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Holy Relics of St. Dimitry of Bassarbovo, who have his holy relics in Bucharest, Romania
The Bulgarian saint Dimitry Bassarbovsky (St. Dimitry of Bassarbovo) was born in Bassarbovo village, situated 15 km west of Rousse. From St. Paisy Hilendarsky’s "History Slavonic-Bulgarian" we learn that St. Dimitry Bassarbovsky died in 1685. He was a village shepherd who pastured the cattle of his fellow-villagers. One day he decided to move to a monastery, not far from his native village. He became a monk and lived there to end of his life. He died on Lom river’s bank, between two rocks. After a heavy rainfall, the river flooded the bank and the saint's body was swept into the water and buried under the river sand. A blind girl had a dream about the saint. On the next morning she pointed at the exact location in the river, where his body layed. The intact body was taken out from the water and placed into the village church. The saint performed a lot of miracles there. In 1774 the first Russian-Turkish war ended. Russian general Peter Saltikov took the relics of St. Dimitry from Bassarbovo with the intention to transport them to Russia.
In the city of Bucharest, Romania, his translator and counselor Hagi Dimiter Mend -- a nobleman of Bulgarian origin asked the general to leave the body of the saint to Vlahia as a reparation for its losses during the war and the general consended. Nowadays, the relics of St. Dimitry Bassarbovsky are kept in a silver cover coffin at the Patriarchal Cathedral "Sts. Constantine and Elena" in Bucharest. The saint is protector of the Romanian capital city.
October 26, Feast Day of St. Dimitry
Two days before St. Dimitry's feast day, the coffin with his holy relics is brought outside the Patriarchal
Cathedral "Sts. Constantine and Elena". In the photos below you'll be able to see the procession with his
holy relics, as well as the veneration offered to him by all the faithful.
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