Kremikovtsi, Bulgaria, February 22, 2018
Photo: pbs.twimg.com The Monastery of St. George the Victorious in Kremikovtsi, an outlying neighborhood of Sofia, has begun collecting stories and memories of personal encounters with the newly-departed Elder Dobri Dobrev, reports the site of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
The initiative aims to keep the memory of “Grandpa” Dobri’s good works alive.
Elder Dobri, “The Saint of Bailovo,” reposed on February 13 in his 103rd year of life. Elder Dobri was known around the world as a humble old man who would walk on foot to Sofia every day to beg for funds towards the restoration of churches and monasteries throughout Bulgaria, raising more than $60,000, never keeping anything for himself. Many have also experienced the deep spiritual wisdom which he possessed in his simplicity. “The Saint of Bailovo” was buried in the church yard in his home village of Bailovo.
In the last years of his life, the Kremikovtsi Monastery was one of the Elder Dobri’s beloved “sanctuaries,” where he found peace, warmth, and joy in the fellowship of the faith.
The monastery’s message reads:
He made his earthly way by doing countless good deeds, led only by his overflowing love for God. Time covers over with forgetfulness, but we would like the memory of the elder to remain alive for generations to come. His good deeds will serve as a lesson for all of us.
That is why we are beginning to collect memories and experiences with Grandpa Dobri. If you knew him, if you talked to him, if he advised or helped you—let us know!
… Thus, his works of goodness will not be forgotten, but will motivate us to be like him, for, “Good deeds seek the good, and if we have God, we have everything” (Elder Dobri).
“Grand Dobri was a Bulgarian man like all of us,” said monastery abbot Fr. Seraphim on a recent edition of the television show “This Saturday,” “but at the same time, he was great, a giant which we cannot imagine, an entire cosmos. He was a man who had extraordinary faith in God and knew that that was the meaning of all of life, and that was actually what he wanted to show us.”
Elder Dobri deeply believed that Bulgaria and the Bulgarian people would be renewed in their faith by God after going through trials and difficulties, Fr. Seraphim explained. “He did not raise funds for the sake of the money, but to make people merciful; he wanted to encourage them with their gift, to awaken in them a sense of charity for others, and to help the people in that when they show mercy, God will be merciful to them,” Fr. Seraphim said.
A few such memories were shared with by Angel Karadakov of Sofia and can be read here.
