Sava Sivriev

About Wealth and Money in the Passional
of St. Sophronius Bishop of Vratza

Summary

The Passional of St. Sophronius Bishop of Vratza differs from the passionals’ texts of the Bulgarian new-martyrs from the late 18th – early 19th century. In the Passional man is perceived not only as a part of the history, but also as a part of the new time, in which wealth and money are the most important values. In almost all the subject episodes of the Passional, money are a plot’s originating motif. In these conditions, bishop Sophronius shows a life philosophy, according to which wealth and money are a part of the most necessary for the time, so that life could be preserved. But they are also welfare, which man’s emotionality is not attached to, looking for roads towards sanctity. In the border situation between the secular and the spiritual it’s the inner hardships time of St. Sophronius Bishop of Vratza.