Holy Greatmartyr Georgi the Younger of Sofia

Saint Georgi the Younger of Sofia

The eleventh of February is, in the Orthodox Church, the commemoration of the great Bulgarian martyr Saint Georgi of Kratovo, who is also known as Saint Georgi the Younger of Sofia. He died as a martyr for the Orthodox faith under the Ottoman Turks, and his death heralded a series of struggles within Bulgaria for national liberation from the Turks throughout the following two centuries. Saint Georgi the Younger was commemorated with particular attention by Bulgaria’s historian-saint and hagiographer Saint Paisii Hilendarski. His cultus became particularly important in the 1700s and 1800s as a result of Saint Paisii’s efforts, and also as a mark of Bulgaria’s growing popular awareness of a national identity.

Saint Georgi [Bg. Георги, Srb. Ђорђе, Mk. Ѓорѓи] was born near the end of the 1400s in the town of Kratovo, which now lies in North Macedonia; however it seems he lived much of his early life in the Bulgarian town of Sredets, which is now a neighbourhood in the capital of Sofia. This may have been on account of a desire on the part of Georgi’s father Ivan, to avoid the young Georgi from being enslaved to the Ottoman state, conscripted into the Janissary corps and converted to Islâm. His hagiography suggests that he may have been an only child, born to his parents Ivan and Mariya in their old age after much prayer. He was named after the Greatmartyr George of Lydda, indicating that he may have been born in April. His father and mother were of the stock of skilled urban craftsmen, and Georgi too took up a trade, and became a deft silversmith. He received a good education and was literate, reading with keen attention the Holy Scriptures. He lived a blameless life in Sredets and was respected and honoured by many.

So much so, in fact, that the Turkish authorities took it upon themselves to recruit the young smith – perhaps thinking that if they could make him convert to Islâm that many other townsmen would follow. They tried to put a fez on his head and make him pray in the Muslim way, but he refused to do this and threw the hat upon the ground. The Turks then beat him mercilessly and dragged him before the vali, who was charmed by young Georgi’s upright, prepossessing manner. Taking a gentler tack, the vali promised Georgi great honours and wealth from the hand of Sultân Selim I himself, if he should convert to Islâm. But Georgi refused all of these promises and boldly proclaimed his belief in Jesus Christ. The vali ordered Georgi to be punished by falaka, and the soles of his feet beaten painfully with rods. This is a cruel form of torture that is still used in modern-day Turkey.

Georgi refused to give in, however, and continued to confess Christ although the tortures increased in severity and in cruelty. The Turkish authorities had him paraded through the streets to ritually humiliate him, but Georgi called upon the name of the Lord to help him. At last, the vali ordered that he be publicly executed by burning at the stake, and the authorities prepared a stake and pyre in the middle of Sredets, onto which they threw the greatmartyr still living, on the eleventh of February, 1515. In this way he attained the victory and entered the company of saints. The Turks burned his body, and as he was burning the Turks threw dogs onto the fire to prevent the Christians from finding and venerating his remains. Yet by a strange wonder, the body of the greatmartyr Georgi was not consumed by the flames, and the Christians of Sredets were able to find his body on the pyre unscathed. They brought it into the Church of St Marina secretly by night, and buried it with great respect and reverence.

On the twenty-sixth of May that same year, the relics of Saint Georgi were uncovered and translated into a fine reliquary wrought for the purpose by Georgi’s fellow smiths in fine metal, who now had particular cause to honour one of their own. This reliquary was brought into the nearby Dragalevski Monastery of the Mother of God of Vitosha, where it is still venerated every year, both on the day of his martyrdom and on the day of his translation. As mentioned before, Georgi’s cultus became important after his hagiography was committed to writing by Saint Paisii of Hilendar. He also became a focus for the Bulgarian movement for liberation and a model of bravery and insistence upon the truth for the Bulgarian freedom fighters. Holy greatmartyr Georgi, bold athlete for Christ and witness to the Truth of the Incarnation, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Apolytikion for Saint Georgi the Younger of Sofia, Tone 3:

Your holy martyr Georgi, O Lord,
Through his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from You, our God.
For having Your strength, he laid low his adversaries,
And shattered the powerless boldness of demons.
Through his intercessions, save our souls!

Dragalevski Monastery of the Mother of God of Vitosha, Bulgaria