The church canonises the martyrs from Batak and Novo Selo

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonised yesterday the martyrs from Batak and Novo Selo, massacred by the bashi-bazouk troops led by Ahmed Agha after the failed April Uprising of 1876 against the Turkish oppressors. The people slaughtered in Batak will be honoured by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on May 17 and the day will be called Convocation of the Batak martyrs. The newly canonised martyrs from of the Novo Selo Holy Trinity Monastery in Apriltsi will be honoured on May 9. Between 4,000 and 5,000 Bulgarians from Batak and about 700 from the uprising in Novo Selo, Batoshevo and Kravenik have been canonised.

The canonisation service was performed in St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia by His Holiness Maxim, Patriarch of Bulgaria and Bishop of Sofia, attended by clerics of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. His Holiness Maxim personally consecrated the icons with the martyrs’s images.

The service was attended by many bishops of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, representatives of seminaries, the Holy Synod and clerics. It was also attended by President Georgi Parvanov, National Assembly Chairwoman Tsetska Tsacheva, Vice President Angel Marin, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, politicians and citizens.