The feast of The Assumption marked by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on 15 August is the biggest feasts dedicated to Virgin Mary. Every year churches and monasteries named after the Holy Virgin welcome the faithful, young and old, sick and suffering, who express their veneration to Mother of God and pray for support and wellbeing. One such place is the Monastery of Dragalevtsi Presveta Bodoroditsa Vitoshka (The Holy Virgin of Vitosha). It is located at 9 km from Sofia above the suburb of Dragalevtsi in the slopes of Mount Vitosha. It was the main monastery of the glorious Holy Mountain of Sofia (a group of monasteries surrounding today’s capital of Bulgaria). In 16-17 c. it ran a literary school and was a regional center of the national-liberation struggles of Bulgarians in 19 c. who sought liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Today the monastery continues to attract pilgrims, lovers of history and common tourists alike.

On weekdays the place is quiet. A young nun sells candles at the monastery church. She urges the boys in a group of visiting children from a summer club to take their caps off. I ask the children who Virgin Mary is.

„Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ”, 8-year-old Ioana answers. And the kids also know about the place they have come to visit.

„I like it very much here, I’ve come for the first time”, says Emma. “It’s a nice place”, Daniel adds. “It’s a place where I light a candle, and I wish health and all the best to me and my family”, Mihaila says.

„The kids are aged 7 to 8 years, but they know a lot”, their teacher Nikolay Asenov explains. “Today I have come here to acquaint the children with some basics of Christian faith. We’ll show to them the monastery and we’ll tell them a few things that I hope they could share with friends.”

„I think it is vital to give more attention to the spiritual values. I have been leading summer pastime clubs for ten years now, and I am saddened because young generations have no respect for anything and believe in nothing. After all, spiritual values have their beginning in the family, only then comes school”, Nikolay Asenov tells us.

We get more insights about the great feast of Assumption and the miracles of Virgin Mary from Archimandrite Alexii, a priest who serves at Dragalevtsi Monastery church:

„Virgin Mary is the first who prays for us to God. We strongly rely on her advocacy. She, being a mother, a human and a woman knows about suffering and responds quickly – she is aware how hard it is when a child is sick or in pain. Therefore we solemnly mark The Assumption and communities get together to celebrate her. Many people turn up for the Holy Mass to receive the Holy Communion. These are the faithful who have fasted gladly and have made confessions to wash their souls. It is the same when after a long journey man steps into the river to feel its coolness. All kinds of people come over, whole families. Sometimes the mother with the children enters the church, while fathers wait outside.”

It was the Eastern Orthodox faith that safeguarded the Bulgarian nation during five centuries of Ottoman yoke. Orthodox Christianity was keeping traditions and the ancient Bulgarian language alive in the monasteries that were the strongholds of the Bulgarian spirit. Has our faith weakened with time?

„No, the Christian faith of Bulgarians has never weakened”, Archimandrite Alexii says. “Let us repeat once again that the role of the family is paramount. School trains children, but the family educates them. Children are like their parents. A good tree shall not bear rotten fruit. The more prudent parents we have, the more prudent the children will be.”

Yes, faith is there, deep in the hearts, stretched between the canon and secular life. Looking for the truth beyond superstition and dogma, it timidly steps into the church to find hope and salvation. 

English version: Daniela Konstantinova

Photos: Darina Grigorova