St. Demetrius Day – October 26, is celebrated throughout Bulgaria, and his relics, kept in Thessaloniki, are a constant object of veneration by Bulgarians who often travel to Northern Greece.
In the folk calendar, St. Demetrius Day is associated with the end of the agricultural year. Once upon a time, this was the time of payment – hired workers in fields and farms would receive their wages and would return to their homes. This was also an occasion for celebrations.
In Bulgarian folk beliefs, St. Demetrius possesses unearthly spiritual powers – his image is reminiscent of the proto-Bulgarian priests and legendary healers. People believe that Dimitar (Demetrius) and George are twin brothers and their holidays mark the two main transitions in the seasons – St. George brings summer, while St. Demetrius is considered the patron saint of winter, cold and snow.
On the threshold of winter, October 26 is especially solemn in the villages with a church built in honour of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
The 160th anniversary of the consecration of the church "St. Dimitar" is being celebrated with a solemn liturgy today by the residents of the village of Gorna Lipnitsa, which is located about 30 kilometers from the old capital city of Veliko Tarnovo. Locals say that their church was built by Kolyu Ficheto, or by his students, who learned the craftsmanship and style of work of the famous Bulgarian builder.
Determined to build their own Orthodox church, the villagers had to overcome the resistance of the local Ottomans and the authorities in Tarnovo and the most respected people from Gorna Lipnitsa walked all the way to Constantinople to receive the Sultan's firman. The church was built on a large area at the edge of the village, where the Bulgarian cemeteries were located, and so that it would not look tall and annoy the Ottoman authorities, the builders put the soil from the foundations around the construction site.
Today, the church is one of the landmarks in the village, where pilgrims pass along the path of the relics of St. Ivan Rilski - "The Bulgarian El Camino - the pilgrimage route from Veliko Tarnovo to the Rila Monastery."
Editor: Elena Karkalanova
Publication in English: Al. Markov
Photos: archive, ikoni-bg.com, heterotopias.eu
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