Orthodox Christians today honor St. Petka – Bulgaria
Orthodox Christians today honor St. Petka Tarnovska. The holiday in honor of St. Paraskeva (Paraskeva in Greek means “Friday”, hence the Bulgarian version – Petka).
Reverend Petka, also called Bulgarian, living in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Her birthplace was the village of Epivat near the town of Kalikratia (Sea of Marmara), and her parents were devout and respected Christians. As a ten-year-old, St. Paraskeva heard the voice of Jesus Christ in the temple and decided to dedicate herself to the faith. She changed her clothes for beggars and often distributed her property to the poor.
She left her home and toured the shrines of Constantinople, went to the Holy Places, visited Jerusalem and the tomb of God, and settled in the Jordan Desert. She followed the example of St. Mary of Egypt, having lived here for many years. Anticipating her death, she will end up in Epivat, and after two years she quietly died out, leading a solitary and holy life. At that time, her relatives were no longer alive and she was buried outside the city walls as a foreigner.
For many years the tomb of the saint was forbidden – when a sailor was buried nearby, two local Christians had a vision in which St. Paraskeva was in royal robes and surrounded by soldiers of Christ. She helped remove the relics and carry them.
St. Paraskeva was famous in the lands of Byzantine Thrace and when after the battle of Klokotnitsa (March 9, 1230) Tsar Ivan Asen II achieved Bulgarian military and political hegemony in the Balkans, he claimed the relics of the Latin Empire. The incorruptible body of the reverend was solemnly transferred to the capital Tarnovo. Already in the time of Tsar Ivan Asen II, her Bulgarian biography was compiled, and a story was written about the relics transferred to her in Tarnovo. The most popular work was written by St. Patriarch Euthymius, a biography that remains famous in medieval Europe.
In folk tradition, the holiday is known as Petkovden and is considered the end of autumn, and thus on the activity of the business cycle. St. Petka is read as a patroness of women and similar household activities – spinning, weaving, tailoring, sewing.
Name day is celebrated Petka, Paraskeva, Parashkeva, Petko, Petkana, Penka, Paro, Parun.