Past and present

This is St. Evtimii, Patriarch Tarnovski, an individual who plays major role in the history of Bulgaria.
He was born around 1327 in the old Bulgarian capital: Veliko Tarnovo. Very young, he becomes a monk in Kilifarevo Monastery, which was a famous learning centre.

With the time, he created a theologian school with great importance. Famous for his faith, ascetism, education and inspiration, he became the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 1375. He becomes a patriarch following the people's will in times difficult for our country. At that time, the Ottoman empire had already started to threaten the existence of an independent Bulgarian state. During those times, he was not only the patriarch, but also the protector of the Bulgarian people. In 1393, the capital Veliko Tarnovo fell under the seige of the Ottomans, and it is said that Patriarch Evtimii was the one who kept the spirit of the Bulgarains alive to fight for their freedom.

There is a saying that after the city fell under the attacks, the Ottomans sentenced Evtimii Tarnovski to death. In the moment the executioner raised his hand to behead him, his hand turned to stone.
Some sources tell that the patriarch was sent to exile in the southern paets of Bulgaria where he died around 1401-1402.

While reading more about his life, I reminded myself about this great individual. I reminded myself of the both glorious and hard past we've had. Are we still going to repeat the mistakes in our past over and over again? Bulgarian people has shown so much strength and persistence through times but also lack of integrity and leaving the national interests behind for egoistic matters. History repeats itself and I strongly believe that for our past mistakes the main ones to blame were us. I really hope that we are heading for better times when our people will be more patriotic and united. History has shown that we lack this (excluding the times when we fought for our freedom). And where are our leaders? Who will unite us? Do we have a person like St. Patriarch Evtimii Tarnovski to unite us? I hope there will be. It's high time there shown one. As history repeats itself, and our recent history doesn't remember someone like him, thus there should appear such individual...