On October 24, 2023 – Tuesday, at 18.00 o’clock at the Capital Library – Slaveykov Square 4, in the Hall of the American Center, the Municipality of Chepelare will present the book “Protoyerey Evstati Yankov Evstatiev. Preachings”.
It is issued by the Ruen Monastery “St. John” John Rilski” with the blessing of Neophyte, Metropolitan of Sofia and Patriarch of Bulgaria, fully funded by the Municipality of Chepelare by purchasing its entire circulation.
The composer and editor of the collection are Stefan Ilchevski, the editor – Nina Zhivkova, and the artist – Kostadin Gerdzhikov. The cover’s design and graphic layout are the work of Kristina Kovacheva.
Protoyerey Evstati Yankov was one of the most prominent priests of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in the first half of the twentieth century. Not only in his native Chepelare but also in many places in the country and abroad, Orthodox Christians worship as righteous and confessors of holy Orthodoxy.
He was a parish priest in the Church of St. Petersburg Athanasius from 1915 to 1952. and during these 37 years, he developed remarkable spiritual enlightenment and charitable activity, which soon surpassed the boundaries of his parish and covered almost the entire country.
But Father Eustati is not only a zealous priest, a good preacher, a teacher of faith and a philanthropist, but also an unsurpassed prayer warrior, a spiritual mentor and a heartworm. God glorified him with the gift of insight and miracles while he was alive. His prayers have healed many men, women and children from all over the country.
He gave his entire life in the service of God and his fellows, which he continued to do after September 9, 1944. This was the reason in the spring of 1952. to be arrested by the DS and subjected to brutal torture, resulting in his death on April 20, 1952.
The edition consists of 456 pages and is intended both for ecclesiastical use and for any Orthodox Christian who wishes to learn more about their faith. Therefore, all pastoral, biblical, theological and historical terms are explained in the footnotes, for which 133 compositions were used, as well as the memories of 25 spiritual children and contemporaries of Protoyeur Eustati.
For the same reason, a short introductory article on the emergence and historical development of the holidays in the Orthodox Church was posted at the beginning of the collection.
The attachment to the text contains the biographies of Maria Manolova, archimandrite associate professor. Dr Serafim Aleksiev and Bishop of Makariopolski Dr Nikolay Kozhukharov – the people who are the main reason for preserving and passing on the memory of Archpriest Evstati Yankov and his written legacy to the next generations.
The Municipality of Chepelare has officially invited prominent priests, descendants of Father Eustati, theologians, church and civil servants, university professors, journalists, politicians and public servants.