attack of Barlaam are sometimes referred to as Palamism, his followers as Palamites...

, Callistus Philotheus and John Kukuzelis

John Kukuzelis

Saint John Kukuzelis or Kukuzel was a medieval Orthodox Christian composer, singer and reformer of Orthodox Church music....

. He was sent into exile on the island of Lemnos

Lemnos

Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...

 by Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos

John V Palaiologos

John V Palaiologos was a Byzantine emperor, who succeeded his father in 1341, at age nine.-Biography:...

 and, upon his release, returned to the Bulgarian Zograf Monastery

Zograf Monastery

The Saint George the Zograf Monastery or Zograf Monastery is a Bulgarian Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece...

 on Mount Athos. It was there that he first reflected on the spelling reforms and planned corrections to the translations of the clerical books.

Activity in Bulgaria

Around 1371 Evtimiy returned to Bulgaria and founded the Holy Trinity Patriarchal Monastery near Tarnovo, where he grounded the Tarnovo Literary School

Tarnovo Literary School

The Tarnovo Literary School of the late 14th and 15th century was a major medieval Bulgarian cultural academy with important contribution to the Medieval Bulgarian literature established in the capital of Bulgaria Tarnovo...

. He established orthographic

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

 rules and corrected the wrongly translated Bulgarian religious books by comparing them to the Greek

Medieval Greek

Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...

 ones. These corrected texts became models for the Orthodox churches of Bulgaria, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 using the Church Slavonic language. Gregory Tsamblak

Gregory Tsamblak

Gregory Tsamblak ; was a Bulgarian writer and cleric, metropolitan of Kiev between 1413 and 1420. His name is also spelled Gregorije Camblak....

, his biographer, compared Evtimiy's work to that of Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and the Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian king Ptolemy I

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...

.

In 1375, following the death of Patriarch Ioanikiy (Joanicius), Evtimiy was elected to become his successor. A supporter of asceticism

Asceticism

Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...

, Evtimiy persecuted the heresies

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

 and the moral decay. Evtimiy became famous all around the Orthodox world and a number of metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

s and hegumen

Hegumen

Hegumen, hegumenos, igumen, or ihumen is the title for the head of a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the one of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called hegumenia or ihumenia . The term means "the one who is in charge", "the leader" in...

s addressed him to interpret theological matters.
Of Evtimiy's works, 15 are known: liturgical book

Liturgical book

A liturgical book is a book published by the authority of a church, that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.-Roman Catholic:...

s, laudatory works, passionals and epistles. Many of his works were likely destroyed or are yet to be discovered. Among his disciples in literary work are Gregory Tsamblak

Gregory Tsamblak

Gregory Tsamblak ; was a Bulgarian writer and cleric, metropolitan of Kiev between 1413 and 1420. His name is also spelled Gregorije Camblak....

, Metropolitan of Kiev; Cyprian

Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow

Cyprian was Metropolitan of Moscow , Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia . He lived for some time at Mount Athos...

, Metropolitan of Moscow; Joasaph of Bdin and Constantine of Kostenets

Constantine of Kostenets

Constantine of Kostenets , also known as Konstantin Kostenechki and Constantine the Philosopher , was a medieval Bulgarian writer and chronicler...

.

Establishment of Tarnovo Literary School and language refom

During the time of patriarch Teodosii (of Tarnovo) Evtimii founds and heads the Tarnovo literary school, which becomes an important cultural center of the Slavic Christian world.
Evtimii conducts a reform in the Old Bulgarian language, a reform that widely influences the written language form in Serbia, Walachia, Moldova and the Russian principalities.

Partial list of works

Hagiographies

“Hagiography of St. Ivan of Rila”

“Hagiography of St. Ilarion Maglenski”

“Hagiography of St. Philothea Temnishka”

“Hagiography of St. Petka of Tarnovo”

Praises

“Praise for Mikhail Warrior”

“Praise for Ioan Polivotski”

“Praise for St Nedelya”

“Praise for St. Constantine

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

 and Helena

Helena of Constantinople

Saint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I...

”

Letters

“Letter to Cyprian

Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow

Cyprian was Metropolitan of Moscow , Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia . He lived for some time at Mount Athos...

"

“Letter to metropolitan Arsenii”

“Letter to Nikodim – monk of Tismen”

Fall of Tarnovo and its consequences

In the spring of 1393 the son of Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 Sultan

Ottoman Dynasty

The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...

 Bayezid I

Bayezid I

Bayezid I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1389 to 1402. He was the son of Murad I and Valide Sultan Gülçiçek Hatun.-Biography:Bayezid was born in Edirne and spent his youth in Bursa, where he received a high-level education...

, Celebi, laid siege to the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo with his sizable forces. With Tsar Ivan Shishman

Ivan Shishman of Bulgaria

Ivan Shishman ruled as emperor of Bulgaria in Tarnovo from 1371 to 3 July 1395. The authority of Ivan Shishman was limited to the central parts of the Bulgarian Empire. His indecisive and inconsistent policy did little to prevent the fall of his country under Ottoman rule. In 1393 the Ottoman...

 out of the city (leading the remnants of his troops to the fortress of Nikopol

Nikopol, Bulgaria

Nikopol is a town in northern Bulgaria, the administrative center of Nikopol municipality, part of Pleven Province, on the right bank of the Danube river, 4 km downstream from the mouth of the Osam river. It spreads at the foot of steep chalk cliffs along the Danube and up a narrow valley...

), Evtimiy was the one entrusted with the defence of Tarnovo, which he led heroically. After a three-month siege the Ottomans captured the capital by assault and possible treason from one of the non Christian neighbourhoods of Tarnovo (described by Gregory Tsamblak several years later) on 17 July 1393.

Joasaph of Bdin, Metropolitan of Vidin

Vidin

Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

, a contemporary of the event, described it as follows: "A great Muslim invasion happened and total destruction was done with this city and its surroundings." According to Gregory Tsamblak, churches were turned into mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

s, priests were expelled and substituted with "teachers of shamelessness." 110 noted citizens of Tarnovo and bolyars were massacred, but Patriarch Evtimiy was reprieved and sent into exile in the theme of Macedonia (contemporary Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

), possibly in the Bachkovo Monastery

Bachkovo Monastery

The Bachkovo Monastery , archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa in Bulgaria is an important monument of Christian architecture and one of the largest and oldest Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Europe...

. He is supposed to have died there in 1402–1404. The Tarnovo Patriarchate thereupon ceased to exist, the Bulgarian church lost its independence and became subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1870.

Patriarch Evtimiy has been canonized and his memory is honoured on the same day as that of his namesake Euthymius the Great

Euthymius the Great

Saint Euthymius , often styled the Great, was an Abbot in Palestine.Venerated in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.-Biography:He was born in Melitene in Lesser Armenia...

, 20 January.

Honour

St. Evtimiy Crag

St. Evtimiy Crag

St. Evtimiy Crag is a rocky peak of elevation 350 m in Delchev Ridge, Tangra Mountains, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica surmounting Dobrudzha Glacier to the southwest, Ropotamo Glacier to the northeast and Yantra Cove to the east.The feature is named after the Bulgarian...

 on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands

South Shetland Islands

The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...

, Antarctica is named after Patriarch Evtimiy of Bulgaria.