The 300th anniversary of the birth of Paisii Hilendarski was included in the List of significant anniversaries of UNESCO for the period 2022-2023. This happened at the suggestion of the National Commission of Bulgaria for UNESCO, whose activities are coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. .
The list was approved by the 41st session of the General Conference of UNESCO in November 2021.
The anniversary of the birth of Paisii Hilendarski will be celebrated in 2022 with national and international events.
In 2021, UNESCO joined the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature Ivan Vazov and the 650th anniversary of the establishment of the Tarnovo Literary School.
2022 marks the 60th anniversary of the act by which the Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonizes hieromonk Paisii Hilendarski as a saint, but also 300 years since his birth and 260 years since the writing of “Slavo-Bulgarian History”, which marked the beginning of the Bulgarian Revival and the process of forming our national self-consciousness as Bulgarians and a nation.
The Orthodox Church celebrates St. Paisii Hilendarski, the Bulgarian national awakener, clergyman and saint, author of “Slavo-Bulgarian History”. His ideas for national revival and liberation of the Bulgarian people lead many scholars to point to him as the founder of the Bulgarian Revival.
St. Paisii Hilendarski was canonized a saint by a written act of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church during the time of Patriarch Kiril on July 26, 1962, when St. The Synod proclaims Rev. Paisii Hilendarski a saint of our independent national Orthodox Church on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the writing of Slavo-Bulgarian History, and his memory is celebrated annually on June 19. During the decades of the state atheistic regime, only two Bulgarian saints were duly canonized by the BOC. St. Sophronius of Vratsa (also known by his secular name priest Stoyko Vladislavov, later Bishop of Vratsa, canonized a saint on December 31, 1964) was the second canonized Bulgarian national awakener, clergyman and first follower of the work of St. Paisii Hilendarski.
We pay homage to St. Paisii Hilendarski every year on the Sunday of All Bulgarian Saints – the newest, moving holiday in our Orthodox church calendar. In 1954 St. The Synod of the BOC decrees that the second Sunday after Pentecost be declared All Saints’ Day. Patriarch Kiril celebrated the first liturgy for the holiday in the capital’s Holy Septuagint Church. This is one of the first major initiatives of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, which restored its patriarchal dignity only a year earlier – on May 10, 1953. Since then, the Day of All Bulgarian Saints has a permanent place in the Bulgarian church calendar. On it the Church pays homage to all historical figures who have lived in our lands, who are canonized as saints. They were distinguished by a pious life, fully professed the faith of Christ and were devoted to holy Orthodoxy. On this day we also commemorate the countless martyrs, unknown ascetics, monks and holy people who shed their blood to preserve the faith.
