08 — Veneration and Memory
Paisiy is venerated in two registers that overlap and pull against each other: as a saint of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and as the secular national icon of modern Bulgaria — celebrated by the communist state, enshrined in poetry and monuments, and woven into the nation’s image of itself. This section treats both-sides (§4) the saint and the symbol, and then surveys Paisiy in Bulgarian culture — Vazov’s ode, the monuments, the place-names.
Tradition: Bulgarian Orthodox
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| national-saint-and-symbol.md | Both-sides (§4): the saint venerated by the Church set against the secular national icon of the communist era and of modern Bulgaria; how the two readings of Paisiy relate, compete, and interpenetrate, without collapsing the saint into the symbol. |
| paisiy-in-bulgarian-culture.md | Paisiy in the national imagination: Ivan Vazov’s ode “Paisiy” in The Epic of the Forgotten; the monuments; the place-names and institutions, including the University of Plovdiv and the fate of the Zograph autograph. |
See Also
- 07 — Canonization — the ecclesial veneration
- 06 — Church and Nation — the nationalism question underlying the symbol
- 09 — Legacy and Assessment — the final assessment