Father Dimitar Vukadinov

Father Dimitar Vukadinov – The Priest That Embraced Goodness

Author: Angel Karadakov

Translation into English: Mladen Yanev 

Original source here.

We want to introduce you to one such merciful person, who, we trust has already been pardoned by God, obtaining His mercy and now rests within the “bosom of Abraham” (Lk 16:22-23). It was the beginning of autumn. A humble priest with a clean cassock and a cross around his neck approached a small church outside the center of Sofia. In front of the church stood several people with outstretched hands, praying for alms from the laity entering the church. Their eyes brightened as they saw the slightly stooped priest entering the courtyard and approaching the church with a brisk stride. They extended their hands to him, and from him they received not only the means to get through the day, but also a blessing. This priest was Dimitar Vukadinov, who for years had been like a living rescue ship for hundreds of homeless and socially disadvantaged people. He literally saved lives. During the winter months, there were countless people who received hot soup and a piece of bread from him. Perhaps that is why he passed away as he lived – in the service of God. On 12 February 2002, during the Sunday Liturgy, while Father was censing the Church at the Cherubic Hymn (We who in a mystery represent the Cherubim), he suffered a massive brain stroke. After being quickly rushed to the hospital, Father Dimitar presented himself before God peacefully and with a clean conscience. His death is significant in that he suffered a stroke just before the time when, by Orthodox tradition, the Divine Liturgy cannot be stopped. 

Orthodox theologians know that in the event of a fire, an attack by infidels, or other force majeure, the Divine Liturgy can be interrupted. The Liturgy can be interrupted, but this must be done before the Great Entrance i.e. before or after the Cherubic Hymn. In order to be able to interrupt the Divine Liturgy, God providentially allowed Father Dimitar to die just before the Great Entrance as a sort of last priestly self-offering imaging Christ’s own self-offering as our Great High-Priest (Heb. 7:17) as “Offered and Offered.”

Father Dimitar was born in the village of Zheleznitsa (on the outskirts of Sofia) in 1930 and served for more than 40 years in the church Saint George the Great Martyr and Trophy-Bearer.

I did not know Father Dimitar Vukadinov personally, but from what I have heard about him I know that he is a man not only of righteous faith, but also of holy deeds. "He gave himself generously to the people," is how the devoted disciples and parishioners describe Father Dimitar. To his last breath, he did not abandon his priestly ministry and the spiritual care of his flock. The small church in the Sofian neighbourhood Darvenitsa had become a place where all the new Christians of the early 1990s, converts to Orthodoxy raised under Communism, found their place and served God zealously. Father Dimitar was not only merciful with his social work, no, he was also (we dare to say), a bloodless martyr — a confessor of the faith. He was a man who repeatedly suffered persecutions and pressures from the communist authorities, and he stood firm for Christ and did not betray the Orthodox faith.

Immediately after the fall of Communism, Father Dimitar built and spiritually strengthened his parish, which, over the years, became one of the most vibrant in the capital. During the “transition period” after the fall of Communism, Father Dimitar was the spiritual protector and patron of dozens, if not hundreds, of people in poverty and need. He provided hot food, clothing and shelter for the many destitute people in Sofia in that period. He assisted people who wished to find work, cared for their young children, and tried in every way to guide them in the faith, to give them hope, and, above all, to teach them true Christian love. Later, when times began to improve, Father Dimitar and his now vibrant parish continued a difficult but holy work by opening a soup kitchen for the socially disadvantaged, where, every Thursday, poor and needy people could get a hot lunch, as well as bread and groceries. From the very beginning, the work in this soup kitchen was completely voluntary. No one received a single Lev (local Bulgarian currency) for their volunteer work and, indeed, more and more people joined Fr Dimitar in helping others for free.

Father Dimitar did not select the needy by whether they lived in his parish or neighbourhood. The only thing asked of them was to bring their own container for the hot meal. Father's soup kitchen, however, was not organised by a social program or with the help of the Bulgarian Red Cross.

"We started giving out food eight years ago (i.e. in the 1990s). The mid-90s were the hardest for all of us. With the money collected in the church treasury, we used to buy and distribute meals to the most unfortunate. Then once sponsors appeared, we started to cook in the annex of the courtyard", – said Father Dimitar about the beginning of his work. Halfway through the story, he sighed, "We thought the food distribution would be temporary until people got back on their feet, but it turned out that many still had nothing to eat. That's why I can't sleep at night. I lie awake and ask myself: how long, Lord? Apparently, we have angered You very much with our wickedness, with our cunning, with our sins, if You allow so many people to suffer in Bulgaria," Father Dimitar told a capital newspaper in 2007.

"Love of our neighbour is most important – real, active love, not love in words. This is all we need – to be human. The rest is consigned to the evil one," said Father Dimitar. And he is absolutely right, because, without love, we are nothing.

Today, Father Dimitar's soup kitchen is still running. Every Thursday, the poor continue to come to the front of the church and wait: to wait for alms and help. Father Dimitar certainly prays for all the needy in his parish, and for those who come seeking help. However, his work is not forgotten. Every now and then sponsors are found to offer their help and sandwiches. Bread and packed food items are distributed to the underprivileged.

