29 October is the day of Bessarabian Bulgarians. The idea to celebrate it goes back to 1938 when the 100^th anniversary of the consecration of the Holy Transfiguration cathedral in Bolhrad, Ukraine was celebrated in Bulgaria. On this day in 1938, the three-altars temple was consecrated after some five years of construction work involving the volunteer work of 10,000 immigrants from the Bulgarian lands. This day is a way to pay the Bessarabian Bulgarians, who took part in the struggle for the national and cultural revival of the Bulgarian people and the construction of new, post-liberation Bulgaria the respect they are due.

But besides in this country, many Bessarabian Bulgarians have gone down in the history of this historical and geographic region covering territories of what is today Moldova and Ukraine. Their contribution to the preservation of church life in Bessarabia – this is the subject of the new book by Ivan Duminika, Bulgarian studies expert and doctor in historical studies. “The church life of Bulgarians in Bessarabia (1812-1918)” fills a void in the information about the community, as there is no study of the Bulgarian settlers there during the period when this territory was part of the Russian empire and the under the canonical jurisdiction до the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, for ideological reasons, connected with the policy of atheism in the Soviet Union, the problem of church life and services in the Bulgarian communities was prohibited for researchers, rather they had to focus on the social and economic position of the settlers.  

In an interview with Radio Bulgaria, Dr. Duminika admits the first memories he has of the church are from the Easter services which he invariably attended with his parents at the Church of St. Paraskeva in Tvardita in Moldova which has not closed doors for one minute even since it was built in 1842. As a child he would ask himself different questions about the church – how and why the settlers from Bulgaria decided to build this church, did they have any problems? Questions, the answers to which he found years later, having set himself the goal of writing a dissertation about the church life of the Bulgarians in Bessarabia.

“In it I take a look at the spiritual life of the priests, the church, the pilgrimage to holy places, the sacraments and rites, as well as folk Orthodoxy as we call the pagan rituals that have come down to us in one form or another. I also take a look at the history of the clerical lineages like the Vlaikovs, the Berovs, the Kazanaklis, the movement of the clerics who started giving educational lectures and sermons following in the footsteps of Paisius of Hilendar and Sophronius of Vratsa, but they did it here, in Bessarabia.”

In his studies, Dr. Dumnika found no evidence of there ever having been clerics in his own lineage, but he says his family is very religious:

“In our family my uncle’s wife served in church, and we have relatives who sing in the church choir. But that is in the present day. I find no evidence of any such thing in the past on my mother’s or on my father’s side.”

We asked Dr. Duminika whether there exist church rituals that are different with the Bessarabian Bulgarians and here, in Bulgaria.

“When Bulgarians went and settled in Bessarabia, they entered the fold of the Russian Orthodox Church of the day and that left an imprint on the church ministry. There are differences connected with the dates (new and old style) for the different feast days. For example, Suhinden is rare in this country – the day on which Bessarabian Bulgarians honour their dead. They do not do it like us on All Souls’ Day and on Easter Monday. 

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: courtesy of Ivan Dumnika, eurochicago.com, ndb.md