I normally do not do this, but I wanted to direct you to the Life of St. Abrahamy of Bulgaria. It is the story, albeit small, of his life and martyrdom at the hands of moslems. He is vernerated as the protector of Kazan, and all those who converted from Islam.
See my link below......
Your fellow struggler in Christ,
Rd. Chrysostomos
The story you have on your blog speaks as if all Bulgarians were Muslim at the time, which is misleading.
At the time of this saints life the Bulgarians were already long converted Orthodox Christians. In the 8th century however, a tribe of them migrated to the Volga and converted to Islam.
This is an interesting story though because I didn't think there were any Bulgarian saints.
ioannis,
From answers.com,
"Bulgars, Eastern (bŭl'gärz, –gərz) , Turkic-speaking people, who possessed a powerful state (10th–14th cent.) at the confluence of the Volga and the Kama, E European Russia. The Bulgars appeared on the Middle Volga by the 8th cent. and became known as the Eastern, Volga, or Kama Bulgars. Another branch of the same people moved west into present Bulgaria and merged with the Slavs. The Eastern Bulgars accepted Islam in the 10th cent. From the 10th to the 12th cent. the Bulgar state was at the height of its power. Its chief city, the Great Bulgar, was a prosperous trade center. Destroyed by the Mongols in 1237, the state flourished again until it was conquered by Timur in 1361. It finally disappeared after its capture by the grand duke of Moscow in 1431. The modern Tatars and Chuvash may be descended from the Eastern Bulgars. The Great Bulgar and the Bulgars themselves are sometimes called Bulgari or Bolgari."
Bold print mine for emphasis.
Your fellow struggler in Christ,
Rd. Chrysostomos
Yes, so we have the "eastern bulgars" who were muslims and the "western bulgars" who were Orthodox and the founders of the modern state of Bulgaria.
Interestly enough, there is still to this day an enclave of Turks in southeern Russia who splintered from during their migration West. What is interesting is that they were all Orthodox until recently. The only thing stranger than an Orthodox Turk is a Muslim Bulgar.