In the memory of all of us, but especially of those whom Father Dimitar has helped, priest Dimitar Vukadinov will be an example of a man who modestly, quietly and without advertising and praise managed to do what even today many powerful of the day cannot. He managed to show people the love of Christ: true and active love, selfless, self-sacrificing, sacrificial and salvific. He set an example because that is what he was called to do – to lead his flock to heaven. And we believe that he is already there, because the merciful will obtain mercy.

A magnet for future clergy

By Priest Trayan Goranov, the UK

My name is Trayan Goranov. I have been a priest since 2001. In the years of 1992-1996, I was studying Economics in Sofia. I was raised during the communist atheistic times. In 1993 I was already a fervent Orthodox Christian. In the suburbs of Sofia there is an area referred to as Students’ Town (campus), where dormitories (campuses) of all the universities are gathered. I was living there during this period and attending Orthodox catechetical-educational evenings in the centre of the city where I met my friends.

In winter of 1993-94 there was damage to the water system in the whole of Students’ Town. One evening I took my water bottles and got in the bus to go to the centre of the city where there are natural springs. Someone in the bus said to me that there is a natural spring just behind the church of Darvenitsa which was the closest neighbourhood to Students’ Town. We, the students that were attending the Orthodox meetings, didn’t even know that there was a church so close to us, hidden behind a blocks of flats. The next evening I took my friend Dinko (now Metropolitan Seraphim) to fill our water bottles in the closest spring. As we were passing by the church, we saw a light in a small window. We decided to check what was inside. Vespers was going on at that time in the main body of the church. A very old man was at the candle booth, another old man with a hoarse voice was trying to sing and a priest in his 60s was behind the altar screen. As we entered, he approached us and asked us to read something from the service books. We were shocked. It was the first time that we had ever seen something written in the old Bulgarian language and we were struggling to read but the priest calmly and gently guided us as a spiritual father and teacher. That's how we first met Father Dimitar (1930-2012).

We started attending Father Dimitar’s church which was dedicated to St George. He was very friendly. The church was under renovation, and after Liturgy he put on work clothes and did the repairs himself. Sometimes there were volunteers to help him. He could do everything. Whenever we passed the church he was there; he probably only went to his home to sleep. His wife, Grandma Veneta, we also often saw by his side, helping in the church. His daughter sang in the choir and his son helped as a church server.

Father Dimitar told us how he had been a believer since childhood. He worked as an international lorry driver. Passing through Western Europe, he marveled at the beautiful cathedrals. He expressed a desire to dedicate himself to God, but because, at that time, there was a persecution of priests under Communism, his wife answered: I do not want to not know where your grave is.

One day he took her in his lorry with him to show her the larger "world" outside Bulgaria. In Romania, a tractor driver backed into the main road, and Dimitar turned the steering wheel to avoid hitting him but in consequence his lorry crashed into a house. His wife concluded: Better a priest in Bulgaria than dead abroad. So, he became a priest with his wife’s blessing.

In 1970s and 1980s there was mass construction of panel housing. The Communist government would demolish old houses and in their places erected new panel block of flats. In 1981, when Fr Dimitar was ordained for St George’s church, on three sides of his church there were already built massive blocks of flats. It was clear that the government didn’t want his church to be seen. When builders brought heavy machinery to dig for building a block from the 4th side of the church, Fr Dimitar went to them and told them that no more buildings would be built next to the church. The young men laughed at him saying: Hey, Father, you mind your own business, and we will mind ours. Straight away Fr Dimitar got into his car and went to the offices of the Holy Synod, to ask for support. One bishop supported him and they both went to the mayor of Sofia. They managed to convince the mayor to stop the construction of the block.

We were new Christians when, as a group, we were going around the different churches in search of God. It's not that God isn't everywhere, but in our youthful zeal we tried to visit all possible Sofia churches to explore Orthodoxy all over the city. I now realise that Fr. Dimitar had never asked us why we were not at his services which was so close to where we lived. He was not boastful, he respected all his fellow priests and always was saying something good about each of them. Unfortunately, in this period, some of the priests had become like spiritual gurus, with “fans” surrounding them. So God gave a gift to us through Fr. Dimitar: he showed us that God is “everywhere present and filling all things” (as the traditional prayer says), and that we can visit any service served by someone ordained and in the canonical church and God will be there, as I realised much later.

Fr Dimitar built a small chapel (or confessional) attached to the church. And also a tall bell tower. At the back of the church was a slightly chaotic collection of half-finished renovations and a storage room for building materials. There, in the “confessional room”, he let us study the system of Byzantine musical notation for chanting in the church, called “pneuma.” One of the boys was a singer in a musical theatre but he was also studying Theology, so he was our teacher in Byzantine singing. This unofficial school became a “seminary” for future clerics under the wing of Father Dimitar. I can’t number how many of us later became clergy. I spent about 8 years in Sofia. From my group of friends there are now 2 Metropolitans, one of which was recently elected as Patriarch of Bulgaria (Daniil), 4 priests, several monks and nuns. Indeed, there must be many more than I have mentioned. My favourite expression for Fr Dimitar is that he was like a magnet for future clergy. I don’t know how he did it.

My dear Fr Dimitar, pray to God for us that all of us, that are now clergy through your prayers and guidance, be like you were in your life, an example leading the flock to salvation!