Bulgaria’s main monasteries hit hard by energy crisis

Bulgaria, February 2, 2022

Photo: dobrotoliubie.com Photo: dobrotoliubie.com     

Three of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s main monasteries are unable to heat their churches, cells, sacristies, and icon storage due to rising electricity and oil costs.

Rila Monastery, the spiritual heart of the Bulgarian Church, is now heated only in 8-hour intervals, while the kitchen is wood-fired, reports actualno.com.

The monastery is unable to pay industrial rates and hopes the state will hear its plea, says the abbot His Grace Bishop Evlogy of Rila.

“Maybe some people think that what we produce—faith, culture, tradition—is some kind of business production, but, alas, this is not so; it doesn’t depend on us,” His Grace emphasized.

The monastery received an electricity bill of $16,200 (28,000 BGN) for the monastery of December, three times higher than the bill for December 2020.

The monastery has already suffered from the decrease in pilgrims due to the pandemic. The state allocated $1 million for the holy habitation in the summer of 2020, as it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

Last March, Bachkovo was awarded the title of “Monastery of the Decade” as part of a campaign for the preservation and promotion of the national cultural and historical heritage.

However, the Bachkovo brotherhood now has to ask for help too, as does the brotherhood of Troyan Monastery. They are the second and third largest monasteries in the country respectively.

“I don’t know how we’ll cope,” His Grace Bishop Zion of Velichka, who serves as abbot for both monasteries, told 24plovdiv.bg.

Thanks to the winter cold and the pandemic, there is almost no income at the monasteries now. Bachkovo lights the square in front of the monastery, and separately heats the museum and the icon storage, where the valuable artifacts require a certain temperature.

“At this stage, we’re not doing well,” Bp. Zion said.

Bachkovo’s latest electricity bill was $17,350 (30,000 BGN), and Troyan’s—$9,250 (16,000 BGN). The monasteries would have to sell an extraordinary number or candles or receive some generous donations to get by, His Grace said.

According to the hierarch, the state should intervene so the monasteries would be charged domestic, rather than industrial rates, which would cut their bills in half.

It would be unacceptable for the monasteries to close, Bp. Zion says. “People with needs come to us. We keep miraculous icons that should be available to believers at all times.”

At Bachkovo, they are currently heating only 10 of the 60 rooms.

The state allocated considerable funds for restoration work at Bachkovo and Troyan Monasteries in 2020.

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2/2/2022

Comments
Alexandru2/3/2022 2:45 pm
I understand that what I have commented before is more difficult in practice than in theory, but are monasteries not to set an example for us of small faith? Yet they give up and ask the help of people immediately. The birds can not ask anything from anyone, neither the flowers, yet they are fed and clothed. Our faith will be tested just like in the story of Job. We lived in a time of peace, a time in which everything was available to us, as long as we had money. God worshiping, God believing, but now everything will be taken away from us. Who will still have faith in the words of God, rejoicing, in times of infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses. Woe to our generations. Woe myself for not knowing how to cope with survival, but thankfully God knows how to make us live, how to clothe us and feed us. May the Lord provide for this monastery, let us pray.
Alexandru2/3/2022 2:11 pm
Could someone please explain me how monasteries survived without gas for 1800 years? I don’t know, perhaps they prayed to God to help them instead of getting angry and blaming the people behind the energy crisis. If someone truly lives for the Lord, with the Lord, then the Lord will satisfy them, as did the raven satisfy prophet Elijah. So are there many others (orthodox hermits and so on) who truly live with God and can cope without gas, because God satisfies them and gives them all they need through His miraculous ways. Where is the faith? Did Christ not tell us not to worry about clothes and food? (Mat. 6:25) Did Saint Paul not write “therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Cor. 12:10) Have we forgotten? We do not know how to cope anymore without gas. Perhaps having true faith in Christ and His words is a good first step. If we do not know how to cope with these first exams, then how will we cope when the tougher exams come? A man who has true faith in God will receive all he needs, sent to him by God, through people and even through animals in rare cases, even without asking. Do not even the birds get fed by the heavenly Father? Are we not much more valuable than they?
Ivan G.2/3/2022 11:09 am
Tough times are approaching.. Lord have mercy.
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