New archival Data on the passing and struggle of the Hieromartyr Kancho from Adzhar in Bulgaria (1840–1877)

Abstract

Kancho (Krastyo) Genkov (b. 1840) is the first-born son in the family of the icon-painter Genko (Georgi) Krastev, son of Krastyo Zahariev (the old) from the reputed family of the Zaharievs in Tryavna. He masters the art of his fathers, as the boys in his family do. From 1864 he is found in the village of Adzhar, tasked to paint the frescoes of the newly-constructed church of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. In Adzhar (today the village of Svezhen, near Karlovo, Plovdiv) he is married to his wife Stoya, called to priesthood similarly as was his uncle Peter, and is elevated to the dignity of priest, appointed in the same parish on June 9, 1869 (old style), as becomes clear from a decree from the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian church, recovered in the course of this study. The same decree states that presbytera Stoya is to receive a widow's allowance for her late very same husband, priest in the village of Adzhar, was murdered by the Turks in 1877. This document makes it clear that Fr. Kancho is a witness for the faith and spends the last days of his life as a new martyr, which was unknown to us. Those who have studied the life of Fr. Kancho consider that he passes away on 1924 in Tryavna. For this reason the present study ascertains and corrects the mistake of previous authors by following up on what is known of our spiritual father and here-to-forth unknown hieromartyr by analyzing it in the light of the existing sources, and thus revealing his sainthood to our contemporary audience.

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