- Title: Bulgaria's Christians pray for miracles at holy site
- Date: 14th September 2018
- Summary: KRASTOVA GORA, BULGARIA (SEPTEMBER, 13, 2018) (REUTERS) PILGRIMS ARRIVING AT MONASTERY GATE ORTHODOX BISHOP WALKING THROUGH CROWD LARGE CROWD OF PILGRIMS IN MONASTERY WOMAN PRAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) PILGRIM, NADIA MIRONOVA, SAYING: "The holy place helps, so do prayers, but it is our strong faith which helps us the most." VARIOUS OF WOMEN KISSING CROSS PILGRIMS QUEUIN
- Embargoed: 28th September 2018 12:49
- Keywords: Bulgaria pilgrims pray for miracles christianity christian pilgrimage religion Orthodox church mircales
- Location: KRASTOVA GORA, BULGARIA
- City: KRASTOVA GORA, BULGARIA
- Country: Bulgaria
- Topics: Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0018XLKD2X
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nadia Mironova drove 350 km with her ill eight-year-old son to a small monastery in southern Bulgaria, trusting, like hundreds of other Christian pilgrims, in faith and hope to help heal him.
It is the seventh time the 33-year-old has made the journey to the Rhodopi mountains to spend the eve of Friday's Elevation of the Cross holiday in prayer, hoping for divine intervention.
"Faith and hope bring us here," said Mironova, who also brought her three-year-old daughter Viki on the pilgrimage from Pleven, in northern Bulgaria. She declined to go into detail about her son Christian's condition.
They, like many others, will sleep in the car they travelled in. Some camp on the meadows around the monastery or take shelter in chapels to the 12 apostles that were built in 1990s, making it one of the most visited holy sites in the Balkan country.
Legend has it that a piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified is buried at the Krustova Gora (Holy Cross Forest), some 210 km southeast of Sofia, bringing powerful divine energy that is especially strong on the Elevation of the Cross holiday.
Some believe that they will be healed in their sleep from the energy of the holy site, others say that at midnight, during a night vigil at the monastery's church, the skies open and prayers are being answered.
Maya Slaveva, 55, said she has travelled to the holy site to pray for her ill husband and for herself to find a job to support her family.
"I deeply believe in God and I have come to pray for the health of all of us, for me, for the children, for all to be healthy and well. I truly believe my wishes will come true," as she prepared to spend the night in the open.
Some 76 percent of the Bulgaria's 7 million people are Orthodox Christians. The monks at Krustova Gora say the night vigils at St Trinity monastery have been restored after the fall of communism in 1989, when people felt free to express their religion beliefs.
Crowds of Orthodox Christian pilgrims gathered at Krastova Gora on Thursday (September 13) to worship and pray or miracles.
Orthodox Christian pilgrims make the journey to the monastery to spend the eve of the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross (celebrated on September 14) to pray for health, hoping for divine intervention.
Krastova Gora, located in the Rhodope Mountains, is one of the largest Christian centres in Bulgaria. According to legend, a piece of the cross which Jesus Christ was crucified on is buried at the site.
People believe that the site has miraculous power and heals incurably ill people. There is a spring in the region, which also has curative power according to legend.
About 60 percent of Bulgaria's 7 million people are Orthodox Christians. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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