Venerable Dimităr the New, Hermit of Basarbovo

Saint Dimităr of Basarbovo

In the hills on the right bank of the Danube River, some eight kilometres south of the city of Ruse, there is a sanctuary of peace and quiet, amidst fields spotted with wildflowers. In the midst of these meadows there juts a rocky hill from the ground – the yellow-tinged grey rock chiseled out into a balcony, with numerous caves dotting the sides into recesses within, looking more like a Chinese Buddhist grotto than an Orthodox monastery. But this is the Bulgarian monastery of Basarbovo, which had been a retreat for those seeking battle with the dæmons since the 1200s, and which is situated around a holy well with restorative properties. Today we commemorate one of the famous monks of that rocky cave-dwelling, Saint Dimităr of Basarbovo, who is commemorated throughout Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova.

Few details are known about the actual life of Saint Dimităr [Bg. Димитър], except that he lived during the 1600s – Saint Paisii of Hilendar tells us he reposed in 1685 – and that he lived a quiet life of ascetic introspection and spiritual struggle in this rocky sanctuary. We know from the closest biographies that he was probably of common birth. As a monk, he raised sheep, built a small hut and planted a small vineyard not far away from the main monastery, and lived there in simplicity and solitude, attaining to a God-pleasing life without attracting much notice from the outside. It was after his repose that his fame began to grow, though there are some stories about his life from the proximate sources.

Basarbovo Monastery, Bulgaria

One story, told in a Romanian hagiography, tells us that in his youth while he lived as a shepherd in the nearby village of Basarbovo, Dimităr trampled a bird’s nest with eggs inside, while in a hurry to get his sheep to pasture. He was stricken with sorrow and remorse for what he had done, and by way of penance he refused to put any footwear on his offending leg for three years afterwards. This episode demonstrates to us the gentleness and compassion of Saint Dimităr. Another Romanian legend relates that he married a wife from Basarbovo and loved her very much, but they were not blessed by God with children. It was after her death that he entered the monastery, took the tonsure, and devoted himself completely to prayer and to askēsis.

He had a præmonition of his death. On the twenty-seventh of October, 1685, he went down to the river, lay down between two stones, and surrendered his soul to the Lord. In this way he met his earthly end, ‘painless, blameless and peaceful’, and entered the life of æternal bliss. However, soon after this, a torrential downpour began, raising the level of the Danube water until it bore away both the relics of Saint Dimităr and the two stones he was resting upon. The relics were borne in the water for some time, and no one heeded them.

There was a girl from the village who was tormented by dæmons. The holy man appeared to her in a vision and told her to go to the water’s edge and find his relics. The girl did as the apparition bade her, went into the shallow water, and found Saint Dimităr’s body. Even though it had lain there in the Danube for days, it did not stink and it was not bloated or rotting – indeed, his body was found to be incorrupt. Several of the villagers came to retrieve the monk’s body and lay it out for burial in the village church – and the possessed girl followed the relics inside. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the church, the dæmons fled her, and she the health of her soul was restored. She was but the first to receive the blessings of Saint Dimităr – many who were sick or injured found wondrous healing from the relics of the holy man.

The wondrous happenings around the relics continued for over a century afterward – and unfortunately this attracted some thieves to the village church. Two sisters from the village of Chervena some distance to the south came to Basarbovo to pray in the Church. They feared God, but were tempted to remove a particle of the relics of Saint Dimităr from his reliquary, to be housed reverently in their own village church at Chervena, which had recently been completed. However, when they left the church, they found that their wagon was stuck in a rut, and no one and nothing could move it until the sisters sheepishly replaced the relic fragment back inside the Church. At another time, a monk named Lavrentii, who was in attendance upon Metropolitan Nikifor of Tărnovo (1722-1737), tried to steal a particle of the relics by hiding it in his mouth. However, once he had the fragment in his mouth his jaw was locked painfully open, and only when he repented with tears in his eyes could his jaw move again. At another time, a Turk attempted to plunder the silver candlesticks from the Church. At once his knees locked and he was no longer able to move; the villagers had to carry him out. He spent the rest of his life lame.

But the relics of Saint Dimităr worked kindly miracles as well: at one time the Bishop Ioanniki of Preslav fell gravely ill and was near death. He was close to the village of Basarbovo at the time, and he asked to be carried into the Church. He prayed even though he did not have the strength to stand, and lay down before the reliquary. When the Divine Liturgy was held, however, the bishop was healed of his illness, and found the strength to stand and walk out of the church on his own power.

At one time, the Phanariot voivode of Wallachia tried to have the relics of Saint Dimităr removed from Basarbovo by force. He sent boyars and priests into Bulgaria to strongarm them away from the villagers; and he had them loaded onto a cart and transported to the Danube crossing. However, when the oxen pulling the cart reached the Danube, they baulked and would not carry the cart any further. The Wallachians were uncertain of what to do, but to ascertain God’s will and Saint Dimităr’s they took the harnesses off of the oxen and allowed them to pull the cart wherever they willed. The oxen set off at once and went biddably back southward, straight to Basarbovo, and straight even to the doorway of the village church.

However, in 1779, during the Russo-Turkish wars when the Russians had sought to free Bulgaria from the hated Ottoman yoke, Count Pyotr Saltykov asked the right to have Saint Dimităr’s relics carried back to Russia. He was given this right, but God willed it that Saint Dimităr would not leave his country so far behind him. Dimităr Poklonnik, a Bulgarian translator for the Russian nobleman, besought the Count’s kindness to leave the saint’s relics behind in Bucharest as a token of gratitude to the Romanian people for their support in the war. Count Pyotr agreed to this, and on the eighth of July the relics were taken to the Church of Three Saints in Bucharest, where they continue to be venerated to this day. The hand of Saint Dimităr was taken to Kiev.

The feast-day of Saint Dimităr, the twenty-seventh of October, is one of the largest religious processions in Bucharest. A great and joyful occasion every year, multiple thousands of Romanian Orthodox faithful line the streets for miles to honour Saint Dimităr as his reliquary is carried throughout Bucharest from the Patriarchal Cathedral. In 2016, the procession in honour of Saint Dimităr was attended not only by Patriarch Daniel of Romania and the hierarchy of the Romanian Church, but also by Metropolitan Naum of Ruse from the Bulgarian Church, and Bishop Qays of ’Arḍarûm from the Antiochian Church, as well as by representatives from the Metropolia of Chișinău (Moscow Patriarchate) in Moldova – showing the extent and the international appeal of this humble Bulgarian monk. Holy and venerable Dimităr, meek and gentle monk who bore Christ’s love for all of creation, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Apolytikion for Saint Dimităr of Basarbovo, Tone 8:

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
And your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Demetrius, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Patriarchal Cathedral, Bucharest