Venerable Paisius of Hilandar

Venerable Paisius of Hilandar (in the world Peter or Penko) was born around 1722, in Bansko or in the village of Dospey. In 1745, already a hieromonk, he came to Mount Athos and settled in the Hilandar monastery, where his elder half-brother Lavrentius lived. He collected donations for the monastery, was elected abbot in the late 1750s and later served as a member of the monastic council.

After two years of gathering material in Athonite libraries and in Bulgaria, and having obtained a Russian translation of Mauro Orbini's "Kingdom of the Slavs", he wrote in 1762, at the Zograf monastery, the "Slavonic-Bulgarian History", the first work on Bulgarian history. He urged Bulgarians to know their people and language and to copy his book; it included a chapter on Saints Cyril and Methodius and a list of Bulgarian saints. In 1765 it was copied by the future St Sophronius of Vratsa, and dozens of copies followed. Paisius is regarded as the founder of the Bulgarian national revival. Nothing is known of him after 1775.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church glorified him in 1962. He is commemorated on 19 June (2 July new style), also in the Russian Church's calendar, and in the Synaxis of the Athonite Saints.